SAVE THE WORLD IN STYLE! Lower your carbon footprint―in your favorite pair of stilettos―with THE ECO CHICK GUIDE TO LIFE . Here you'll find hundreds of ideas on how to be ecologically smart and still be stylish and trend-setting. You don't have to sacrifice to go green―you can eat well, dress well, and live well once you learn how to: Learn where to shop for vintage and recycled jewelry (mining practices for gold and silver are notoriously polluting). Wear sustainable threads―organic cotton, peace silk, bamboo―or look for funky reconstructed designs made from vintage fabrics.Find shoes made from naturally tanned and dyed leather, hemp, or made from recycled materials...that still look incredibly chic.Party it up- with the planet in mind! Make your next fiesta fabulous with organic beverages, seasonal food from the farmer's market, and more. Pretty-up with organic, biodegradable hair products, body washes, moisturizers, and make-up―better for you and the planet's water supplies! We'll explain why and what to look for.How to earn points while convincing your boss to go green in your office. Travel green and still see the world in style!Save cash with some Earth-loving swaps around your apartment, dorm or house. …and more. Let these and other easy-to-follow, fun and fashionable tips help you to feel great while doing good. You and Mother Nature will look fabulous! This book is printed on recycled paper. "Vartan’s pleasure in living consciously is infectious; readers will appreciate her lack of condescension or preachiness and feel inspired to test―if not wholeheartedly adopt―her simple prescriptions." ― Publishers Weekly Starre Vartan , a self-described eco-fashionista, is the founder and editor of Eco Chick (www.eco-chick.com), a blog for hip, environmentally savvy young women. Eco Chick has been featured on national television networks such as ABC and the CW as well as in the Wall Street Journal, Shape magazine, USA Today , Treehugger.com, and other media outlets. Starre lives in Norwalk, Connecticut. The Eco Chick Guide to Life How to Be Fabulously Green By Vartan, Starre St. Martin's Griffin Copyright © 2008 Vartan, Starre All right reserved. ISBN: 9780312378943 Introduction Why You Should Be an Eco Chick Nobody can ignore the fact that there’s an environmental crisis going on. Between wacky weather courtesy of global warming; environmental toxins showing up in our food, water, and, ultimately, our bodies; widespread ecosystem destruction; and the extinction of thousands of plants and animals every year, it seems that all of us are finally getting the message that we are creating some serious problems. The time to deal with these issues is now, and change starts with each one of us taking action in our own lives. But before you get out the sackcloth and banana-leaf moccasins, understand that just because we are facing a coming crisis with serious repercussions for us and for future generations doesn’t mean that we can’t still enjoy ourselves, look good, dress well, and even have a great time! That is the mission of the Eco Chick; if we throw a big green fiesta, and invite everyone to come, they’ll want to make the cool, positive changes that need to be made. If that sounds too good to be true, you’ll be (pleasantly) surprised by what you find inside this book. Being an Eco Chick means doing good while having a good time doing it: it is NOT about depriving yourself, but about rethinking how we live our lives, and living better—more creatively, more passionately, and more consciously. And don’t worry, just because it’s good for Earth doesn’t always mean it will take a chunk out of your paycheck. Plenty of the ideas in this book will actually save you money! Eco Chicks not only cultivate exciting and joyful lives for themselves, but they also always have their minds on how their choices are affecting the rest of the world. Back in the day, all women were Eco Chicks; they couldn’t help it, because to survive, one had to be savvy with resources. That meant using, reusing, and rereusing. Food wasn’t wasted, and what ever couldn’t be eaten would be recycled as fertilizer. Clothes were made by hand, and tropical fruit was an unheard-of treat (unless you lived in the tropics!). While this may have been a very planet-friendly way to live, it was hard work day in and day out, which led both women and men to figure out ways to make all that toil a little easier. Fast-forward to today, and we don’t have to live the tough lives our ancestors did. But in order to maintain these life-styles, we use huge amounts of energy, depend on adults and children in third-world countries to do the work that we won’t (and then pay them poorly for it), and throw a lot of junk into ever-growing landfills. The depressing truth is this: our lifestyles, right now, depend on being wasteful, taking advantage of less-fortunate people, and consuming in a way that cannot be sustained in the futur