'My Green Bookshelf' with Karen Stewart and Howard Brown, the founders of Stewart+Brown

We're happy to present you with another green guest on our new series 'My Green Bookshelf', where we're taking a look at the reading habits of interesting people from the green world with special focus on their green reading. Actually, today you'll get two in the price of one :-)

We are very excited to have with us today husband and wife duo, Karen Stewart and Howard Brown, the founders of the eco-fashion brand Stewart + Brown (http://www.stewartbrown.com/).

In 2002 Karen and Howard, partners in life and work, realized their destiny; They gave birth to a baby girl named Hazel Stewart Brown and a baby brand named Stewart+Brown, which ever since was always at the cutting edge of eco fashion and style.

Design for Karen and Howard is a passion and a way of life. Their professional journey stems from a union of creativity and purpose. Karen, a trained painter and New York native, and Howard, a graphic artist and Montana native, oversee every aspect of the product and brand themselves. Each Stewart+Brown collection, at an elemental level, is a fusion of experiences and insights filtered through their creative core and rendered into their own unique and personal aesthetic.

Howard Brown replied to our questionnaire on behalf of the couple.

When do you find the time to read? what are your favorite genres?

I read headlines and articles during the day but it's hard for me to find the time and focus to read novels. I read a lot about current events and global economics. I have a subscription to the New York Times Sunday edition and usually spend the Sunday mornings and the first part of the week to get through it.For leisure reading my favorite genres are non-fiction and biographies. I don't care for fiction and never have.

How many books do you have in your library at home?

A few thousand. Among other things, my wife and I collect vintage art and design books.

What's your favorite green book?

I don't know if you would consider it a green book but I'm in the middle of Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan and it's the best book I've read in awhile.

Who is your favorite green author?

Not that he's green but I've been reading everything by Michael Pollan that I can get my hands on...he writes a column for the NYT online edition and various editorials for them as well. I also like Paul Hawken a lot.

What green books do you have in your library at home?

Way too many to name. Most of which I / we have not read.

Do you borrow books from friends? do you lend yours to others after you read them?

Yes and yes.

Are you registered to a library?

Yes.

If you had to go to a deserted island, what 3 books would you take with you?

I'd probably bring 3 books that had to do w/desert island survival - how to grow food, identify indigenous plants to eat, build shelters, etc. And also Robinson Crusoe.

What's your favorite bookstore?

I like Powell's in Portland and The Strand and St. Mark's Books in New York. But since I live in California, I do most of my book shopping on Amazon.com

E-books - for or against?

I've never experienced an e-book but I'm not sure why I'd be against them.

And just a reminder: as a small token of appreciation to our guest on the series, Eco-Libris will plant with its planting partners 50 new trees on behalf of each and every guest in the series!

You're welcome to check out other guests we had on 'My Green Bookshelf':

Sophie Young, founder of g=9.8

Ron Gonen, Co-founder and CEO of RecycleBank

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: plant a tree for every book you read!

* photos of Karen and Howard and Stewart+Brown items are courtesy of Stewart+Brown.

Tamsin Blanchard shows you how to change the world with style

It all started in a confessional booth.

Cyndi Rhoades of Anti-apathy has a mobile fashion confessional booth she takes to workshops and festivals. In the summer of 2006, she took it to a local festival in London. Tamsin Blanchard, the Style Director of Telegraph Magazine and a longtime fashion journalist, who was helping to organize an eco-fashion day at this festival, decided to take advantage of the opportunity and went to confess at the confessional booth.

These moments at the booth were epiphany moments for her. "I went to confess my fashion sins and from then, I really began to seriously consider the issues of pesticides in cotton, fairtrade clothing, clothing dyes, recycling etc." she told me. She acted fast and one year later she launched her new book: Green is the New Black: How to Change the World with Style. The book is a guide to everyone who is looking for ways to green up their lifestyle, without compromising on style, quality, being fashionably, etc.

Nowadays you can find a growing number of books written on different aspects of green consumerism, but this is the first one written by a fashion journalist. Naturally, it focuses on topics such as eco-fashion, eco-style, green weddings, eco-friendly shoes and bags and getting the (green) look.

