Nalgene Plastic Water Bottles Eco Product Review

Nalgene sent me a lot of their bottles to test, seven in total. Reusable bottles are a great alternative (we’ve previously looked at SIGG) and these plastic bottles represent many different styles and uses so it was great to test them.

From left to right in the image below we received two 32oz wide mouth HDPE Retro bottles; Oasis Loop Red Top; Loop Top - Sunny Yellow; pink ATB Bottle; OTG bottle; and a Loop top.

As you can see the bottles vary quite a lot. All are extremely durable, resistant to staining, resistant to retaining odors, dishwasher safe (top rack only) and guaranteed leak proof. The wide mouth bottles didn’t really appeal to me, though are much easier for getting ice into them, and can be hand washed easily. The other narrower bottles really have to go in the dishwasher to get properly clean. Our favorite is the OTG bottle that does not leach any taste, is a handy size and very sturdy. It probably looks the best out of them all, and can be opened with one hand.

It’s a tough choice to choose a reusable water bottle these days. Which ones leach, which ones don’t, is plastic reusable OK, or are aluminum or steel bottles better? What is the cost of manufacture compared to “disposable” plastic bottles? I think it comes down to a personal choice, and depends what you use them for - the plastic ones are lighter and more ideal for sports (such as fitting in bicycle cages or graduations for measuring energy supplements), whilst I think for walking/hiking the metal ones are perhaps sturdier. For day-to-day work and the like then pretty much pick whatever you’re comfortable with. Nalgene certainly have a massive range of styles, shapes and colors from which to choose and see what you like.

The bottles range from $6 and more and are available in many, many different styles and colors from Nalgene.

How Can You Wear Leather And Be Green? An Interview With Katleen From www.georgette.be

Katleen Baum and her twin sister Liesbet run georgette, an online and real world shop in Antwerp which specialises in animal friendly footwear. The website is a delight. Handily written in English, you navigate with a flea circus and clicking on a link can give you a nice surprise. Oh, and the shoes are great too. Here Katleen spoke to Life Goggles about reconciling veganism with wearing leather.

“Ever since we were kids, we were always fascinated with fashion and shoes. And also with animals. From the moment we realised that the animal we saw in the country, ended up on our dinner plates, we did not want to eat it anymore. So we became vegetarian and evolved to veganism. No biggie, right? But as time progresses, you start to question other things…

Every vegetarian or vegan, some day, will be confronted with the same dilemma: how to reconcile a strict vegetarian-vegan diet with wearing leather?

Especially for fashion and shoe addicts like us, this is quite a hard nut to crack! So at first, you try to ignore the issue. It’s just too hard to find a nice nonleather shoe, right? But your conscience doesn’t leave you alone. So you start to do some research.

Apparently leather, as often stated, is not just a slaughterhouse byproduct, it is a booming industry. Wearing leather shoes contributes to factory farms, slaughterhouses and a lifetime of suffering for the animal. The meat and leather industry is no friend of the environment either. According to a UN report from November ‘06, the livestock business is among the most damaging sectors to global warming and land and water degradation. Animal wastes, antibiotics, hormones, fertilizers and pesticides cause serious water and land pollution.

The process of turning animal skins into leather shares all the environmental destruction of the meat industry: dangerous mineral salts, formaldehyde, coal-tar derivatives, cyanide-based oils and dyes, chrome and other damaging products are used. Also the tanning is an intensive chemical process that causes toxic waste.

Fashion, for us, should be fun, not cruel, nor harmful…so the decision not to wear leather then came quite easily.

But where to find stylish, high quality shoes without leather? Most nonleather shoes have a bad reputation: they are ‘unfashionable’, from ‘poor quality’ and made with ‘cheap, exploited labour’. Encountering ’stylish’, ‘high quality’ shoes that are ‘completely animal-free’ and ‘handmade in Europe’ seems not so easy!

After a long and unfruitful search for vegan shoes according to our strict demands, we decided to explore the shoe sector ourselves and investigate the possibilities. Many shoe factories believed we were crazy… quality shoes without leather? Impossible!

But after a while we were blessed to meet a few Italian and Spanish, mostly very small and family-run shoe companies who decided to give us a chance. We encountered nonleather materials that have evolved so much: they are soft, durable, absorbing, and gentle to the environment! They had nothing to do with cheap, unbreathing plastic (pvc) that is also highly polluting to the environment. Those new materials could be used for elegant, high quality vegan shoes…and georgette was born!

