A Sustainable Clothing Network is Haute!

As many of my readers know, I've been referring to the Revolving Closet Project for years, based on my rewarding experience in college with sharing clothing among 8 or so young women who wore roughly the same size and had a common interest in off-beat fashion, as well as in handmade accessories and shoes reflecting our diverse, multinational backgrounds, home regions, and travels.

Our shared closet nurtered our friendships, as well as our growing, collective awareness. We learned that our relationships extended to women's collectives, local artisans, vendors in out-of-the-way markets, and thrift-stores in various Metropoles, and that we were constructing our own "organic" approach to fashion. We felt cool, and we were often haute!

Now as so many people wake up to the ways that uncritical consumption of so-called "Fast Fashion," ignores the Full Circle of Life, including everything from the environmental impacts to the hijacking, commercialization of women's body images to the real repercussions for workers everywhere, perhaps we get another chance to be on the cutting edge of chic!

Check out this article in the NYT!

And don't forget to check the related comments. I'd love to see your answers to the question, Would you lease your clothes? (Leave a comment for me here!)

Setting Your "Sites" on Organic

With Indian Summer on us full force in San Diego and all of the fruits at their peak, we've been craving mostly simple fare these days. When salad takes center stage with perfect tomatoes and scrummy avocado, we like to add a grain, like soba noodles, cracked bulgar wheat, or quinoa. We also enjoy a simple stirfry with tofu and onion, celebrating the sprig of kale that made it's fall debut in this week's box.

If, however, there's cooking weather brewing in your kitchen, here are two sites that wax organic and might just inspire a culinary storm:

A Slow Food Journey via "101 Cookbooks"

Power to the Conscious Cook: "Mighty Foods"

25 Ways to Get (and Give) What You Want Without Money

(Reprinted from www.coopamerica.org)

NOURISHMENT
1 Hold a home-baked bread or dessert swap.
2 Grow your own fruits and vegetables to give away.
3 Share seeds, plants and clippings from your garden.
4 Buy food or supplies in bulk and share with friends.
5 Start a dinner co-op.
6 Arrange a cooking day among friends to prepare food like next weeks' dinners, pasta sauces or granola in bulk.
7 Start a dinner program in your neighborhood. When something momentous happens to a family (having a baby, losing a loved one, illness, etc.) form a neighborhood team to provide dinners on a rotating basis until the family is back on its feet.

CARE
8 Start a babysitting or childcare co-op.
9 Start a pet-sitting co-op.
10 Arrange to look after a sick friend with neighbors.

HOME HELP
11 Form a home-repair team. Give and get services from painting to putting up a fence or fixing the roof.
12 Share infrequently used tools and garden supplies.
13 Collect partially used or unused cans of paint to share and exchange. It saves money and cuts down

GOODS
14 Hold a clothes swap at work, church or in your neighborhood. Have a fashion show and clothes swap with friends.
15 Hold toy or sporting goods swaps/exchanges for kids so they can learn new sports and games.

KNOWLEDGE
16 Exchange lessons, like oil painting for guitar playing.
17 Ask a 12-year-old how to get onto the Internet.

SERVICES
18 Start a skills exchange in your community.
19 Start a carpool in your neighborhood or office.
20 Swap your skills for accommodation. Provide accounting, housework, nursing care, childcare or other skills in return for a room in a house. Alternatively, provide accommodations in your house to get the services you need and help a student or young person get started.

CURRENCY
21 Make your own money.

COMMUNITY
22 Adopt a stream or a highway to restore or improve it.
23 Give a traveler a place to stay.
24 Set up an area at a community center, apartment building, church/synagogue where people can leave items they no longer need for others. Give what's left to a charity.
25 Volunteer your time and energy, in your neighborhood, city, town or region.


Also Consider bartering...

* If you're interested in saving money
* If you'd like to get to know others in your community
* If you'd like to learn a new talent or skill
* If you're not interested in performing certain tasks yourself
* If you'd like to feel good about helping others