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he leaves are turning, the weather is cooling, and the dog days are turning in three circles and winding to a close. Yep, its about that time, boys and girls. Time to return to the hallowed halls of learning, to hone those spitball skills and pass those notes, to engage in the process of active personal enlightenment. To celebrate, SASS has come up with a super-complete back-to-school list of revolutionary, non-pollutionary items to help you entertain your brain. Do you remember the three Rs?
Reduced, reused, recycled. This goes for everything. Clothes from thrift stores and vintage outlets. Recycled paper and notebooks, reusable binders, biodegradable corn starch pens, recycled blue-jeans denim rulers, recycled computer disks, reusable lunchboxes; if you can carry it to school, use it to expand your minds in the hallowed halls of learning, wear it to impress that cutie who just moved into town, scribble notes in class with it or on it, or, (God forbid) do homework with it, you can find it with the three Rs attached somewhere. And it doesnt all look like it came straight from the recycle bin. To see how, let's go back to the 'other' three R's:
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| This notebook was born in the U.S.A. |
Readin', writin', and 'rithmetic:
This one-of-a-kind book cover is designed using authentic vintage LP album covers. No two covers are alike. The cool paper is made with 100 percent recovered cotton denim, harvested from several denim clothing manufacturers in the U.S. Keep your sketches, innermost thoughts, and more.
Too cool for school? Go get some recycled, non-chlorine bleached, or tree-free paper instead:
- Office Depot
- Office Max
- Staples
- GreenLine Paper
- New Leaf Paper
- Dolphin Blue tree-free paper
- Treecycle Recycled Paper
- Seventh Generation
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| REBINDER, before... |
From the Sustainable Group comes REBINDER. Made from 35-40% Recycled Post Consumer Corrugated Cardboard, they're clean-looking and a great blank canvas for your own custom design. REBINDER uses far less material and energy to manufacture than current vinyl
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| ...and after. |
binders, and is completely and infinitely reusable. Unlike the traditional binder that uses rivets to attach the spine, the REBINDER shell is attached to a sturdy metal spine with screws that can be reused without any waste; if you wear out, break, bend, wreck or just get tired of your orginal shell, recycle it, keep your original hardware, and go get another one. All in all, REBINDER is great news for all poor students out there, because they're cheaper than traditional vinyl binders, too! Keep your eyes peeled for REFOLDER and REPOCKET, coming soon!
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| This multi-use pen will help you do all three R's -- both sets of 'em. |
This is a pen that the Swiss Army would be proud to use, from eco-artware.com. You never know when you're going to need a ball-point pen, a phillips screwdriver, regular screwdriver, art knife and tweezers in one, and this pen has them all. Each handy accessory is stored in the pen barrel, and can be exchanged for the ink cartridge at the point of the pen. Each of the pen's many points is also refillable, making it easy to keep writing, cutting and tweezing long after the original cartridge has been exhausted.
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| Ringo is my favorite. |
Here's a groovin', versatile tote; its velcro-enclosed clear vinyl sides hold two different authentic record jackets. These, from Eco-Artware.com, come with a Beatles or Rolling Stones album cover on one side and a random rock favorite on the second side. When you want a new look, exchange them for covers in your collection. Two amplifier knobs that still turn decorate the sides and the two-inch wide shoulder strap will adjust to fit you. If Ringo isn't your favorite, go check out Vivavi and Vy & Elle for other groovy recycled messenger bags and totes. You'll find bags that used to be billboards, bicycle tires, and other far-out, random reclaimed stuff that has been turned into functional gear.
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| Sustain the world, clothe yourself. |
What to wear:
If youre after a new look, keep your eyes peeled for organic cotton; wool and hemp are also deserving of good grades. Reused is even better. Go on treasure hunts to Salvation Army, Goodwill, or garage sales to find authentic retro styles. If youre buying new, check out Under the Canopy; killer shirts with real meaning. awareness generation and sustain t-shirts, part of the 108 ECOfashion t-shirt line, raising eco-awareness with design and form.
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| Make yourself a part of the Awareness Generation. |
Wildlife Works uses proceeds of their product sales to save endangered and threatened wildlife around the globe. American Apparel is an industry leader when it comes to going sweatshop-free, and theyve just introduced their organic cotton line. Feel good in cleanly and fairly-produced cotton, feel better about being a good person and helping along this planet of ours –- it needs all the help it can get.
What to eat:
A school-age child who takes a disposable lunch to school each day creates 67 pounds of waste per year. Whoa, thats an awful lot. Reduce th amount of junk you produce, and get tips on how to reduce the amount of junk you eat, with the Laptop Lunch setup.
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| Laptop lunches: How come you taste so good? |
Laptop lunches sprung out of the waste-free lunch movement started by two moms in California who wanted their kids to eat healthy lunches and create less waste. Thus, the Laptop Lunch system was born, which provides everything you could possibly want to create healthy, waste-free lunches every day. The complete Laptop Lunch System includes the Laptop Lunch insulated carrying case, water bottle, the Laptop Lunch with all inner containers and utensils, and one copy of The Laptop Lunch User's Guide. All are reusable and durable. Lots of snazzy colors, from purple, bright green, teal and orange to periwinkle, blue, green, red, yellow and teal.
The folks at Laptop Lunches also encourage you to do more! Help your school eliminate trash, earn cash, and reduce waste hauling fees, by ordering through the school promotions program. A portion of your order will be donated to your school or organization.
Now that we've taken a quick tour through the green-style back-to-school aisle, let's review what you've learned. I hope you've taken copious notes, as this will be on the test. Here we go:
Sweatshops make that organic chemistry homework seem easy. For anyone out there who thinks going back to school is intolerably cruel, check out working conditions in your local sweatshop; I suspect youll reconsider. Sixteen-plus hour days, no breaks, finger-numbing, mind-melting work, all for pennies an hour. Sweatshop labor stinks, so dont support it. Check out the retailer scorecard at sweatshops.org –- you might be surprised by what you find. The bottom line: avoid these retailers like you avoid bullies during lunch.
PVC is really nasty stuff. Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC – better known as vinyl) plastic is the most environmentally harmful of all plastics, and youll find it in almost everything, from shoes to backpacks to binders. The production of PVC results in dioxins, chlorinated chemicals that are the most toxic and stubbornly persistent made by humans. The chemicals lodge in the fatty tissue of humans (and other animals), contaminating blood and breast milk. In addition to cancer, they can cause such health problems as organ damage and immune suppression. Ick.
As if that weren't bad enough, soft vinyl contains plasticizers called phthalates, many of which affect reproductive health and sexual development, according to animal experiments. In some studies, phthalates have been shown to migrate out of soft PVC products, so they can be inhaled or ingested, and they will not taste good. The bottom line: avoid PVC like you avoid homework on Friday.
So there you have it! Remember the rules, do your math homework,
(PVC + sweatshop labor = F; Reduced + Reused + Recycled = A+) don't forget the three R's (both sets of them) and you can join the thousands of students, teachers and families who take green back to school
Collin Dunn is the Editor-in-Chief of SASS Magazine.
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