sustainable style foundation*

From Sustainable Sean...

It's always great when sustainability sneaks up and surprises you. That's exactly what happened recently to me at Serious Pie, one of Seattle chef Tom Douglas' restaurants. Chef Tom Douglas is a big supporter of local, organic produce so I always look forward to eating at one of his several restaurants in Seattle. Serious Pie is all about pizza...but not just any pizza, some of the best pizza you'll ever eat. If you stop in during the rush our, you might think you're in Manhattan because every seat is filled and your usually elbow to elbow with your neighbor. Come in during the off hours though and the atmosphere is comparable to a favorite pizzeria in Italy. Regardless of how busy they are, the service is always sincere, attentive, and gracious. One of my favorite pizzas is the chantrelles truffle cheese pizza. Love chantrelles (I used to forage for them personally when doing wildlife fieldwork in the Cascades) and love truffles. So as you might tell, I'm a big fan of Serious Pie and have been for quite some time. The surprise came in the salad special. The main ingredient...Miner's Lettuce! Also called Indian Lettuce, Winter Purslane, and Sweet Beauty, Miner's Lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata) is a native plant that has been a nutritious staple in local diets for centuries, from the first people of Seattle - the Duwasmish - to modern day pizza buffs. The salad was magnificent with D'Anjou pear and a white balsamic dressing. Serious Pie just notched up the sustainable food trend...who needs local organic when you can go NATIVE organic.

From Sustainable Sean...

I love, Love, LOVE writing restaurant reviews and my recent visit to Tidbit Bistro makes this review all the more savory. I'd heard wind of Tidbit from several friends, both foodies and susties (sustainability types), so when a friend invited me to join an ad hoc visit to Tidbit, I was pretty excited. My experience was everything I expected and more. Tidbit has combined a bit of Italy and a bit of Spain to create a ambiance and menu that makes the most of both. The space is both urban and nostalgic while the menu offers contemporary takes on traditional favorites. I started with the crostini con fungi that may have been small on size (as stuzzichini should be) but it was big on flavor leaving me completely satisfied. I chose the whole leaf caesar with grilled chicken for my entree and I can now say I've had the best caesar of my life...seriously. The quantity of salad was perfect, the dressing perfectly creamy, and the chicken delicious in its own right. I honestly think of that salad nightly and will continue to do so until my next visit. To top it all off, I had one of the best tiramisu in my life as well...and I've had LOT of tiramisu, including several in Italy! But the icing on this cake, for me, was the commitment to sustainability that came through loud and clear throughout my experience at Tidbit. From being a certified member of the Green Restaurant Association to their commitment to community, they truly get it. Tidbit happens to be the ONLY certified GRA restaurant in Seattle as of April 2009. Add to all this, the staff were fantastic bringing two of my favorite elements of European restaurants to a little corner of Seattle...fantastic service and a personal connection between staff and customers. You really do feel like any one of the staff that you interact with during the night could be your next best friend. So here's an accolade that works in any language...Bravo to Tidbit Bistro!

From Haberdash for Humanity...When it comes to a food staple around the world, few would argue that rice tops the list. Many would be surprised to know that rice grows around the world and one of the most innovative rice growers, Acquerello, hales from the Vercelli province of the Piedmont region in Italy. The history of rice in Italy goes back to the 1400s and is rich with culture and connection to the land. The family behind Acquerello, the Rondolino family, has been growing rice in the area for three generations and has brought rice cultivation firmly into the 21st century. One of their boldest innovations was to go completely organic in 1998. Along with this committment comes an appreciation for the land and ecosystem connected to rice farming. Today, the paddy fields, known as Tenuta Colombara, are thriving with fish, frogs, and rare birds. Even the product can reflects this committment and appeciation for the natural world. Acquerello is also a support of the Slow Food movement, even more reason to sit back and savor a fine dining experience with some responsible rice.

From haberdash.org...This is my third trip to Maui and I'm pleased to say its becoming easier and easier to find sustainable options. My latest find is a new grocery store in Lahaina (on the west side of Maui) called Lahaina Farms. They don't have a website up yet but you can read more about them in this On My Plate article. It's a small store but it scores right up there with Whole Foods when it comes to quality and selection. And they really take the time to source local and organic items. Down to Earth has been a great option for the sustainable grocery shoppers, but there aren't that many on the island and the closest one to Lahaina is about a forty-five minute drive. There are several Lahaina Farms stores throughout the islands so whether you're a local or a vacationer, take the time to track one down.

Of course I also made the requisite trip to Savers right off the plane. There's no better way to increase your Aloha shirt collectionn than buying them 2nd hand from Savers. Best of all, they have great vintage Aloha shirts that can't be found anywhere else.

