You've Come A Long Way, Green Baby!!

It's all kickin' off on The Street.

This Wednesday the story begins of how Clarissa wins Harry back (oh so briefly) from landlady of The Rovers Liz on Coronation Street.

I have been having the time of my life playing Clarissa, a feisty outspoken lady who loves her man but loves spending his money more. She's not letting him go without a cat fight.

Did I say fight? Oooh I hope I've not given too much away, chuck!!

On Monday 21st July I'll be a guest on LOOSE WOMEN talking about Harry and Clarissa's shenanigans on The Street and of course stylish eco lifestyles!!
So tune in to ITV1 between 12.30 and 1.30pm

WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?

You know, this week I realised it has been almost 18 months since I started writing this blog and bringing you all the green stylish news thats fit to print.

It's been a while since I wrote, I'm so sorry, I have been neglecting you... but I'M BACK!! And boy is there a lot to catch up on!! While I have been clattering across the cobbles as Clarissa Mason the green world just keeps on turning and there's so much to talk to you about as I try to keep up with the pace with which eco products and caring for environment have become part of our consciousness.

Looking back through the posts, it's fantastic to see much I have experienced and to remember some of the amazing pioneers of sustainability I have been able to write about, many of whom have become good friends and colleagues.

IT'S BEEN 'GREEN FOR GO' I TELL YA!!

I went to The Delabole Wind Fair in Cornwall, spoke at The Sustainability Fair at the O2 and met with Joan Ruddock MP who is putting together The Climate Change Bill to talk to her about sustainable design. I have met and become friends with Sarah Baulsh who's company ReVampt is going great guns. And Katie Keegan at One Green Earth pioneer of the online green directory and organiser of many eco events.


Eco stylist Lupe Castro has also become a great friend. She is bringing green and ethical fashion designers to the fore and has dressed me for Monday's live appearence on Loose Women.

I'll be wearing clothes from Makepiece and Julia Smith.



















I have worked with Lisa Harland who makes beautiful organically and ethically upholstered furniture and Indrajit Shah who is a pioneer of biodegradable paper cups, plates and packaging at Packaging Environmental Ltd. I'm part of the Greening All Saints Committee at my church in Fulham and they are using his biodegradable coffee cups at all there functions now.




I had a wonderful lunch with the fabulous Polly Higgins, fellow blogger of The Lazy Environmentalist and founder of The Wise Women Network for women working together to protect the environment. I'm a proud member, of course!!

I met the lovely Faye Kass who found me through this blog. She is making a difference and spearheading the build of an eco lodge on the Caribbean island of Dominica. At Christmas I rented a low emissions car from Green Motion in Palmers Green. I went to several seminars run by London Remade. I met a lot of fellow minded green business people there as I did during my trip to Los Angeles in May. I attended a discussion on green furniture production at Design Within Reach in Santa Monica. Back in London I have been VLOGGING about the green insulation and eco renovation of Jamie's house in Notting Hill and I now only clean my house with E-Cloths and Earth Friendly Products and haven't bought laundry detergent in over a year because I use a magnetic green washing ball.

When my Dad died suddenly and so sadly in a fire in December we put him to rest in a green burial ground in Suffolk. I could not have done it without the invaluable support of Adeline at The Natural Death Centre and I spoke to The Times about my experience. This is the photo they used for the article.



I love that little Amoosi jacket. I'm wearing it with an organic cotton T-shirt by Stewart & Brown and jeans from Del Forte
(Photo by Warren Smith)









When I started this blog, my intention was to write about sustainable interior design because that was my background and training. But I quickly realised that if you make the choice to live in a healthy and green house, you will clean it with eco cleaning products that use natural surfactants, drive a low emissions car - or better still walk, cycle or use the bus; you will look for ethical and natural fashion and cosmetics and so on and so on...to be eco embraces all your lifestyle choices and there was a lot to write about.

Just looking at my lists to the left here is a revelation. Five years ago, when I sat in that Ecology of Design class at UCLA, I could never have dreamed of being able to compile such an amazing array of choices that help us be more green and ethical and lower our carbon footprint...nobody would have even known what that meant 2 years ago. There's a lot to keep up with and a lot of information to sift through.

One of my bug bears has been the 'greenwashing' that has been going on. Businesses who want to jump on the green bandwagon because they see a money making opportunity but may not have all the green credentials that you or I would count as necessarily quite enough to qualify. You have to keep your wits about you. I intend to do just that and keep greening the planet one post at a time!!


And in the meantime keep up the green work and be sure to write a comment here if you find any new fun, stylish and useful green tips that I can share!!!

Ciao for now!!

Have you heard about the one about the 14 t-shirts?

A girl going on her fortnight summer holiday bought 14 cotton t-shirts. She wore one a day while she was in the sun, got a bit of sun tan lotion on each one but didn't bring them home to wash, no, they only cost a couple of quid each so she threw them all away at the resort.
The added bonus? She had more room in her suitcase for duty free!!

