Hella-ween Yourself Off of Expensive, Wasteful Costumes

Hey all you spooked readers, (yes Mom, poor grammar on this blog is oftentimes frightening) what's up for Halloween? Tons of costumes, candy, and wacky fun, NO DOUBT. This year, let the freaky deaky spookage begin, but without store bought costumes (Americans spend $5billion annually on Halloween) often made from Middle Eastern Oil and PVC polyvinyl chloride, both of which suck! I'm thinking thrift stores for gowns, ugly power suits for political candidates, and bathing suits for Michael Phelps.

Peep the article GSpotter Margaret has in today's Plenty Magazine with spooky yet scintillating eco costume ideas.

Green Girl on the Street Video : Eco Politics

Here's the latest Sprig.com video expertly produced and edited by a GSpotting bff Brit Liggett, featuring GSpotting team member Margaret. The issues addressed in this episode of Green Girl On the Street include presidential candidates, animal spirits, and the "party of Lincoln."

Holy Eco Fashion, Batman - Good Tips Angela Lindvall

Today's WWD features an article entitled "The Eco Maker" about model and eco-activist Angela Lindvall. The best part of the piece is Lindvall's favorite eco-fashion brand shout-outs. Like, The Battalian, Brown Label jeans, Elena Garcia, and Velvet Leaf.

I'm freaking loving this top by Velvet Leaf, much like the one I saw a woman rocking with a black pencil skirt, yesterday in the locker room at the Equinox Gym in Union Square (Thanks Bess for letting me be your guest).

Eco Fashion LOVE LOVE LOVE

LOVE LOVE LOVE for men and women, Bourgeois Boheme: Fashion with Compassion, a fantastic new ethical/eco British retailer

Check out the footwear: Good Lord; I'm in love. These photos don't do these pieces justice, but let's just say affordable green fashion just got a major baller in Bourgeois Boheme.

High School Musical 3 - Chad Loves Eco Fashion

Chad (Corbin Bleu) from High School Musical 1 and 2 is getting tricked out in green for HSM 3. According to HSM stylist, Chad is "kind of jock-based, but has an eco-friendly vibe. He's the first character in a feature film to wear primarily organic and sustainable clothing, all the way down to his sustainable G-Star jeans."

Chad's American Apparel organic tees feature custom eco-friendly messages like 'My dog didn't eat my homework, I recycled it' and 'Greenster.' "We launched Nike's new green line of sneakers, so all his sneakers are sustainable. He also wears an amazing pair of sandals -- Maasi Treads -- made by the Maasi tribe in Kenya. The soles are made out of actual tire treads!"

Jason Mraz- Conscious Musician and Total Mensch

Here is an interview G Spotter Margaret did for the Washington Post's Sprig.com with musician Jason Mraz.

A few key pieces to watch for: 

*The interviewer quasi crushing on the musician's open mindedness and outfit (no shoe + hottie hat = winning look)

*The musician 's out of this world forearm tattoos of a man and a woman.  The man tat has the musician's height in cm and the woman tat is blank which will be "filled in when I meet the right one" he said.  Awwwww

*The Jason Mraz tour is being greened by Reverb

Listen to Jason Mraz's album Here

Or watch his new music video Here

Coming Soon: Sexy Green Magazine

We are hella psyched just thinking about the forthcoming green magazine, Coco Eco. Even the website's splash page which merely occupies the magazine's virtual real estate location on the world wide web, looks sassy and enticing.

What's more, one of our favorite green beauty experts, Emma Pezzack, who runs online beauty retail site Future Natural and also edits Organic Beauty View, will be the beauty editor for Eco Coco. That selection in and of itself has us convinced of the supreme editorial acumen of the soon to be released magazine.

Green Solutions from the Past

GSpotter Margaret has a new weekly column over at Plenty Magazine. Here is an excerpt from this week's article, which was posted today.

The economy. Energy. Burgeoning carbon footprints vs shrinking portfolios. Not an appetizing picture. Still, we gotta eat. To alleviate some of the stress surrounding these complex and confusing issues, let’s look to the past for simple, green solutions. During the Great Depression, consumers had to differentiate between needs and wants, and you may have witnessed the legacy of that frugal time in the spending habits of your grandparents and their friends. It’s time we all started buying like that generation.

Cutting some waste and expense is easy. Last year, Americans spent $15 billion dollars on bottled water, which is actually more than they spent on iPods. According to the Earth Policy Institute, making plastic bottles requires over 17 million barrels of oil annually. A Great Depression solution: Buy a reusable bottle and refill it with patriotic (i.e. tap) water. Or, to combat the 28 Billion disposable coffee cups Americans run through each year, buy a reusable coffee mug and brew your own at home. If landfill talk doesn’t worry you, how’s this for fear factor: One latte a day adds up to $1,200 dollars. Yikes.

To see the whole article, click here.

Green Rock Music, Rockin Green Roof

This past Saturday was the slamming Futurehood festival, something team GSpotting has been seriously hyped about for weeks. The event was hosted by the parents and kids of PS41 who are raising money for a 19,000 square foot greenroof, to be installed next summer.

GSpotters Nicole and Margaret had the distinct pleasure of (wo)manning the planting station in which the littlest Big City Kids played with dirt, for what appeared to be the first time in their young lives.

Shout out to Bobo Restaurant and specifically Emma, who proved to be the calmest, most collected event organizer we've ever seen.

One FSC Plywood Board, Millions Of Possiblities

Plywood Rocks

If you've ever had a vision about all the ways to design fabulous from just one plywood board that is FSC Certified to boot, then here is your chance.

The Nature Conservancy, Forest Stewardship Council-US (FSC-US), and Design 21: Social Design Network are tri-sponsoring a contest to be auctioned in Nature Conservancy's May 2009 traveling exhibit "Design for a Living World" featuring sustainable natural materials.

Check Design Green Now for all the details to enter.

Happy Green Rosh Hashanah/ Happy Green Eid ul Fitr

Happy (Green) Rosh Hashanah and Eid, everyone!

After exhaustive research, the G Spotting team has discovered that the Muslim festival Eid ul-Fitr عيد الفطر which ends Ramadan has a two part meaning. The first, Eid means "festivity", while Fiṭr can mean "to break the fast" or "nature".

The Jewish High Holy Days including Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur also involve food (issues regarding seasons of seed-sowing, growth, rain patterns, and harvest) and the natural world.

In a time as holy this, it seems very appropriate to think divinely blessed green thoughts and turn them into action. Here is an article about Greening your Ramadan fast, and a Sustainable Rosh Hashanah from cool eco-religious site, Green Prophet.

Eid Mubarak (Blessed Eid) and Shanah Tovah (A Good Year).