sustainable style foundation*

Kelley Stoltz is a Sub Pop Records recording artist has produced a music-industry first. His latest record, Below the Branches, was recorded with 100% renewable energy credits (RECs), meaning that the energy used to power the amps, computers and other recording equipment was offset with investment in renewable energy. We caught up with Kelley on a tour stop for a chat about his album, his commitment to sustainability and breaking ground for musicians everywhere.

Craig Minowa is the man behind both Earthology Records and the band Cloud Cult. Earthology is the only nonprofit record company in existence to offer environmentally and socially friendly CD replication, in addition to a host of other sustainable initiatives including 100% recycled/reclaimed jewel cases, the highest recycled content papers on the market, with non-toxic soy inks and a CD replication process that involves recycling of CD cut scraps into milk cartons. Cloud Cult is an adventurous, passion-fueled outfit headed by Minowa -- a band that embodies everything that he and Earthology stand for. We caught up with him for a chat about what makes Earthology so different, and when the rest of the music industry will catch up.

KEXP 90.3 FM is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station broadcasting from Seattle at 90.3 FM and streaming in multiple formats across the world at kexp.org. They recently unveiled a global warming initiative and series of public service announcements to raise awareness about climate change and educate their listeners about what they can do to mitigate our warming globe. SASS Magazine had a chance to chat with KEXP DJ and Director of Programming Kevin Cole and Assistant to Director of Programming Lisa Shimizu about music, global warming and the fusion of radio and sustainable living.

Musician and sustainability enthusiast Patrick Napper has a few ideas about how to keep churning out ass-kicking , hard-stomping rock 'n roll while treading lightly on the planet.

Some of our favorite recordings (and a tour) notable not only for their songwriting and musicianship but for their outstanding commitment to sustainability.

Going out in a hip and trendy club while embracing social and environmental responsibility is the vision that drives the Sustainable Dance Club. The kick-off party, called ‘The Critical Mass’, is scheduled for later this week (October 14) and will show off the fusion of a contemporary dance-party lifestyle with the latest ideas on sustainability.

Where are you going? Where have you been? The details are in the stars...

The Style & Substance Award in honor of Audrey Hepburn is SSF's highest honor, recognizing outstanding efforts by a celebrity, style professional or public figure improving the quality of life for children around the world.

The Vision & Innovation Award recognizes an individual, organization or company that has demonstrated ongoing leadership and vision in a style/design industry.

The Outstanding Public Expression Award recognizes outstanding efforts by a celebrity, style professional or public figure that uses their high profile position to bring attention to pressing social and/or environmental issues.

Salon.com and Rolling Stone compiled a list of "25 Climate Warriors & Heroes" who are creating positive change in the fight against climate change.

Volvo's new truck plant will be the world’s first CO2-free automotive plant by using wind power and biofuel as sources for all the plant’s electricity and heat.

MTV followed Cameron Diaz and friends to some of the world's most environmentally unique and sensitive locales to raise awareness for environmental initiatives, and made a TV show about it.

A collaboration between designer Rogan Gregory, Bono and Ali Hewson, Edun's line of sweatshop-free clothes is conscious consumerism, with a radically-stylish twist.

With 30 percent of its energy needs produced onsite and the remaining 70 percent produced from wind power, no fossil fuels are burned making New Belgium's various beers.

Whole Foods' Lifestyle store in West Hollywood puts the best of the best in sustainable lifestyle products right at your fingertips.

Offering the first eco-luxury car service in New York City, OZOcar is turning heads and changing minds in the Big Apple.

By sponsoring California Safe Cosmetics Act of 2005 and insuring it's safe passage into law, these three nonprofits have effected positive change with far-reaching implications for future innovation.

It took a team effort to pull off the first climate-neutral football game in history, but it takes a lot of hard work to offset the equivalent of 500 cars on the road for a week.

The Hyatt Regency Dallas and Hyatt Regency DFW are the nation’s largest hospitality industry purchaser of renewable energy and one of two Dallas’ commercial purchasers of 100 percent renewable electricity.

Rachel Bending, founder and owner of Slingfings, has a vision of how the fashion industry should work, and she's putting her money where her mouth is with her groundbreaking company. I chatted with Rachel about fashion, climate change and her fun, funky, retro style -- by Collin Dunn

Climate change is big news these days. Along with the tragic devastation on the Gulf Coast following an especially tumultuous hurricane season, global warming is a hot button topic. While there’s still some debate about exactly what's happened and what's next, scientists agree that the earth is warming, and that human activity is probably the cause. Here are lots of easy ways that you can green your routine and help make the world a cooler place.

Humans leave ecological footprints anywhere they go, but just as people strive to reduce their effect on the places they travel, so too are people coming up with ways to reduce the impact of getting there -- by Kathryn Gillick

From work to play to romance, your sustainable future is in the stars when it comes to climate change and a world that just keeps gettin' hotter -- by Esteban Fortuna

There is more to any given activity's carbon-dioxide emissions. Trees are cut down, land is developed, and energy is used to provide the lifestyle we've all become accustomed to. Offset My Life will give you the tools to balance all of that out -- by Shea Gunther.