At very long last I have found a solution to a dilemma greater than paper vs. plastic - what to clean your dishes with. Yes, I do use dish clothes but now and then you need something with a little more texture to get the caked on stuff off. Not being a synthetics fan I've steered away from some of the scary sponges out there. But oh how I've missed that green scratchy side. Now Twist has saved the day with their Loofah Sponge #50. It has a sponge on one side and a loofah on the other...just abrasive enough to get those stubborn scraps off your favorite kitchen kettle. I've had mine now for about two weeks and love, Love, LOVE it!!! Twist cleaning products have been around for a while but snazzy #50 is fairly new. I've now seen them at Whole Foods Market, coops, and local green markets so keep an out eye out for them.

Simply put, Gorgeously Green is fabulously fun. The book and the accompanying website are packed full of fun and valuable information that prove that the saying is true, it really IS easy being green. I can honestly say I don't think there's a better reference for fulfilling SSF's mantra "look fabulous, live well, do good". In the forward, Julia Roberts calls the book a "bible of hope and help (not to menteion a good cleansing mask andn source for eco-cashmere). Author Sophie Uliano makes making greener personal lifestyle choices fun and accessible to everyone. She makes it irresistable.

Uliano hits all of the big lifestyle categories too: apparel, food, beauty, gardening, travel, weddings, etc. And yoga poses! Yes, sprinkled throughout the book are yoga poses and other activities to invigorate the mind, the body, and the soul. Best of all, her motto, "one change makes a difference", confirms that you don't have to be perfect...one small step here and there can add to a big difference over time, especially if a lot of us make the same small steps. The way she presents her ideas and solutions is what really sets this book apart...its fun, its positive, its interactive, its educational, and I have to admit - its completely girly. But that's OK! Her concept of becoming a 'green goddess' is exactly what the green movement needs. As I said before, she makes going green irresistible. The fact that she provides a definition and discussion of 'gorgeousness' says it all.

On the website you can find some videos as well. After watching them you sense her passion, commitment, and excitement in every page of the book. Don't miss GGTV on the website, and the 'Girls Club' must be a lot of fun too. Probably most important though, is that she takes providing background information and resources on key issues very seriously, toxins in cosmetics for example. I don't think I've come a cross a better treatment of the subject or a better collection of green options to address the issues. There are literally easy to understand definitions and website links everywhere.

Gorgeously Green is a great read, an invaluable resource, and as Julia Roberts put it, a true bible of hope. What other green resource book leaves you with the feeling that you just solved some of the world's problems over a cocktail with a girlfriend? Hmm...none. But that's exactly what Gorgeously Green does. Cheers Sophie, you and your book are fabulous!

Available at your local bookstore and online at: Amazon | Barnes& Noble | Powells

For all you Seattle SSF fans, pick up this month's issue of Seattle Magazine and check out Kelly Moore's latest contribution to eco-entertaining. SSF Co-founders Rebecca Luke and Sean Schmidt, along with friends and green gurus Lynne Barker and Megan Griffiths, chat about environmental issues and green giving for Earth Day. You can get a sneak peak online: "Entertaining: green goes glam".

(Ari, Seattle, WA) First, welcome to my new blog, "Green Revelation". This is my first entry to I hope you enjoy. Now, on to business...

I have a confession to make: I am a terrible person. Now, I don’t produce child porn, I’m not in charge of a human trafficking ring or anything--I don’t even honk my horn when I’m driving (which I don’t do very often). See, these things are all obvious, big terrible things in which to partake. My crimes are much more slippery. I commit them in thousands of tiny decisions each week—decisions I make because I’m tired, or broke, or late and unorganized. It’s only after a while, when I’ve realized how far I’ve slipped from my original intentions that the guilt of my sins begins to weigh on me. It’s only then when I start feeling like a hypocrite, when the guilt makes me clench my jaw at night and I get defensive over every little thing, that I know I need to make a change.

I am a young, well-educated, recently graduated 22-year-old woman. I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. My best friend has convinced me that the apocalypse is coming, perhaps related to peak oil, rapidly approaching in 2012. Last year I wrote a paper on the true state of organics, where I investigated how good organic farming really is for the environment. For the first time in my life I am living on my own and I have total control over what I do with my money and myself, but I am not upholding my beliefs. It is time for me to try harder.

Last night my roommate and I got in a fight over some vegetables. On the way home, we happened by this fruit and vegetable stand with awesome looking stuff at dirt-cheap prices. We stocked up, and I was thrilled at the giant load and the tiny bill. Later, he lamented over all the pesticides we’d be eating, all the guilt he felt for not buying local and organic stuff. It’s not fair trade. It’s genetically modified. It’s covered in pesticides. It’s from so far away. Think of all the oil! And the workers! And your body!

I got mad. We can’t afford all organic food! It’s so privileged to be able to! I’m not a yuppie! Fine, let’s just throw it all away, would you like that!!??

