Do We Really Need Our To-Go Mugs?

Like many people, I am addicted to caffeine. I refuse to believe that my coffee habit is bad for me (a little caffeine if fine in moderation, right? And haven’t I read somewhere that coffee is healthy?). However I have realized that my dependence on coffee can be harmful for the environment. Our beloved to-go coffee mugs cannot be recycled and are environmentally harmful. In fact, Americans trash about 23 billion paper coffee cups in a single year.

            In the interest of being greener about my beverage consumption, I recently took on an experiment: I gave up all to-go cups (not just coffee mugs, but any and all disposable beverage containers) for three weeks. To make the challenge more interesting I also added plastic water bottles to the list of banned containers because, although plastic can be recycled, most bottles end up in the landfill—over 40 million per day in fact.

            Without the convenience of a paper cup from Panera’s or a Jittery Joes travel mug, I armed myself with two key weapons:  my reusable coffee mug and my Nalgene water bottle. If I wanted coffee from Jittery Joes, I brought along my reusable mug and handed it to the barista, requesting it to be used in place of the customary paper mugs. If I ate dinner out at Moe’s I filled up my Nalgene with water from the soft drink fountain instead of buying a drink.

            More often than not, the employees were happy to help me out, and Jittery Joes even gives a discount to those who bring their own mug. I also found that when I ordered a small coffee they filled my mug to the brim, so I ended up paying for a small but receiving the amount of coffee meant for a large. For a coffee addict such as myself, this was a huge plus.

             The only issue was that lugging around my various reusable containers became quite cumbersome. If I decided to stop by Jittery Joes after class, I had to plan in advance to take my reusable mug with me, and if I went out for dinner I could not forget my Nalgene bottle without being desperately thirsty throughout my meal.  However, I learned that simply asking restaurant employees for a reusable glass to drink from is no problem. One evening when I forgot to bring my water bottle to a fast food restaurant, the cashier happily provided me with a glass cup to replace the restaurant’s customary Styrofoam one. People were willing to work with me, and cutting out to-go cups was easier than I had anticipated.          

Carry reusable water bottles instead of disposable plastic ones!

            The truly rewarding aspect of my challenge was not only learning about the feasibility of reducing my disposable container consumption, but also realizing how much I reduced my environmental footprint. Over the course of three weeks I saved a total of 97 containers: 9 coffee cups, 4 restaurant-style to-go cups, and 84 water bottles (I took my plastic water bottle with me everywhere).

            With our oftentimes busy schedules, we understandably gravitate towards convenience. The trick is finding a compromise between efficiency and sustainability. Making small changes, such as bringing your own coffee mug once in a while or switching to a reusable water bottle allows us to be kind to the environment without sacrificing comfort.

--Claire Ruhlin, Community Intern

Paper or Plastic?

Fun reusable shopping bags from Baggu

          It’s no question that shopping bags are a part of daily routine. At this very moment you probably have a stash of grocery bags stuffed under the kitchen sink, in the car door, the pantry, or a secluded corner of the garage (I know I do). The US alone consumes about 10 million paper shopping bags a year, and nearly 1 trillion plastic bags are used each year worldwide. However, our shopping bag habit is costly. Paper bag production depletes forests, uses harmful chemicals and emits greenhouse gasses. Plastic bags are made from the non-renewable resource crude oil, and a single plastic bag takes about 400 years to decompose. Despite their prevalence disposable shopping bags present an environmental dilemma regarding production and recycling.    

            Though recyclable, plastic shopping bags cannot be deposited in curbside recycling bins since they can clog recycling machinery, damage equipment and interfere with the sorting process. However most grocery stores offer plastic bag recycling bins, and plastic bags can be taken directly to some recycling facilities such as the ACC solid waste department.

            An alternative to plastic bags is to request paper bags, which can be recycled with the rest of your paper products. Contrary to popular belief, paper bags are actually no more environmentally friendly than plastic. In fact, even more energy is required in the recycling and transport of paper bags than that of plastic.

