On Killing Christmas

Big Ben in Macy's Holiday Display, 2007

This one’s for our friends across the pond.

Obviously, I love me some eco-fanatics. But, for those of you who don’t regularly check my green shopping tab, I am also a sucker for pretty things that make me smile. This includes diamonds, bright lights, and Christmas. Shiny.  So, when BBC News reported that those Brits, in keeping with the Carbon Reduction Commitment, were considering pulling the plug on nighttime window displays, I was a tad taken aback. (This may have been in part due to the editor’s photo choice: a small shop’s Christmas display.)

They have a point, of course. Supermarkets and small chains – which were cited as major offenders – probably don’t need their lights glaring all night long. But what about Christmas displays? I wouldn’t bring it up if it weren’t implied through the picture choice that the British are coming…and leaving with Christmas. What if New York decided that the trippy 5th Avenue snowflakes or the nostalgic display on 34th Street was not worth keeping lit? Better yet, what if our mayor decreed Times Square’s energy inefficiency be put to an end (as he’s threatened before)?

Party Animals

You’re not J. Lo so screw the 6 train. Ride the 5 express train to the Bronx Zoo to let loose and Party for the Planet. New York City Transit is running an Earth Day special.

Arrive with your metrocard in hand and get $5 off an adult ticket to the zoo. If you bring the kids, they can partake in eco-friendly festivities, such as recyclable crafts and wildlife theater performances. While you’re there, you can sign up to race in the Run for the Wild on April 25th. Benefits go towards the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Be sustainable, you animal. 

XO, The Green Gamine

P.S. You can now follow my tweets! I know you want to.

Empire State Building Glows Green

For anyone who’s been trying to defy the gravity of this economic recession, this will come as a pleasant surprise to you. Wicked day at the Empire State Building all year round!

Jokes. Though the Empire will continue to glow green on the anniversary of the Broadway phenom (i.e. Halloween), the green I’m talking about is something you can’t see.

The building, completed in 1931 (in the midst of another notable depression), is finally getting a $500 million facelift. One fifth of that has been set aside to green the building. The Clinton Climate Initiative, founded by President Bill “Al Gore” Clinton, has agreed to foot the first $20 million. The Clinton Climate Initiative helps cities cut greenhouse gas emissions and is secretly chaired (shh!) by none other than Mr. Gore.

The Empire‘s energy-saving model should lower the energy intake by 38 percent, ultimately saving the 102-story building $4.4 million a year. “What Is This Feeling?” It’s the feeling of your heart “Defying Gravity” because you know this plan will be so “Popular” among treehuggers and people with common sense alike. “No one mourns the…” energy inefficient!

Sorry. End of the Wicked references.

XO, The Green Gamine

Green Couture, Mon Amour

Does that come in my size?

Sorry, but I must represent. (Grunting. Pounding chest.)

The Violets at NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study have ditched the purple duds in favor of something luxuriously green. Take this silk hydrangea masterpiece from Mixed Media designer, Max Avi Kaplan. This soon-to-be-Class of ’09 grad mixed Victorain style with Impressionistic naturalism for a look that was colorful, clean and chic.

Stats:

• Title: Max Avi’s Lunar Society Gown
• Features 620 silk hydrangea blossoms
• Satin ribbon cascading down its back completes the vintage, Victorian look
• Reminiscent of the 1860’s crinoline dress (I think I missed my century, don’t you?)
• Inspired by Monet‘s “Women in the Garden” (1866)
• There’s also a “dove flying out of a nest” hat-like accessory (Like SJP‘s questionable acorn at the Sex and the City London premiere.)

One word summary: Enchanting.

It may be silk, but it’s totally green – just look at its dramatic use of hydrangea petals. There’s a “Love Your Mother (Earth)” message here that I’m loving. Made me stop in my high-heeled tracks on the way to class. And after all, I do have to support the institution that’s robbing me of my life savings I so adore.

XO, The Green Gamine

Under the Tent with Custo Barcelona

Canvas bags are so last decade. Fashion Week 2009 proves that green need not be an accessory.

Custo Dalmau with a piece from his Fall 2009 collection. (R. Walano)

As a CosmoGirl blogger, I get to go to some pretty sweet gigs. If the scenes from Sex and the City do not have you sold, let me assure you: New York Fashion Week, a bi-annual event of style and debauchery, is not to be missed.

This past week, I got a chance to preview the Fall 2009 collections of three daring designers: Italian suitmaker Domenico Vacca (who has got celebs like Johnathon Rhys Meyers, Jamie Foxx and Ashton Kutcher in his permanent Rolodex), the lady in red Vivienne Tam, and Spanish former-architect Custo Dalmau of Custo Barcelona.

In addition to having tickets to the most stylish scene in town, I also got to interview Custo backstage before his show previewed on Thursday evening. In addition to being shocked by what a genuinely sweet guy he was, I was even more suprised to discover the ispiration behind his Fall collection: “organic punk.” 