I heard this story a few weeks ago and the results of numerous focus group tests on clothing and fashion at The Sustainable Clothing Roadmap Meeting.

I took my eco stylist, Lupe Castro, and got to meet lots of her young ethical designer friends who are creating their collections from reclaimed clothing from charity shops and/or fabric like hemp and organic cotton.
Gorgeousness!!
DEFRA who organised the event were looking for input from those involved at any stage of the supply chain to contribute their views. We heard about a number of different case studies and networked with colleagues in the sustainable fashion industry.

I thought that one day was not nearly long enough to hear all the information and air all the ideas we had and then also come up with how to move forward in the face of those cheap, throw away fashions we have grown so used to. The subject of sustainble clothing is huge. We all have to wear clothes, so this is an area where lots of progress can be made. Look to the left to find links to some gorgeous green fashion websites. I'll keep adding more as I find them.

GORGEOUS GREEN CLOTHES

I mentioned that Lupe is my eco stylist. Why does Eco Warrioress need a professional green fashionista to find her eco clothes? Apart from the fact that she needs to look glamourous and green at all times?
Weeeeellllll.... My profile as a Greenie is growing by the minute and I'm starting to have me photo taken and do more public speaking and oh everything.


On April 19th I will be speaking at The London Green Funeral Exhibition about my Dad's green burial last December.
You can read about it on my Last Blog of 2007.

Also, I have also just been interviewed and photographed by The Times who are doing an article in next Saturday's paper about funerals.

I'm wearing this gorgeous little jacket by Amoosi
made from reclaimed tweedy suits.


And a pair of Del Forte jeans
made from organic cotton denim. They will take back your jeans when you are done with them, give you 10% off your next purchase and recycle your old denim into another piece of fashion. That's your Cradle to Cradle working then!
I Love It!!


GREEN CLEANING

So despite this very odd spring weather - thunder, lightening and hail storms in April - that'll be your Global Warming then. The longer evenings and warmer temperatures does make one want to fling open the windows and blow away those cobwebs of winter.

For a long time now I have been washing at 30 degrees with my eco washing ball, so I have not spent a penny on laundry detergent. I have to confess to missing the smell of clean washing so I dilute some essential oil in water (White Musk from the Body Shop smells like fresh air!) and add it to the fabric softener tray. Don't use fabric softener anymore by the way...very bad chemical content...VEEERY BAAAD! If you still use a tumble dryer, you can save money on softener and drying time by using drying balls which have the same effect

Ecover cleaning products led the eco cleaning field for a while but sometimes feel like they aren't quite getting the job done. I have to say I've caved in and used Harpic on the toilet bowl before now to get off the dark lime scale stains. The Ecover toilet cleaner wasn't cutting it. They assure us they are improving their formulas all the time so I shall look forward to that. An newer alternative is Bio D. I picked up a large bottle of washing up liquid for 1.99 in Oxfam and it works great! They do a full range of cleaning products so give 'em a go and please let me know how you get on!!

I was sent a couple of ENJO cleaning mitts to try. One for the bathroom and one for the kitchen. They are colour co-ordinateed so you don't mix them up.
They aren't the prettiest of lookers or colours - they look like a nylon mitt you use in the bath to scrub away your cellulite - but they work with just a little bit of cold water! I stand naked after a shower having a go at my soap scum on the perspex shower door. Not a visual I'm usually happy to share with anyone but...in the name of green....They work very well and without any of that smelly soap scum remover. It takes some getting used to that that is all you have to do. Just the circular motion of the mitt and a soft dry cloth to finish and it looks shiny and new. I just have to remember to use it on the shower door and not on my thighs!!
ENJO are sold by a consultant who trains you how to clean with them. The secret to these and other micro cleaning cloths like the E-Cloth (love them!) is that you don't need no chemicals, darlings!! You are saving money on toxic bottles of sprays and saving the planet and maybe even saving a few sneezes if anyone in your family has allergies.

CORRIE

In my last post I alluded to my other life which was getting a little crazy. Many of you know that as well as beating a stylish green designer drum for many years that for many more years (25 to be precise!!) I have been an actress.

SO...

On Monday I start as a new series regular on Coronation Street
I will be playing CLARISSA MASON.
Clarissa is the 3rd wife of the bookie Harry Mason. Expect a few feathers to fly across the cobbles when Clarissa gets into it with Liz MacDonald who she thinks is after her man!!
The first air date is May 19th.

Don't worry Green Readers, I will be going back and forth between London and Manchester but will still be writing my eco blog and bringing you all the green news that you need to stay stylish and green.

Right! I'm off to watch the Gorgeous and Greener by the Episode Kevin McCloud in GRAND DESIGNS....He is following a couple who are building a gorgeous contemporary house in Spain with enormous glass walls in the living room. I want to find out how they are going to deal with all that solar gain!!

Be back soon!!

ALSO

Look out for Grand Designs Live at Excel 11th-3rd May 2008.

I went last year and had a great time!!

And for those looking to invest ethically check out National Ethical Investors week in Plymouth 18th - 24th May