         Here lies the problem: paper or plastic?  Instead of regular shopping bags, stock up on reusable bags. On average, the lifespan of a reusable grocery bag is equal to more than seven hundred plastic bags, and by just one person switching over to reusable grocery sacs, over 22,000 plastic bags would be saved. Most grocery stores provide well-priced reusable bags, and online stores sell all types of designs and colors. You can also get crafty and try sewing your own out of an old t-shirt. Substituting reusable bags for their paper or plastic counterparts cuts down on waste as well as the amount of energy used in production and recycling.   

          


-- Claire Ruhlin, Community Intern

Recycle, Reconstruct, Redesign

     The average American throws away a whopping 68 lbs. of unwanted clothing in a single year. In response to this issue, the industry of redesigned or recycled fashion is expanding on all levels. Revamped fashion has also become more accessible thanks to sustainable companies and designers devoted to transforming used textiles into coveted and fashionable garments. Companies such as TRAIDremade, Preloved, E2, Geoffrey B. Small, Urban Renewal, and Community Service are among those following this movement.

           

            TRAIDremade is a brand and a registered charity. The company creates edgy garments made exclusively from donated materials collected from 900 recycling banks across the UK. TRAID stands for Textile Recycling for Aid and International Development. The charity works to save clothes and shoes from the landfill, raise funds for overseas development projects, and educate the public on environmental and poverty issues. Since its launch in 2000, the company has donated a total of over $1.8 million to projects such as creating a fishing cooperative in the Philippines, supplying clean water for the people of Kenya and providing educational activities encouraging students to discuss relevant issues. The recycled clothing offered by the brand became widely available through a partnership with Topman, a high-street chain, in 2002. Now TRAIDremade’s clothing is available in Topman’s Oxford Circus store, allowing for accessible sustainable clothing.

TRAIDremade Peplum Dress

         
        Très chic!  French partners Michele Meunier and Olivier Chatenet founded the label E2 in 1999 as a means of pursuing their love of vintage clothing. Meunier and Chatenet combine contemporary taste with vintage designer clothing and ethnic items through selling their products directly from the runway or showroom in season. The line offers refashioned vintage pieces from high-end designers such as Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel and Madame Grès. The brand also provides reworked ethnic costume as well and a line of elaborate dresses made from vintage silk scarves. They source their redesigned items from estate sales, auctions, and flea markets. E2 clothing can be purchased online, from its exhibition-like shows, or by appointment.

E2 Silk Flower Print Dress

            The ever avant-garde American designer Geoffrey B. Small exemplifies successful incorporation of recycled pieces into modern fashion. Small has pushed the envelope of innovation, a key factor to his revered position in the fashion world. He has displayed more collections at Paris fashion week than any other American designer and has distributed over 30,000 recycled pieces from his Boston-based company. He is accredited with pioneering the use of recycled design in fashion, and his impressive list of clients includes Mariah Carey, Winona Ryder and Halle Berry. Today he resides in Italy where he handcrafts a limited series of garments for select stores around the world.

         

Geoffrey B. Small Runway

         Urban Outfitters offers an exclusive Urban Renewal line made of one-of-a-kind pieces handcrafted in Philadelphia from vintage, surplus or unwanted materials sourced from rag mills worldwide. The company uses local manufacturing and staff to reconstruct vintage pieces and recycle discarded fabrics. Source materials include men’s shirts, sheets, vintage t-shirts and Levi’s denim. These pieces are washed, dyed and trimmed until they are ready to wear. No Urban Renewal item is made from the same material, so each creation is slightly different from the rest. Customers can choose the shape, size and color of each garment, and will receive a printed design from what is available. The line includes dresses, tops, scarves, vests (for the men) and even jewelry.

Urban Renewal

        
           Community Service is a redesigned clothing line here in Athens created by Sanni Baumgaertner, owner of COMMUNITY. The line consists of revamped vintage pieces with a modern twist. Community Service has produced collections and fashion shows biannually since Fall 2010. The  Spring 2012 collection will be available for purchase in COMMUNITY this week.

