Not since Scarlett O’Hara upcycled those curtains to make a crazy green velveteen dress have we seen such industrious textile make-overs on the screen.

Yes, Anne Fontaine’s Coco Before Chanel is the quintessential tweed rags-to-riches saga, in which a poor but clever French girl and her sister climb the ladder from the orphanage to the chateau by making great contacts at a tavern where they sang a funny ditty, entitled Coco (hence the nickname for Gabrielle Chanel).

I took away much from Audrey Tautou’s brilliant portrayal of the iconic designer, mainly a …

Tags: Audrey Tautou , Chanel , CoCo , couture , fashion , France , handbags , Octoberfest , Paris , Project Runway , recycle , reduce , reuse , Scarlett O'Hara curtain dress

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Perhaps the most compelling argument you can make to your teenage daughter about wearing a school uniform is that the pleated skirt looks totally amazing with Uggs. “Your legs look sooo long, honey!” Tell your son girls have always had a weakness for the classics. Google Gregory Peck.

Naturally, there’s a more substantive argument new generations will surely learn soon enough. Doing one’s part in the collaborative effort to reduce consumption outweighs the fleeting thrill of showing up looking ravishing in …

Tags: fairtrade , Japanese school uniforms , organic cotton , public schools , recycle , reduce , reuse , School uniforms , teen fashion , Uggs

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Okay, when I threaten to send my daughters to reform school, this is not at all what I’m talking about. This fanciful emporium at 3902 Sunset Blvd. (in the hip L.A. Silverlake neighborhood) is earning major gold stars, not demerits, for its forward thinking and commitment to responsible design.

Most girls would be thrilled to go to this ReForm School, a store and web shop founded by Billie and Tootie (see below) who met in high school and dreamed of opening a retail business focusing on the four R’s: reduce, reuse, recycle …

Tags: bamboo , cotton , green business , Green home decor , hemp , organic , reclaimed wood , recycle , reduce , reuse , Silverlake , vintage pottery

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They’re called Eco Started Kits, but they’re more like emergency kits designed to heal what’s hurting our injured planet: greenhouse emissions, energy out the window, water down the drain.

For $97.50, you get a lot more than a Band-Aid. You get essential tools for an extreme green makeover, as well as a method for measuring and monitoring your carbon footprint as your transformation takes place.

What’s the emergency?

“Because of climate change, we need to get people moving as fast as possible,” says Andrea Nyland, the co-founder of Eco …

Tags: appliances , environment , global warming , green , greenhouse emissions , insulation , light bulbs , outlets , reduce , water , weather stripping

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A nearly $800 billion stimulus package passed by our lawmakers contains incentives for we the people not just to follow our hearts, but also good common sense in preparing for the future that awaits us.

The thinking is reducing energy waste and investing in alternative fuels go hand-in-hand with reviving our anemic economy.

The package goes a long way to target energy waste in federal buildings and homes across the country. $5 billion is set aside to help low-income families weatherize their living spaces with energy saving windows and improved insulation.

Another …

Tags: energy , environmentalism , government , lifestyle , reduce , stimulus package , sustainability , transportation

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I’ve been walking my suburban San Francisco neighborhood for 13 years now, first as a newly married in jogging apparel, then as a new mom pushing a carriage, then one pushing a double umbrella stroller, and now, as an old mom yanking on a pug dog’s leash as I hike the steep hills. I’ve observed a happy change evolving in the landscape, from estates with thirsty sprawling lawns graced with European cottage-style gardens to inventive green designs using rocks or wild grasses as ground cover and gorgeous compositions …

Tags: climate , garden , green , green living , plants , reduce , water , weather

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They said a dental office had to be a bland and benign, pastel-painted suite, where soothing visuals meant polyester contract furniture, framed school degrees and prints of egrets wading in marshlands. It’s all so relaxing until you inhale the fumes of old decay being excavated by a rotating drill bit and submit to the discomfort and dangers of a full mouth x-ray.

But at least one dentist isn’t taking what the old industry feeds us lying down. Dr. Namrata Patel has established the first serious green dental …

Tags: decor , Dentistry , environment , green , radiation , recycle , reduce , sustainable business practices

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Not everyone has the space or budget for a large thermal wine cooler in their pad. Here’s a practical way to chill that organic vino and rescue the dying cork stopper industry at the same time.

The Cork Bark Wine Chiller from Bitters Co. is from and features unglazed terracotta wrapped with an outer layer of natural cork bark ($46). It cools your bottle by insulating it with these layers and lends some earthy style at the same time.

The way of life for Mediterranean cork harvesters has become …

Tags: cork , drink , gift , lifestyle , medicine , organic , organic farming , reduce , wine

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School children across America, like the this group from Brandeis Hillel Day School in San Francisco, gathered to sing songs like This Land is your Land and watch a historic moment in our history. Cheering, high-fiving and hugging, they celebrated not only the inauguration but a victory they badly need as a generation that has inherited a planet in peril and debt from sea to shining sea. The reiterated message has been clear: If someone with Barack Obama’s beginnings can end up as president, we can accomplish anything.

“When I grew …

Tags: Barak Obama , eco , environment , environmentalism , news , politics , reduce , resource , reuse

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