Screw that!

A few weeks ago I made a post about voting with your dollars, i.e., buying organic and fair trade products so major manufacturers are forced to take note and change their ways. Well, I still think that's the right thing to do, but I may have been a little naive in believing it would only produce positive results. From what I've been reading, Wal-Mart's choice to sell organics in response to consumer demand is a double-edged sword. Yes, a wider audience will be educated (hopefully) on the benefits of organic farming, but a large corporation like Wal-Mart actually has the power to weaken organic standards. Whaaaa? Yeah, that's right, and don't think they won't do it either if it means greater profit for them. They're apparently already exposing loopholes in the existing laws. Frankly, I'm a little disenchanted. Wal-Mart? Smiley face? I thought I could trust that little guy. I guess the lesson is that it's always wrong to be optimistic when there's money involved. You are right to laugh at me.

Thank you, CO2! Now, I don't have to wear a sweater.

Wow. It's a good thing this is a blog and not a radio show because I'm speechless. This ad campaign has me absolutely dumbfounded this morning. In addition to arguing that global warming isn't happening, which is the standard approach of Kyoto-offenders like GM and Exxon Mobil, the first of these two spots funded by said corporations is ostensibly saying the more CO2 the better. "Hey, let's get excited about global warming. Don't you want to wear your bathing suit year-round and have leathery-brown skin and live with the threat of catastrophic hurricanes in Manhattan?" It has to be a joke, right? I'm afraid not.

By the way, this campaign is strategically timed to coincide with the opening of Al Gore's new movie An Inconvenient Truth, which I encourage everyone to see when it opens next Wednesday. Don't worry, it won't be cold in the theatre like it used to be before fabulous global warming.

Do Your Shoes Have a Soul?

As alluded to in the masthead of this blog, hippies and iHippies agree on environmental and social issues but may differ in areas such as the importance they place on style... or whether or not they even include that word in their vocabulary. An iHippie is not ashamed to be fashionable, but she also thinks about the materials and labor used in the production of her chic clothing. With that in mind, let's examine one of the staples of the hipster or mod uniform--the Converse Chuck Taylor shoe. The problem with these shoes is that they are manufactured overseas, and Converse is owned by Nike, a company that has long been accused of sweatshop labor.

"Oh no! Oh my!" you might yelp, "Now, what ever will I wear to the Wolf Parade concert?"

Never fear, my budding iHippie; allow me to introduce you to No Sweat shoes. These shoes are made by union workers in Indonesia (you can even check out the wages and benefits of the people who make them), and although No Sweat's legal counsel made them explicitly state on their site that these are not Chuck Taylors, I've been fooling my hipster friends for months now... and feeling doubly good about it.

So if you want to make a statement about labor issues while you're making a statement about your chosen crowd, head on over to No Sweat and pick up some soles with soul.

Who's the Greenest of them All?

According to a recent post by treehugger, my home town is powered by the top-rated green energy utility in the country. How proud I must be. Austin Energy uses wind power, landfill gas, and small hydro to supply 435 MWh/year to Austin and surrouding areas. Their GreenChoice Renewable Energy Program is fully subscribed and is so popular (due in part to the fact that renewable sources are now less expensive than fossil fuel and in part to the fact that Austinites are just cool that way) that the utility recently had a drawing to decide which customers would get to subscribe to the next batch of renewable energy. Of course, I entered, and believe it or not, my account was randomly drawn. I never win anything that requires luck--there must have been some karma involved.

On a sidenote, this news about Austin Energy makes me think of something Austin Mayor Will Wynn said when I heard him speak recently at the Sustainable Shoppers Ball. I can't remember all the details (e.g., dates and figures), but he told a story about a coal power plant that was planned for construction a few years back. The land was purchased and the plans were drawn. However, the plant was never built because Austinites conserved enough energy to make the power plant unnecessary. A huge cheer went up from the crowd and one little, green tear started to form in the corner of this iHippie's eye.

Laziness Is Good for the Environment

Did anyone ever tell you to rinse off your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher? If so, you may have thought about it practically and wondered aloud, "What's the dishwasher for if I have to clean my plate first?" Well, now, you have another argument to add to your armamentarium--not washing your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher is actually better for the environment.

Today's dishwashers are powerful enough to get dishes clean as long as you knock off any excess food (into your compost pile of course). Just make sure you only run the dishwasher when it's full and only use about a tablespoon of soap. You'll end up saving money and energy, and energy conserved is a victory for the environment. For added savings, air dry (rather than heat dry) your dishes and wipe them down with a clean towel to avoid streaking.

Also, don't let anyone tell you that doing all your dishes by hand is more environmentally friendly than using a dishwasher. According to a study in Germany, a dishwasher uses half the energy, one-sixth of the water and less soap than hand-washing an identical set of dirty dishes.

So tonight when you finish dinner, relax and enjoy the comforts of modern technology with a clean conscience.

How to Use Your Green

The aforementioned Ford deal brings to mind a point that's worth making. I believe the thing that gets lost on a lot of environmentalists is that any positive change is good for us and the planet. Sure most corporations care more about profits than they do the environment, and they make deals like the one Ford made to improve their public image. But if we stay positive and realize that--no matter the impetus behind the move--it's a step in the right direction, we may just get somewhere in halting global warming and other problems facing our society. That's what makes this new movement of environmentalists different -- we understand the market; we know how to use it in our favor; and, while we know a little skepticism is beneficial, we remain optimistic that we can change society rather than just dropping out of it.

With that in mind, the most important thing we can do right now is make our voices heard with our dollars. By purchasing fair-trade clothing, hybrid automobiles, organic foods and more, we're forcing major companies to take notice and change their practices. As much as we'd like corporations like Wal-Mart to just go away, it's not happening. So let's take things like their choice to sell organic foods as a positive...even if we'd still never be caught dead there.

Baby Green

After a long layoff, my blog has been reborn. As I wipe the placenta from my eyes, I see a world where people such as myself are redefining what it means to be an environmentalist. Tree-huggers and hippies of yesteryear take note, today's green aesthete knows the best way to make a difference in society is to remain a part of it and infiltrate it with positive ideas. It's in this spirit that I'm relaunching my blog as iHippie. (Plus, after seeing the Ford commercial featuring Kermit the Frog, I felt less than original about the old blog title. Although, I must commend Ford for their recent deal with TerraPass.)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the new direction. Plans for iHippie include: updates on simple ways to make a difference, tips for looking stylish and feeling good about it and posts that occur more than once every 6 months. Exciting.