It’s a tough thing, to be criticized for the way you live. It’s tough, after making all these rationalizations as to why, at this particular store, at this particular time, it’s okay to buy conventional. It’s especially hard to see the all the milks, side by side, ranging from $2.99 to $5.99 and picking the more expensive one. But the thing is, regardless of all the ways in which I think it might be better for me, when I make the decision to buy conventional, I am not alone. If I can’t make the change, as a young, educated person who believes all the hoopla and searches “apocalypse” and “2012 peak oil” just to freak herself out on a regular basis, what does that mean for the rest of the population? If it’s so easy for me to make it okay not to buy local organics and other green products, many other people must be making the same decisions.

For me, it all comes down to this: If you type “peak oil” into wikipedia, it will tell you that depending on how quickly supplies become scarce, and depending on how much we have prepared alternative energy sources for the occasion (which isn’t much), the chain reaction might cause a global depression that may lead to the collapse of global industrial civilization as we know it. Now, regardless of whether all of this actually happens, things have got to change. It might already be too late! In any case, I want to start trying to live differently now. I want to save energy, reduce my impact on the planet, and stop benefiting from the exploitation of workers worldwide. And if that means buying milk for $5 instead of $3, well, that doesn’t seem too bad anymore, does it?

In today’s world, we are hearing the word “green” and “sustainable” alot. We are hearing these words attached mostly to what we can buy to save the world. While this is a terrific start, there is more to be considered. Recently, a client of mine forwarded an email of a video that had been shown in her grade school child’s classroom “The Story of Stuff”. It is a fabulous and entertaining way to check out the production of “stuff” and how it impacts us socially and environmentally.

In 2008, I plan to devote a majority of my blogs to what we can do to save the world and keep it consistent with our personal “style”.

Our fall interns, Anne-Marie and Olivia, worked hard on creating fantastic list of Sustainable Style Living Tips and I am going to put their work to great use. Stand by for a new tip every week.

Also, there are several books out there to check out as well; if you do a quick search for “ways to live green”, a good collection of books and other blogs will come up. For us at SSF, it’s about looking at the big picture, beyond green.

I look forward to your comments and an on-going dialogue about how we can continue to save the world in style.

We have to admit, we're suckers for reality TV shows based on actual skills. When they involve lifestyle choices, even better. When they involve hot guys cooking...well, what more could we ask for. Well, maybe one thing: mention of fresh, local, organic food. All of this takes place on Style Network's new show Hot Guys Who Cook. Now, not every hunk mentions our favorite words, but they do pop up now and then, along with lots of other little pop up trivia features on the show. Real guys (of all ages) cooking real food in their own kitchens, lots of fun. A recent episode even featured a returning war veteran with a 'Recon Rack of Lamb' recipe. So check it out when/if you get a chance. Lots of other fun shows on Style these days too, including one of our SSF favorites, Clean House, with the very fabulous Niecy Nash of Reno 911 fame and recent co-host of the EMA Awards.

(Pier Paolo - Torino, Italia) - Apologizing for my basic English I am starting blogging today, first post, first pictures, of course from Torino, the city where I live. A special thank to Sean who invited me to join SSF, I am really proud to do this. Why blogging from Torino? First because the city has been changing a lot for 5-6 years, when was appointed to be Winter Olympic Games in 2006. After the Games, the city has continued to enhance its development and now we are approaching the Year of Design. Torino has been changing very rapidly from One company Town (Fiat Group Automobiles) to a city of services, of culture, of creativity, arts and sports. And the city today shows all the signs of this profound transformation.

Now we are awaiting 2011 when we will be celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy. In the meantime the city will be the first World Design Capital for one year, a leading project of the International Design Alliance (IDA), currently managed by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID). Twelve months of events, exibitions in Torino and in the entire region to offer a clear vision on the design culture in Piedmont. A design approach that sometimes seems bold and multi-faceted, other times hidden, anyway almost always high level projects.

The real commencement of the World Design events was fixed for the New Year’s Eve of Design, December 31, 2007. After that the programme will tie up with the well established calendar of fairs, exhibitions and festivals that take place in the city’s major venues all through the year. For instance in October the main subject will be design and food, to coincide with the Taste Fair and Terra Madre World Food Meeting edited by Slow Food movement. In November the focus will be on the relationship between art, media and industrial design (Torino Art Fair and Torino Film Festival) and before the summer period two important appointments: “Changing the Change: Design Visions, Proposals and Tools”: this is the title of a conference that will be held on July 10-12, 2008 at the Politecnico di Torino in the framework of Torino 2008 World Design Capital. It will highligt new visions in the field of sustainability and outline the state of the art of ecodesign research. The second event is the 23rd International Union of Architects World Congress that will bring to Torino the International community of architects, planners and designers (June 29-July 3). Green will be the colour of the visual communication of the Year of Design. Why green? First because green represents the combination of the two “corporate” colours of Torino: blue and yellow.Second because it occupies a central position on the scale of human visual perception, it is the colour of reason and of course also the one of sustainable design (green design, eco-design, systems design).

