There is one type of reclaimed art/fashion that makes me sad: jean skirts made out of former jean pants...where there is a long triangular panel (usually cut from a different color denim) patching together the former legs, usually frayed along the seams. 

-Jenifer Morgan...off to stitch together my own cringe-worthy accessory...

I'm the type of person who always has to check luggage, even if I'll only be gone for the weekend and it's summer (meaning no heavy, ungainly coats to stuff into my bags).

Have any of you seen the Martha Stewart episode where Martha packs her suitcase? The woman's got talent. Somehow, she's able to fit about a month's worth of clothes and toiletries into a regular-sized piece of luggage. Amazing.

I'm headed back to Orange County for a long weekend for my sister's graduation in a couple weeks, and I'd love to be able to carry on. To all the master luggage-packers out there: got any tips for me?

-Toshio...off to see how much stuff I can fit in my backpack...

I was on the swim team in high school. It was the first - and only - time I ever shaved my legs (which I did to shave precious milliseconds off my 100-meter backstroke - not as a fashion statement) and the last time I ever wore a Speedo. It recently occurred to me that back in the day, I spent more time in a Speedo than any other article of clothing except, maybe, my favorite black Converse high-tops.

Unfortunately (some might say fortunately), we haven’t come across any eco-Speedos. There’s a huge untapped market of environment-conscious Speedo-wearers out there, people, so get to it!

-Toshio...off to drop some kids off at the pool...

Now, I do NOT have the same philosophy with horse gear... The more the better. But I do get it used on eBay to try to minimize the amount of raw materials my habits extract from this earth.

Jen... off to ride My Pretty Pony (her barn color is PINK! Poor thing...I am making up for my lack of feminine leanings by shifting them onto her!)...

A few summers ago when I was an intern in DC, I had political aspirations. All of us interns were pretty ambitious, and whether our sights were set on a Nigerian ambassadorship, a seat in the Minnesota House, or the UN Secretary-Generalship, we knew that there were certain skills we were gonna need to get there, like the ability to match Senators' names with their states, and schmoozing.

I'm OK at making small talk - don't really enjoy it (I doubt I'm unique in that respect) - but in DC the schmooze factor was above and beyond anything I'd experienced growing up on the West Coast. The Intern Coordinator of the non-profit I was working for said that in order to make it as a schmoozer - and by extension, in politics - I'd need to become an expert on one of two things: wine or golf, neither of which sounded appealing at the time.

On the wine count: I've always been more of a beer drinker and I'm no good at spontaneously coming up with adjective-heavy verbiage to describe what I'm drinking ("harmonious aromatics hinting at ripe apricots, with a subtle trace of waxy botrytis," anyone?).

On the golf count: I'm not really into golf either, though I can appreciate the fact that without it, miniature golf, golf carts, and all those good times with my dad and uncle on the driving range wouldn't exist.

Thus, my desire to usurp Kofi Annan's position at the UN has been put on hold - for now. But as sustainability becomes more and more integral to the concept of political correctness, wannabe politicians are gonna have to start stepping it up from an eco-perspective and taking the environment into consideration in everything they do.

Lucky for them, when their Intern Coordinator asks, "Wine or golf?" they've now got their choice of schmoozing topics: biodynamic wine or eco-golf. Which would you choose?

-Toshio... off to Google mini-golf courses in the Bay Area...

So I'm watching the Golden Globes as I type this, and I hate to admit it, but I want all those clothes. I'm sorry, I do. I'm going to eco-hell, I know, but I do. I'm a nasty consumerist nightmare heathen, but I do. I want it want it want it.  I do.

Um, if I give up milk for a month, can I feel better about buying new shoes? Pretty please?

-Heather... off to root for a bunch of movies I haven't yet seen...

Consumer advocates believe that conflict diamonds make up as much 10-15% of the world diamond supply.  That involve mines that blow up on innocent people, and working conditions not even suitable for a cockroach.  I won't name names but the most well-known retailers sell conflict-full diamonds, and they are the ones with the power to shift the industry.  I am definitely not going to marry some exec from those chain jewelry stores unless they clean up their act. (that will get 'em! ;-)

Anyway, this is a major issue and so happy that at least there is awareness being brought to the issue.  I know that when I find my prince charming he will totally "get it" and will no bat at eye at the importance of having a gemstone as meaningful as the relationship itself.

Yeah, you guessed it... off to find Prince Charming! - Jen

If there is one place to go eco, it's down under.

As today's Daily Tip says in the "Personally Speaking" area, if you tell us about yours, we'll tell you about ours (and who on the team goes commando).

Off to get dressed... first putting on...nope...  you'll have to check back later to see!!

- Toshio

***** BREAKING NEWS *****

I finally tracked (almost) everyone down. Our official picks:

• Krista: "Patagonia Hipsters all the way..."
• Brett couldn't be reached for comment, but if we ever come out with "Biter?" underwear, I'm sure he'd be all over them.
• Jen: "I used to wear total 'grannies,' but now I live in the Deity Aton ones from GreenLoop, which are a big step up." Thumbs up and bums up, Jen!
• Heather won't say what kind of underwear she wears, but she did let on that "If I could get away with it, I'd never wear underwear."
• Personally, I still wear the Fruit of the Looms my mom bought me before sending me off to undergrad. Thanks, Mom!