Custo told me that he wanted to create a style that raised ecological awareness without sacrificing fabulous style. For instance, to make the coat pictured above, Custo told me that he used English wool and faux-leopard fur to create a style that was both edgy and earthy. Having been influenced by the West Coast look in the past, Custo maintains the playfulness of the American fashionista while injecting a bit of European chic here and there (check out that embroidery!). 

To drive his point home, Custo featured imitation peacock print and zebra striping throughout the collection, which gave the line an Amazonian feel. Green was the color of the evening, evidenced in part by the coat above. The line may not be sustainable (as I fear that the metallic fringe featured flapping from the seams of many skirts wouldn’t recycle easily). Still, he succeeded in creating a line that evoked the ultimate muse: Mother Earth.

Fashionably Yours, The Green Gamine

What Goes Around Comes Around

When teens strive for green karma, Do Something’s Melanie Stevenson makes it all happen.

(dosomething.org)

Melanie Stevenson peers her brown peepers around the doorframe of her modest corner office, keeping an eye on what is affectionately referred to as the “bull pen” – a noisy open space of slick granite carpeting, jumbled desks, and frantic interns. Sporting a neatly coiffed, coffee-colored ‘do and a constant smile, she pivots her petite frame towards a sizable, nondescript map hanging on the wall behind her. To spice it up, she has painstakingly stuck to it thirty metallic stars in patriotic colors.  Each star represents the hometown of a member of Do Something’s Youth Advisory Board, a motley crew of student activists Stevenson refers to as her right hand.

Pairing tan tweed pants with a fitted black v-neck and some chunky, ebony jewels, Stevenson, 24, has mastered youthful style. It is fitting then that she, as the Community Outreach Associate for Do Something, a New York-based, national youth activist organization, helps to provide resources for teens with big dreams. Though the organization offers an education in activism for any youngster with a wide-eyed vision, Stevenson’s focus is on those who think green.

Most recently, she headed the group’s second annual “Increase Your Green” competition, a partnership with National Grid that challenged middle school and high school students nationwide to construct a game plan to “greenify” their school. Eight winners were awarded grants ranging from $500 to $1500. Last year, 15 schools completed the challenge. This year, 400 schools applied and 45 were given the green light to single-handedly create sustainable schools, tripling the success rate. In addition, the number of environmental clubs registered with Do Something has nearly doubled in the last year.

Teen greening has gone global. In addition to Do Something, teens have joined a host of green initiatives, such as girl-power group Teens Turning Green, community-based Planet Green Schools, the global initiative Youth Venture, and the Energy Action Coalition, which has teamed up with Climate Challenge to educate teens on the effects of global warming. In a recent, national campaign for energy efficiency, Power Shift, a collection of 50 environmental clubs belonging to the Coalition, was active on 300 campuses with nearly 300,000 young participants. Still, these teens are hungry for more.

This overwhelming increase in eco interest among young adults signals a new generation of treehuggers. Gone are the poster children of Birkenstocks, Rastafarian locks, and an appreciation for all things psychedelic. These modern day hippies exchange face time for Facebook and gossip for Gossip Girl. Their version of Woodstock is a Jonas Brothers concert. Many do not have their licenses—many have yet to be kissed. Still, Stevenson says that particularly in the wake of the new administration, Generation Y (or is it now O?) has assembled itself an affable army of environuts in search of an alternative to an inconvenient truth. But they need a touch of guidance, and the dollars to get it done. Enter Melanie Stevenson.

5 Questions With Do Something’s Queen of Green

Melanie Stevenson is the Community Outreach Associate at Do Something, the NYC-based, youth activism organization. (Perhaps you’ve seen their most recent PSA, courtesy of Gossip boy Chace Crawford, promoting Teens for Jeans?) Melanie recently headed the “Increase Your Green” campaign at DS, a partnership with National Grid that challenged teens to “green” their middle schools and high schools. More than 400 schools applied and top eight winners were awarded $500 to $1500 grants for their next show and tell. Here’s what Melanie had to say about the campaign.

Q1 GreenGamine: What were some of the winning ideas behind the “Increase Your Green” grants?

A1 Melanie: One school exchanged compost with a local farmer, which he then used to harvest and provide the cafeteria with locally-grown food. Another group of students integrated a solar energy lesson plan into their Advanced Placement (AP) science courses. They’re going to build a solar panel and install it on their roof to produce solar energy for the school.

Q2 GreenGamine: What are some things about Do Something as a youth activist program that make it unique?

A2 Melanie: We never require an adult. We never require a car. And we never require money. We don’t believe in fundraising. We provide the resources. [Teens] work hard at their part-time jobs and deserve to keep their money.

We also believe that we are not training future leaders. We know teenagers have the passion, energy, and creativity to lead right now.