Eco-Bling

Not to be cliche but diamonds are always really exciting to us GITNP ladies, however we all want to avoid the karmic price of wearing a huge rock on your finger (or ears or neck...) that cost a young child in Africa their hand or arm. In addition to the social concerns (which are sickening--please educate yourself on the issue if you haven't already) of precious gems and metals, there are also environmental concerns. The mining of gold, for instance, can have adverse affects on the environment such as polluted drinking water, toxic chemicals in the air and destroying natural habitiats and wildlife. Most consumers don't know where the gold in their products comes from, or how it is mined. Gold mining is a dirty industry: it can displace communities, contaminate drinking water, hurt workers, and destroy pristine environments.-Nodirtygold.org
Every ounce of gold produced results in 30 tons of mine waste- brilliantearth.com

Now calm down. This issue is not relegating you to a life of puca shell necklaces and hippie moon rings. Their are some wonderful resources for responsibly mined and produced gems and precious metals. Firstly Tiffany's (sigh,we heart Tiffany's, and tiffany blue) has a blanket environmental and socially responsible guarantee on all our their products. Companies from JCPenney to Van Cleef and Arpel have committed to start to using only safely mined and produced gold (for a complete list of companies read more.) There are many companies that offer conflict free diamonds which are often mined in Canada.

What to look for when shopping for jewllery-
The seal of The Council for Responsible Jewllery Practices which is a non profit company with this objective: "Our objective is to promote responsible ethical, social and environmental practices throughout the diamond¹ and gold² jewellery supply chain, from mine to retail.". All these companies are members.

Ask to see their seal of approval that the diamonds and gold they sell are responsibly procured. For more information read this buyer guide from Amnesty International.

Another idea is share to the blood diamonds and dirty gold that already exist in your family. Pass them on or have them remade into new shapes and updated styles instead of purchasing new jewelry.

But just so we're clear (boyfriends, husbands, etc)...we still want jewelry...just make sure its the socio and eco-friendly kind!

Do you have any good links to eco-friendly jewelery? Share them with everyone in our comments sections. Happy shopping!

p.s. What about the Kimberly Process? It's a voluntary program, that still has many cracks but has obviously done a lot of good in terms of identifying the origin of rough diamonds. You can also read more about conflict diamonds and The Kimberly Process Certification Scheme here

Green up your Online Social Networking

Where have we been, you ask. What could be sucking up so much of your time that you can no longer post on Green is the New Pink? If you guessed Facebook...you're right. Recently, we both took the plunge and joined Facebook, that mecca of online social networking, and have found any previous free time we had whittled down to nothing as we spent hours finding friends, writing on walls and creating Dogbook pages.

So in honor of our newfound hobby (addiction?), and for all you Facebook fanatics out there, we wanted to take a moment to investigate the "Green" Applications on Facebook, specifically (Lil) Green Patch.

(Lil) Green Patch is an application that allows you to send (virtual) plants to your friends. Here's what's cool about it:

1. It's free

2. The developers of (Lil) Green Patch use the sponsorship/ad money to make donations to Adopt-An-Acre, a program that "provides critical funds for rain forest protection and restoration." If you've forgotten why rainforests and trees are so important in the fight against global warming, click here for more info.

3. It's kinda fun. You send plants to your friends, which encourages them to send them back to you. The more you send, the better plants you can send. And the whole time, there's a ticker on top, letting you know how much square footage of rain forest you personally have saved.

Of course, the more people who are on the application, sending plants, the more (Lil) Green Patch can attract in ad revenue which translates into more money for donations. In January, (Lil) Green Patch made their first donation to Adopt-An-Acre in which they were able to save 2,487,426 square feet of rain forest in Costa Rica. Due to increased activity by (Lil) Green Patch users, they are poised to make an even better donation at the end of February.

Okay....that's all the time we can spare. We have new friend notifications and pokes and Superpokes to get to...and to all of you not on Facebook (yet)...yes, we are aware of how crazy this post must sound!

5 Easiest Eco Changes to make in 2008

Happy New Year! The start of a new year is a great time to reconfirm your eco-mmitment to living a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. Last month we asked our readers "What were the easiest eco changes you made to your lifestyle in 2007?" These are the top 5...


1. Change all the light bulbs in your house to Compact Fluorescent Bulbs! If you are asking yourself "why should I do this, my light bulbs are fine?" then click here. Make sure you dispose of you CFL's properly though!

2. Bring your own reusable tote bags to the grocery store and say NO to plastic and paper bags. We guarantee once you start doing this, you'll never want to use those icky plastic bags again.

3. RECYCLE- set up a bin in your home, office and even at parties you attend. Click here for information on how to get started recycling!

4. Use a reusable water bottle or a glass (the one pictured is Lyd's fav, click on the picture to order one.)

5. Walk instead of Drive. Remember when you were a kid and you would walk 3 miles to the record store to buy the new Color Me Badd tape without thinking twice about it? Let's get that spirit back in our life! Instead of driving to the gym to work out and then driving pick up your dry cleaning and dog food, walk to do your errands and kill two birds with one stone. Yes, you can do this even if you live in L.A.!

If these simple lifestyle changes feel like an old hat/wide belt/low waisted jeans to you then send this post to 5 people in your life who may need a little bit of eco-encouragement to live a more ecologically conscious lifestyle. (And Green is the New Pink's New Year's resolution is to get our info out to even more people, so you'd be helping us too!)

Hope all the Green/Pinkers had a great holiday...here's to making 2008 all of our most green year yet!