Last but not least I want to mention the Luci d’Artista works and installations. It is a real art gallery en plein air set in streets and squares of Torino from November to February. It has become one of the symbols of the city for 10 years. The 2007 edition includes 19 installations with the well known works of Rebecca Horn, Nicola De Maria and Mario Merz (who used the first Fibonacci numbers written with red neon on one side of the Mole Antonelliana four-faced dome).

Torino, Italia (Pier Paolo) - Apologizing for my basic English I am starting blogging today, first post, first pictures, of course from Torino, the city where I live. A special thank to Sean who invited me to join SSF, I am really proud to do this. Why blogging from Torino? First because the city has been changing a lot for 5-6 years, when was appointed to be Winter Olympic Games in 2006. After the Games, the city has continued to enhance its development and now we are approaching the Year of Design. Torino has been changing very rapidly from One company Town (Fiat Group Automobiles) to a city of services, of culture, of creativity, arts and sports. And the city today shows all the signs of this profound transformation.

Now we are awaiting 2011 when we will be celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy. In the meantime the city will be the first World Design Capital for one year, a leading project of the International Design Alliance (IDA), currently managed by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID). Twelve months of events, exibitions in Torino and in the entire region to offer a clear vision on the design culture in Piedmont. A design approach that sometimes seems bold and multi-faceted, other times hidden, anyway almost always high level projects.

The real commencement of the World Design events was fixed for the New Year’s Eve of Design, December 31, 2007. After that the programme will tie up with the well established calendar of fairs, exhibitions and festivals that take place in the city’s major venues all through the year. For instance in October the main subject will be design and food, to coincide with the Taste Fair and Terra Madre World Food Meeting edited by Slow Food movement. In November the focus will be on the relationship between art, media and industrial design (Torino Art Fair and Torino Film Festival) and before the summer period two important appointments: “Changing the Change: Design Visions, Proposals and Tools”: this is the title of a conference that will be held on July 10-12, 2008 at the Politecnico di Torino in the framework of Torino 2008 World Design Capital. It will highligt new visions in the field of sustainability and outline the state of the art of ecodesign research. The second event is the 23rd International Union of Architects World Congress that will bring to Torino the International community of architects, planners and designers (June 29-July 3). Green will be the colour of the visual communication of the Year of Design. Why green? First because green represents the combination of the two “corporate” colours of Torino: blue and yellow.Second because it occupies a central position on the scale of human visual perception, it is the colour of reason and of course also the one of sustainable design (green design, eco-design, systems design).

Last but not least I want to mention the Luci d’Artista works and installations. It is a real art gallery en plein air set in streets and squares of Torino from November to February. It has become one of the symbols of the city for 10 years. The 2007 edition includes 19 installations with the well known works of Rebecca Horn, Nicola De Maria and Mario Merz (who used the first Fibonacci numbers written with red neon on one side of the Mole Antonelliana four-faced dome).

Now here's a campaign we LOVE! Did you know that October 15-21 is National Cupcakes for a Cause Week in support of CancerCare for Kids? Well, neither did I until I saw a segment on the Today Show. The website has a listing of cupcake makers around the US where you can take part and even a 'make your own cupcake' section (as you can see in our SSF inspired cupcake to the right. Enjoy! Sean

If you haven't run across Bond Alternative Wedding Magazine yet, their current issue is a sustainable style must-have and a true guide to marriage in the new millennium. As the only fashion (high fashion I might add) magazine and website to include same-gender and multi-ethnic couples, it offers a fresh and modern perspective on that more than four letter word...commitment. White lace dresses are sparse but stunning Prada and Marc Jacobs abound. Lots of fabulous food, wind, flowers, gifts, and decor. But the icing on this cake is that the issue AND the icing on the wedding cake are all eco-friendly.

From CHOW.com comes "Counter Measures: Ten Ways to Green Your Kitchen", with a "Top Ten" list, of sorts, of ways to make your kitchen a little greener. Included on the list are the results of dishwasher vs. hand-washing water-usage throw-down, ideas for choosing the right pans, tips for cooking with energy efficiency in mind and more. Our favorite: stock your fridge. That's right; "...a full refrigerator uses less energy than an empty one: Every time you open and close the door, the fridge has to kick in to reregulate its temperature. If there’s food in there already, there’s less outside air introduced, therefore less outside air that needs to be cooled." Check out the full list at [CHOW.com] via [Apartment Therapy]