Community Service

             The potential for sustainability exists in the way we produce, the way we shop, and the way we live. By looking to these companies we can all find inspiration for incorporating revamped or refashioned clothing into our wardrobes. 


For more Information:
TRAIDremade: shop, support
E2: shop
Geoffrey B. Small: site
Urban Renewal: shop, blog
                            
--Claire Ruhlin, Community Intern

Recycling 101: Egg Cartons

Image Source

             Recycling egg cartons can be tricky business, especially considering the variety available: styrofoam, cardboard, and plastic. Here are some helpful tidbits to keep in mind:

        Unfortunatley styrofoam packaging is not widely recyclable so it is best to avoid these containers.  However, if you do have some styrofoam egg cartons and want to be more environmentally conscious, Publix stores provide recycling bins for styrofoam containers, including egg cartons.

         Unlike styrofoam, cardboard egg cartons are recyclable. Since they are made with a softer paper pulp which breaks down easily, they can also work beautifully for backyard composting.

        Plastic cartons are also recyclable, and can go with the rest of your plastics. Just to be safe, you can always check for the recycling symbol on the container.

        Happy Recycling!


-Claire Ruhlin, Community Intern

Recycling 101: Did You Know?

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          Your coffee habit is hurting more than just your wallet. Paper to-go cups are non-recyclable and according to betacup approximately 58 billion paper cups end up in landfills each year. The cups are laminated with a plastic resin, which, although keeps beverages warm, prevents recycling. 

            As an alternative, try substituting reusable coffee cups for paper ones. This will decrease the consumption of disposable mugs and cut packaging costs for coffee shops. You can save money too. Jittery Joe's gives anyone who brings their own travel mug a discount. Or better yet, skip the coffee shop and brew coffee at home. If you’re in a hurry pour it in a reusable to-go mug, or enjoy at the kitchen table. Simple changes such as these are small steps towards reducing waste and living more eco-friendly.        

Meet Martha Brown - From the South to Paris and back.

Martha Brown is a recent addition to our Athens community, and is here to pursue a career in law. Flipping through pages of old photos; she recounted her life’s adventures with a charming mix of European and Southern charm. While her goal is similar to that of many of those who call Athens home, the journey that brought her here was anything but ordinary. 

Brown, a Louisiana native, was a Parisian fashion model in the late 1970s and 80s. Her journey began in Manhattan as a home-grown  Southern girl who knew little of the modeling industry. Armed with a small snapshot of herself, Brown went to different agencies in hopes of beginning her career. Although every agency accepted her and claimed she had “the stuff” the year she spent in New York was unfruitful. 

Brown modeled with the Wilhelmina Agency, and during that time, Wilhelmina Cooper passed away from lung cancer.  “I was with Wilhelmina and she wanted me to go to Paris because she thought my look was rather French. When she died, that’s what stimulated me to go to Paris. I just got on a plane and never came back,” Brown said. 

 

During Brown’s time abroad, she appeared in magazines such as Time, French Elle, and Italian, American, and French Vogue. Her lucrative career was not just limited to France. Brown’s work took her to Germany and Switzerland and allowed her to work with designers such as Sonia Rykiel and Jean-Paul Gaultier, who she modeled for regularly at the beginning of his career. 

She lived in France for 35 years, staying even after her modeling career ended. She only returned to the States five years ago to enter Law school at Ole Miss and has now lived in Athens for over a year.

What brought you to New York and started the whole modeling journey for you? 

I was a Southern woman at a very interesting time, when a lot of girls were still just getting married and not going to work. Then, there was a whole other group of women who were entering the market place. 