In addition the book also presents the alternative way to be green and fashionable - DIY. Blanchard, knowing very well the significance of recycling, gives many tips how to make clothes and accessories from materials you can find at your home and your closet, including how to organize swishing (clothes swapping) parties.

I was recently honored with the opportunity to speak with Tamsin Blanchard for an article I made for the web-edition of Maariv, Israel's second-largest newspaper on her book. You are welcome to read on her thoughts on green living and which of her green tips is her favorite.

What brought you to write this book? to whom it is written?

As a fashion journalist, I have seen the high street begin to take note of the issues surrounding eco and fair trade fashion. The consumer is beginning to ask questions and I felt it was the right time to supply them with the information - written in an accessible and unworthy way. The book is aimed at anyone interested in fashion who also has a conscience.

What's the most interesting stuff you have learned about eco-living while working on the book?

That there are so many great alternatives, from fantastic fair trade jewellery (made on the slums of Kibera by the ethical jewellery company Made) to fantastically cool chrome free leather shoes by Terra Plana.

You are described as someone who is bringing eco-living to the masses - do you think the masses really care about eco-living? isn't it still something that only people with financial capabilities can afford?

Even if only 5 % are interested in making a change, then they are worth communicating and engaging with, and hopefully, the message will spread to everyone. We now all have to recycle our rubbish or we get fined so nobody can ignore eco-living completely. 10 years ago, fairtrade bananas and coffee were a niche product bought by a committed few. Now they have become totally mainstream. Change happens quickly.

What's your reply to the critics of green consumerism, like George Monbiot for example, who believe it causes more damage than good by giving us an illusion that we can fix the world with a couple of efficient bulbs and a pair of organic cotton jeans?

Nobody is going to stop buying jeans. Why should we? We are not living in the dark ages and whether we like it or not, we are a society of consumers. Shopping has become one of the most popular forms of entertainment. If we can get people to direct their spending power in the right direction, then perhaps more people will be paid a fair wage.

Sure, we need to cut down on how much and how quickly we are consuming, particularly in fashion. I do think we need to slow down, buy fewer, better quality items, and respect the things we buy - looking after them, mending them, making them last as long as possible - so that we stop throwing things away so readily. Cheap, fast fashion, in particular, is a false economy as it falls apart after a couple of washes.

It seems that the options for men are relatively limited when it comes to eco-fashion. What's your advice for those of us who happen to be men, but still want to be fashionable, cool and green?

There are plenty of organic jeans around now, (including Levi's) and there are labels like Katharine E Hamnett, Loomstate, and Howies that cater for men who want to be green and fashionable. Support those labels and other companies will follow.

How many of the tips you provide in your book you implement in your daily life?

what's the one you like mostly? Washing your clothes at 30 degrees. They still come out just as clean!

What you see as the hottest trends in green living in the next couple of years? is there any area that we should follow in particular?

We will be seeing more alternatives to cotton (even organic cotton - it's so water intensive that it is not sustainable). Fabrics like bamboo, soya, interesting mixes with hemp, washi etc will be more widely available and will filter into designer lines as well as the high street.

What's the most important advice you can give to someone who really wants to change the world and make it greener, but with style?

Don't compromise on style. Be confident in your own style and don't follow trends. Ask questions about where your clothes were made. Slow down.

Your book is about green living. Does it also 'walk the walk', i.e., printed in an environmentally manner (using recycled paper for example)?

The book is made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The hard coverboard is recycled. And I encourage anyone who has a copy to pass it on to a friend once they have finished with it!

The book 'Green is the New Black: Changing the World with Style' can be found on Amazon.com. You can also check out Tamsin Blanchard's blog.

Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!

Mountains of the Moon: 2007 People's Choice Award - part 2

Hello everyone and welcome to part 2 of my Unofficial Guide to Co-op America's 2007 People's Choice Award for the Green Business of the Year.