We named our shoe store after our grandmother Georgette. She always was a true shoe addict. We were always playing dress-up in her fabulous pumps and sandals. Now, she is 80 years old and she still wears ‘over the top’ stiletto-heels in lots of different colours and patterns. Our friends and family were convinced our shoe-obsession was of a genetical kind. Hence the name.

With georgette, we aim to prove that wearing high-quality and chic footwear can easily be combined with a compassionate lifestyle. Together with small family-run companies in Italy and Spain, we work out exclusive collections that are made in the best nonleather and eco-friendly materials, like natural fabrics and luxurious Italian faux leathers. Super-stylish, animal-friendly and 100% sweatshop-free!”

Again the website is www.georgette.be and I can’t wait for them to start doing men’s shoes too.

The Trials Of Being A Fish

The Conserve Our Ocean Legacy campaign is a non-profit, campaign that is an effort to build support for ocean and fish protection in America.

To highlight their campaign they have released an online overfishing game “Ocean Survivor“. It’s designed to draw attention to the perils of overfishing and provide people with an opportunity to sign a petition to make a difference.

Pollution, habitat destruction, mismanagement and overfishing have impoverished ocean resources, and have caused more than 90% of the world’s large fish, including tuna, swordfish and marlin to disappear.

Green World Bags Product Review

Green World Bags make reusable bags that are shaped like US paper grocery bags.

However they’re made from sturdier material (durable, non-woven materials, with reinforced straps and a sturdy liner), that will withstand more than a year of weekly usage and they hold the equivalent of 2-3 plastic bags. This translates to an annual reduction of approximately 700 plastic bags for the average family

Run by sisters Trina Koller and Trudy Balestreri in my new home town of San Diego, Green World Bags set out to make great looking bags that are practical and long lasting. They have a variety of fantastic silk-screen printed designs that make them much more interesting that other bags, but not more expensive.

When they finally wear out, they can be recycled. A four pack only costs $19.95 (or $7.50 each) from Green World Bags.

Green Wall In Paris

I hadn’t heard of the Quai Branly Museum when I went to Paris (by Eurostar) so I didn’t know much about how controversial building by Jean Nouvel. Therefore it was a strange but nice sight to come across a living wall on the side of the building. Installed by Patrick Blanc it works by growing plants hydroponically in felt pockets attached to a rigid plastic backing.

I particularly like the fact people were gathered around to look at it, take photos next to it and even add a flower or two to it.

Aspen Institute’s Environmental Forum Interviews

This was passed to me from Marilyn of the fascinating Intelligent Travel a few weeks back.

National Geographic’s magazine site has some interviews with attendees of the Aspen Institute’s Environmental Forum.

Interviewees include Canadian Inuit activist and Nobel Prize nominee Sheila Watt-Cloutier, who says those at the top of the world acutely feel the effects of global warming, climatologist Konrad Steffen talks about the surprising speed of ice loss in Greenland, and friend of Life Goggles Josh Dorfman, author of The Lazy Environmentalist, who explains that fighting climate change doesn’t require busy, stressed-out people to change their nature.

Very interesting, and there are many more so please take a look.

Shea Butter Eco Product Review

Ethical Babe sent me some lovely Shea Butter made by Akamuti to review. Described as a ‘the most delicious treat for skin’ I couldn’t resist giving it a go myself, although I suspect it may be for babies and ladies. Naturally rich in Vitamins A, E & F, it is said to help treat skin problems such as eczema, sunburn, itching, insect bites & skin blemishes.

The first thing I noticed was how thick it was, for some reason I expected it to be like butter. It also contains a natural substance called ahhahsh which is similar to latex and explains the smell - a bit like rubber bands. The smell starts off quite strong as you apply it but after a while goes away. It takes a bit of effort to apply as it is thick but it rubs into the skin quite nicely and you’re not left with any oily residue or anything.

I used it on an area of dry skin and it worked wonderfully, felt better than moisturiser for some reason and although it doesn’t last forever, seemed to last longer than conventional moisturiser, I liked it a lot. I haven’t tried it on my lips (I’m a bit like Larry David in that manner, once you start to moisturise there’s no going back and you have to do it all the time) but I’m told it’s great for chapped lips. I’m looking forward to using it after doing a bit of DIY and my hands are hurting.

Virgin Shea Butter is organically grown and fairly traded from Togo, West Africa. It costs £4.95 from Ethical Babe which was founded in 2006 by Claudia and Claire. They have lots of great stuff for adults and babies - have you seen the poncho bathrobe?

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