I was looking for my identity, and I’d wanted to go to law school even then. I was accepted into LSU for law but my father, who was an attorney in Louisiana, wouldn’t send me because he told me it was a man’s profession. I was frustrated that my father wouldn’t let me go to law school and I thought “If I can’t work with my mind, I’d just work with my body.” Then, I saw actual models and they didn’t seem to have anything that I didn’t have. I wanted to go to law school and my father didn’t encourage me, so I ran off to Paris to be a model. It was a very innocent thing really.

What was your favorite part of being a model?

From having no success in New York to having nothing but success in Paris, I had to keep pinching myself. I got caught up in the creativeness of it. You can tell by the photos that they are more interested in taking beautiful pictures and designing interesting clothing. They aren’t concerned with how many they are going to sell. They just go all out for the picture, and being part of that creative process felt more like art. It was to be young, and in Paris and to be around people who could do beautiful work. 

                                              _____________________________________________________________

"The most famous photographer I ever worked with was named Horst. He was a German photographer who became extremely well known. He photographed the British Aristocracy between the two world wars. For this picture, he went behind and old camera with a tripod. He was ancient when he took this picture, but he put the velvet curtain over his head and everything flashed, and he came out and said “Thank You.” I waited around because most people take hundreds of pictures, but this one just took one click."

                                                   _____________________________________________________________

What has it been like getting your law degree after being in a different culture for so long?

 

Paris to Mississippi is a completely different world. I had terrible culture shock because I had been living in a very Cosmopolitan city and then suddenly everyone is saying “Yes Ma’am” to me and acting very bizarre. There was the shock of being in a different culture and then the shock of law school. It’s hard to remobilize your brain after you haven’t been using it in that way in a while. Plus, I was in school with kids my son’s age.

As someone who’s been through all the pressures of the modeling industry, what do you feel about the size debate surrounding the industry? 

You do have to have certain credentials like bone structure and height, and for the most part, if you don’t have those, you’re not going to be successful. But I think it’s terrible that this fantasy has been created with these model competitions and model this and model that. I’ve met so many women who are so body conscious that if they have one little bit of fat they won’t wear something. I think it’s horrible, every woman has her own beauty and can be beautiful, it’s just a matter of bringing that beauty out. Trying to make all body types conform to one is just a travesty.

What’s your favorite part of Athens? 

When I first got here, I couldn’t stand it and just wanted to leave. It looked dingy, the people were all dressed differently, and I couldn’t tell what was going on here. I didn’t understand the style, and it’s got its own definite style. I was coming from Paris to Mississippi. Then, the difference between Ole Miss and Athens was huge. Then it started to grow on me, and I must say that I like it very much. 

"I like the tolerance here. It’s a town that’s tolerant of individual and artistic expression.  I’d like it to stay, I like it that much. I think sometimes things happen for a reason and it seems like Athens kind of found me. It’s very special here."

After getting to be a model and then coming back and getting your law degree, would you say that both of the dreams you had for your life came true?

Going through my old portfolio is like a dream to me.  Sometimes I have to pinch myself because I have come full circle. Yeah I was there and I did all of that, but it’s taken almost like dream proportions in my mind. It’s part of who I am but now I’m really getting to do what I wanted to do in the first place.  It’s like a beautiful saying that says “going back to the beginning and seeing it for the first time.” 

Seyi Amosu

Community Intern

Photos from Martha's Portfolio

Why Go Local?

       Have you ever wandered the streets of town and stumbled across a family owned restaurant or a local art shop? It’s places like these that give a community character, connect its citizens, and allow for sustainable living. One of the most convenient ways to incorporate sustainability into everyday routine is by shopping locally rather than from mass-market shopping centers.

Source: Flickr

            Keeping it local creates a sense of connection and charm, from which sustainability comes naturally. Money and resources remain within the community, and less nonrenewable resources are used in production and transport. Mass-producing and shipping products sold in chain stores consumes thousands of calories in fossil fuels (non-renewable energy forms that emit carbon dioxide) and wastes paper, plastic and other packaging materials. Goods produced close to home require significantly less transport and packaging and support the local economy. Buying directly from local businesses also reduces vehicle pollution, since they are often located in city centers where people walk rather than drive.