Today our focus is on eco-fashion and I have the pleasure to present nominee no. 2:

Mountains of the Moon

Business description: an independent, designer-run business offering sustainable apparel and products, giving the fashion-conscious consumer an eco-friendly choice. Mountains of the Moon’s collections feature unique, fashion-forward hemp, organic cotton, tencel and bamboo items designed for style, comfort and healthy living. Simple enough to be worn everywhere, but never boring, their earth-friendly collections are distinctive and diverse, with designs that are funky, stylish, vibrant, and fun.

Located at: Camby, IN

Operating Since: 1998

Website: http://www.mountainsofthemoon.com/

The questionnaire (thank you to Melissa Baswell, Mountains of the Moon owner and head designer):

1. What makes your business a green business?

Our Hemp Enlightenment clothing line is designed with the conscious consumer in mind - those of us who care about the environment and fair labor practices who also want to look good in what we wear! From start to finish, the collections in our Hemp Enlightenment line are designed, patterned, manufactured, dyed and tagged (using eco-friendly materials) in the USA in small, 100% sweatshop-free facilities that are family owned and operated.

We choose to use eco-friendly materials like hemp, tencel and organic cotton that are known for durability and long-life. By selecting fabrics that are not only grown and processed using eco-friendly methods but that also last longer than conventional fabrics, we are able to produce clothing with longer lifecycles than the average garment. We opt to create pieces that are fashion-forward but also timeless for the same reason: Designs that are stylish but that can also be worn for multiple seasons and that surpass fads and trends are less likely to end up in landfills.

We also choose to ship our orders using reused packing materials or USPS boxes that are cradle-to-cradle certified for ecologically-intelligent design, use only recycled and/or tree-free paper for our invoices, and make regular donations to both environmental and social organizations.

2. What is your green characteristic you're most proud of?

The green characteristic that we're the most proud of is the fact that our Hemp Enlightenment line is designed, patterned, manufactured and dyed sweatshop-free "locally" (in the USA). Being a green clothing company doesn't just mean using eco-friendly fabrics. By staying "local," we are able to save fossil fuels, create less waste, and stay in close communication with our manufacturer and dye house (which is wonderful for quality control, as well as making certain that sustainable practices and fair working conditions are being utilized).

3. What is your biggest achievement so far?

In our minds, our biggest achievement is that fact that we have been green-minded since our beginnings in the late 90s. We started this business fresh out of college with very little funding, and built the company by focusing on saving money and the environment: we re-used fabrics from clothing purchased from second-hand stores (we sewed all of our own collections for years), re-used shipping supplies, re-used paper for invoices, and created a website rather than a paper catalog.

We've grown a lot over the years, and although we have our clothing lines manufactured now and over 100 retail stores carry our collections, we continue to operate a company based on the same values we've had since the beginning. We are thrilled that eco-consciousness has finally reached the mainstream, but we are proud that operating a green-minded business was at the top of our priority list even before it was a widespread way of thinking.

4. In what way do you think that you help people to take a green action and make a difference?

We help people to take green action and make a difference by giving consumers the chance to buy stylish, fashion-conscious clothing and green clothing, all in one. Customers who perhaps normally don't shop for sustainable clothing because they worry that they'll have to sacrifice style are able to come to us, and shop for fashion-forward apparel that isn't hurting the earth.

5. Who is your green hero?

We have many, but one of our favorites is Julia Butterfly Hill. Melissa (Mountains of the Moon owner and head designer) had the pleasure of meeting her in 2000, and discussed with her Melissa's vision of creating a clothing line that was both eco and fashion conscious. Julia was incredibly encouraging, and we all felt very inspired by her dedication, as well as the person sacrifices she made (and continues to make) for the well-being of the environment.

6. What's your green dream for your business?

Our green dream is to be able to reach out to even more customers and more stores throughout the world! We've learned through the years that the more we give, the more we get, and vice versa. It's all connected. The more people who realize the benefits of living an eco-conscious lifestyle, the better off the entire world can be. If we can contribute to that mind-set through our passion - fashion - then a huge part of our dream becomes a reality.

The next nominee: Yoga Nine/Buddha Body Fair Trade Store

And if you missed the parts of the Unofficial Guide we published so far on Eco-Libris blog, please check them out:

Introduction

Part 1 - Natural Pet Home Store

Yours,

Raz

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!