If you believe everything you read in the papers, rock stars are a blot on the landscape. Penthouse suites covered in fresh-cut flowers, hotel walls drunkenly tunneled through with cheese knives, baths filled with champagne...no cliché left unturned in the search for an arresting headline. But what is the ecological footprint of the average musician (if there's such a thing)?

Take all those strings - a fresh set on every instrument for every gig, I bet. And since they're metal or nylon, what happens to them afterwards? An elegant eco-friendly answer: jewelry. What is a guitar string but a thread of superbly-engineered wire, ideal for making bracelets? Add the fact that said bracelet was once being strummed by the likes of John Mayer or Ben Harper...and you have a very attractive business model.


And by business I mean "charity". All of the profits from the Wear Your Music project go to charities chosen by the 150+ artists donating their strings - for example, a RelixBand bracelet made from John Mayer's strings sold for $1,100, all of which went to the African Children's Choir. If you like the idea but a thousand bucks makes you twitch, you'll be happy to know that the bracelets usually start at $150, with the price (or rather donation) rising according to whether you want engravings, semi-precious stones or even a diamond to be part of the package.

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I love those “aha!” moments, when I read or hear something that sums up my own thoughts and feelings and expresses them in a way I’d never have. The best are those piquant, pithy and precise quotes. These are some of my favorites:

Let’s start by ...Read More

Edgy met veggie on Project Runway as designers were presented with the opportunity of a planet's lifetime: to create green cocktail dresses for their beautiful models. 

The new crop of Christian and Jeffrey wannabes cheered after Tim Gunn explained their new challenge of using ...Read More

Could fashion save the planet? If it were up to Phillip Lim it could.

The savvy visionary, whose offbeat tailored pieces are peddled at speciality department stores and collected by Hollywood producers' wives, looked to the North Pole this season for inspiration. He found it ...Read More

I’ve always wanted to be one of those women who can wear a hat without looking like a moron. I sometimes wish I could go back in time to the days when sporting a cloche wouldn’t draw stares. Thanks in part to the bold styles seen in Sex and the City, the hat may, in fact, be making a comeback for the mainstream.

Now, for any ...Read More

I enjoy the occasional controversy. Not the "throw one below the belt" emotionally-charged controversy, but the intelligent discussion chock full of thoughtful comments and ideas even-in-the-throes-of-opposing-views controversy.

And I especially enjoy them when they’re eco-related. So, here goes. Yes, I covet the new ...Read More

Now that the presidential race is off and running, it's time to compare and contrast what the two White House kitchens might look like in the way of sustainable food sourcing. Take a little break from the political arguments about economics and Iraq and peek into the possible future White House kitchens.

First, a look at the ...Read More

Read through all our articles for the week? At a loose end? Curl up with a few of these...
The home of Good Housekeeping over in Harlem, NY, has had an eco-friendly makeover. ...Read More

We're midway through the busy working week. Grab some chocolate, kick your shoes off and click a few of these...

For the Brits among you: make sure you close your windows at night....or ...Read More

In the current economic climate of massive corporate lay-offs and gas prices nearing $5 a gallon, it would seem risky to open a posh green home design store peddling eco fireplaces ranging as high as $12,000. But Fred Segal is banking on its reputation as the hippest L.A. store around since 1976. If the brand could invent the first fashion jeans it ...Read More