Climate change is a fantastic opportunity to see if we, as a global society, can reinvent ourselves. As youth, I believe we can inspire elegant solutions that redesign society from the very roots. The future is pure possibility -- by Alysia Garmulewicz

Over 300,000 people have joined up with the virtual march at stopglobalwarming.org. Something that Larry David, Blue Man Group, Jack Black, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Arnold Schwarzenegger and Walter Cronkite all agree on can't be wrong, can it?

2005 was the hottest year ever. Punctuated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the catastrophic damage they wrought, the warming globe has never been on the tips of so many tongues. While the current scientific and political communities remain at odds over the causes, extent and solution to our slowly heating planet, one thing is for sure: it isn’t getting any cooler around here -- by Collin Dunn

Contributors to The Swimsuit Issue.

Actor and biodiesel enthusiast Daryl Hannah has been using biodiesel for over five years. She drives a 1983 Chevy El Camino, received the National Biodiesel Board’s Influencer award in 2004 for her work in educating people about veggie fuel, appeared in the film French Fries to Go, and most recently spoke at the UN World Environment Day in San Francisco on June 5 -- by Kathryn Gillick

Imagine: you pull up to a fueling station. You get out, open the gas tank, and start pumping biofuel. Then, you head inside, grab a healthy snack, and pick up a ballcap or T-shirt made from organic cotton. Not your typical road stop experience? Not yet. But it will be, if Charris Ford gets his way -- by Kathryn Gillick

Vegetables: they’re good for your body, that’s true, but they’re also good for something else: fuel. Whether it’s biodiesel, or its lesser-known counterpart bioethanol, veggies are an increasingly important alternative to fossil fuels -- by Kathryn Gillick

Not many people think of auto racing when considering events that are considering the future of the planet, but maybe they should -- by Michael F. Hollander

The United States military, the same outfit responsible for bringing the Hummer to suburban streets everywhere, is perhaps best known as a monolithic, overpowering, damage-inflicting super-force. As such, it may seem very unusual to associate the military with words like "sustainable," "efficient," "well-designed" and even "energy-saving," but it’s true -- by Collin Dunn

Despite being one of the largest sportswear and apparel companies in the universe, Nike has been flying under the green radar for the past seven years or so. Now, they're ready to re-emerge -- by Collin Dunn

The latest astrological forecast for your sign, including some very special treatment for Cancer -- by Esteban Fortuna

Every parking lot, driveway, sidewalk and road is an impervious surface acting as an unbroken barrier between the wet rain falling from the sky and the dry earth below. Water draining from these surfaces gains speed and quickly rolls off all exposed ground. Even minor rains become small scale floods, eroding what little soil is exposed and quickly filling municipal storm systems -- by Joe Hagerman

My job keeps me on my feet – literally – for eight hours a day. At about a mile an hour (yes, I clocked it with a pedometer), I put in forty miles a week just at work. My feet were no longer happy with me and getting quite vocal about it. I needed arch support, and I needed it bad -- by Jocelyn Tutak

I started YES! (Youth for Environmental Sanity) in 1990, as an idealistic 16-year-old. Since that time, we’ve reached more than 625,000 students in school assemblies, and held hundreds of camps, workshops, retreats and trainings intended to awaken consciousness and empower young people to live from purpose and possibility -- by Ocean Robbins.

Bill Ruckleshaus served as the first head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from it's founding under President Richard Nixon (R) just after the first Earth Day in 1970 until April 1973. In 1983, with the EPA in crisis, President Ronald Reagan (R) appointed Ruckelshaus to serve as interim director, a position he held until January 1985.

Everyone behind this issue

The Style & Substance Award is SSF's highest honor and recognizes outstanding efforts by a celebrity, style professional or public figure improving the quality of life for children around the world.

The Vision & Innovation Award recognizes an individual, organization or company that has demonstrated ongoing leadership and vision in a style/design industry.

The Outstanding Public Expression Award recognizes efforts by a celebrity, style professional or public figure that uses their high-profile position to bring attention to pressing social and/or environmental issues.

BP launched several major ad campaigns throughout 2004 to promote their solar energy initiatives and other alternative energy and fuel products.

IKEA has finished completely phasing out all use of polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) toxic flame retardants in their fun, funky and functional furniture.

Sarah McLachlan’s poignant song and powerful video for ‘World on Fire’ made an artistic statement and benefitted many less-fortunate people.

Loomstate, a brand of Rogan Jeans, are stitched together with 100% certified organic cotton and are 100% awesome.

Frito Lay's first line of natural snack products contain no preservatives, no added colors and nothing artificial.

Toyota Prius gasoline-electric hybrid is North American's 2004 Car of the Year and one of Car & Driver's '10 Best' for 2004.

Global Green's second annual 'Red Carpet - Green Cars' campaign, which arranges for movie stars and other celebrities to arrive at the Academy Awards in Toyota Prius gasoline-electric hybrids, drew some of the biggest names in Hollywood.

Call2Recycle is a program of the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation, and recycles old cell phones and used portable rechargeable batteries throughout the U.S. and Canada.

The Lance Armstrong Foundation, in partnership with Nike, started the WearYELLOW, LiveSTRONG campaign to support cancer survivors through education, awareness and fundraising.

Aspen Skiing Company became the first ski resort in the U.S. to achieve ISO 14001 certification, for 'GreenTrack,' its environmental management program.