            The “Buy Local” movement is quickly gaining momentum, especially in the food industry. Your lunchtime salad is more environmentally costly than you might think; shipping and packaging one bag of lettuce across the US requires 4,600 calories of fossil fuel. Foodies everywhere agree that fruits and veggies bought from local farms are fresher, healthier, and save energy because they require less transport. Locally grown foods are easily found at farmer’s stands or farmer’s markets. Some shopping centers (Whole Foods, for example) even stock locally grown options, providing a convenient and accessible way to access goods produced within the community.

Source: Flickr

            Being mindful of where your meals come from isn’t the only way to enjoy all your local area has to offer; buying a locally made handcrafted scarf or furnishing your home with a painting by a local artist are also fun ways to live sustainably. A business working in harmony with local artisans provides a responsible and environmentally conscious method of production. Alabama Chanin, and eco-friendly company founded by Alabama native Natalie Chanin, employs local artisans from Florence, Alabama to handcraft unique garments and home products. The hand-sewn pieces are created from a combination of new, organic, and recycled materials, and focus is on sustainability through the slow-design process. Working collaboratively with local designers allows businesses like Alabama Chanin to offer meaningful, sustainable and one-of-a-kind products.

            Supporting the locals is a reward in itself, with sustainability a fortunate side effect. Locally crafted items offer individuality, a quality the cookie-cutter products from a factory hundreds of miles away lack. Making efforts to buy local, such as picking up a couple of fresh peaches from a farmer’s market, or buying an in-town artist’s jewelry, allows for a more personal and eco-friendly shopping experience. So be adventurous: the next time you pass by an independent boutique or a vendor selling fresh fruit, take a moment to stop, look around, and connect with some fellow locals. Sustainability is simple, rewarding, and can be found in your very own neighborhood.


-- Claire Ruhlin, Community Intern

What is Sustainability?

          You’ve probably heard of the term “sustainable”, especially considering the recent surge in environmental awareness (“sustainable agriculture", “sustainable development” or “sustainable energy” sound familiar?). But what exactly is sustainability, and how can we promote it? 

        

Source:Flickr 

 A system is “sustainable” when it is able to replicate or reproduce whatever it depletes; in other words, it is able to survive on it’s own. A college graduate who’s able to get a job, pay rent, and afford to feed herself could be considered “sustainable” because, essentially, she doesn’t use any resources other than those she makes herself. 

With increased technological development and the consumption of fossil fuels, the environment is taking quite a beating. If we work towards a sustainable means of development, our current needs will not compromise those of future generations.

        
Being sustainable may be easier than you think. Try switching out regular incandescent light bulbs for CFLs (compact fluorescent lightbulbs), which not only save energy, but last up to ten times as long. You could also replace paper or plastic shopping bags with reusable ones, which are sold at most grocery stores, and as a bonus, often come in fun, colorful designs

Source: Flickr

In the fashion world, “sustainable” means producing clothing that emits no pollutants in manufacturing and does not deplete non-renewable resources. The textile industry, currently one of the major contributors to global warming, discharges toxic chemicals into the environment, uses pesticides and nonrenewable fabrics (like synthetic polyesters and nylons), and consumes enormous quantities of energy.

Source: Flickr

In response to these harmful impacts, renewable or organic fibers are becoming increasingly trendy. Fashion designer Anke Domasque, for example, creates sustainable fabric out of milk (yes, milk). But sustainable clothing is not only defined by its fabric; giving new life to old wardrobe pieces is sustainable as well because it prevents the consumption of new materials and finds new use for the old. Buying a vintage sweater or snipping an old pair of jeans into cutoffs are fun, easy, and inexpensive ways to make your wardrobe more sustainable. By seeking out sustainable clothing, such as local, vintage, or redesigned pieces, you can reduce your environmental  footprint and promote the eco-friendly fashion movement.


-- Claire Ruhlin, Community Intern