Hey Party People -

As many of you know, our whole philosophy at the Bite is that we give props for trying, instead of shaking our fingers for not being perfect.

Enter the Ideal Bite class room.  Let's take Nike as a case study.

Back in the mid-90's they got slapped down for labor practices. They tried to do a little green washing, and got slapped harder. A decade or so later they have definitely built sustainability into the core who they are, and how they operate, and what they produce. Essentially, Nike did a 180.  Was it all reactionary and/or just for profit? Whose to ever know.  But personally I don't care if they were carrot' or stick'ed into it. I am just glad they are doing it, and keep doing more of it as the profit margins and shareholders allow.

But some of you I know will be all, "Nike is a big ugly business that treated its offshore workers like crap! How can you even start to defend them!!?"  Well, weirdly enough amoungst the darker green audience, Nike is the underdog, and I always side with the underdog. Plus, I pretend to think like an economist since that was my major in undergrad, and so I get turned on by the economies of scale that Nike can bring to the supply chain.

So bring it on. Let's go to the mat. Or you can really make my day and just agree that big companies are not perfect, and may just be after marketshare, but if they are taking incremental steps towards being leaders in the world of sustainable business, they should get props.

Off to go running.. yes, in my Nikes - Jen

Rarely do I get high on my green horse... but I seriously thought myself so clever when as a teenager shopping with my mom I would answer "neither" to the baggers and then whip out my duffle bag.

However, I am FAR from eco perfect.  To prove that, I took this quiz, called My FootPrint, which tells you just how many planets we would need if everyone on the planet lived like you do.  As I walked down this path to eco-enlightment via a computer tool, I became excited to see my results -- I guess getting a little high on my green horse.  I don’t eat meat; I recycle; I drive a 25 mpg Jetta  only when horseback won’t get me there; and of course - I don’t choose between paper or plastic because I bring my own bag to the supermarket.  I welcomed the opportunity to assess my ecological footprint.   

The results are displayed like this:  "if everyone lived like you, we would need __ planets." My score, in large thanks to air travel, is 3.9 planets!  I found a shallow ‘victory’ for at least coming in below the average ecological footprint in the US:  6 planets. 

Beyond this pointing to the fact that we can't smooth out the world's inequalities by making the poor much richer (because if everybody lived like the average American it really would take 6 planets to meet all our needs), it told me that we all have to find a big bang for the buck way to travel in class… green class.  So, now I am committed to offsetting my air travel emissions.  Emission offsetting means that you purchase a corresponding number of trees or clean energy credits to neutralize your carbon contribution from your flight.  But that is a different tip.

Off to order reusable, sassy shopping bags for Ideal Bite... let me know if you want to preorder one... they are going to rock. - Jen

As some of you know, although I live in MT, and prior to MT was in NY (where I met the lovely Mizz Stephenson), I am really a southern belle (ha) that hails from Atlanta.

When I lived there in my rockstar days after college, my BBF (Susan Storey, now Hildreth, thanks to me dating her husband's brother; yes I took one for the team) and I lived near midtown - where there happened to be a higher gay population.  Well one night this crazy MF went around setting all the cute pink houses on fire.. guess he wasn't comfy with his own sexuality and was acting out.  Just so happened that a friend of ours, David Drexler, lived in a pink house.  And it just so happened that his very annoying girlfriend from Boca Raton had just moved in. 

I will never forget David telling us the story... as he awoke to the panicked call of his friend telling him to get out quick, David grabbed his cat and a photo album and made for the dark hallway, only to trip and fall flat on his face.  He and annoying girlfriend made it outside after much confusion, and he asked what all that sh*t was in the hallway ....   HER GUCCI and PRADA bags!  All 10 of them, lined up ready to be freaking rescued. 

I am grateful of two things:  1) David's house wasn't blown up, and 2) He immediately broke up with her after that incident.

And me?  Well, I do get a touch of bag envy when I see someones bag matching their shoes and all that, but then I am like, "I would rather have a horse than a bag collection."

You?

Off to ride... literally - Jen

Amorous, maybe.  Romantic, not so much.

Why don't people throw great parties in the middle of March? Why can't I have celebratory drinks and dinners spaced out all throughout the year, instead of EVERY SINGLE NIGHT for the past week or so? 

Perfumes and scarves and delicate vases are hardly the things on my mind today, when I need to get prepped for holiday travel and yet another week of every-evening plans.  But if they were, and if I were making wishes, I would give a shout out for those green vases from Uncommon Goods.  They'd look stellar in my apartment. 

Meanwhile, just 4 more days of Ideal Holiday Gift ideas before we go back to our regularly scheduled programming of your Bites...

-Heather... off to eat leftover Thai food from last night's dinner for breakfast...

Fashion is one of those tempting things, like fattening food, smoking, drinking, unprotected sex. . . very self-indulgent and bad for you.  However fashion is also very bad for the planet.  Think about it..  every time Vogue says that square-toed shoes are out and pointy are in, we all want to get a few new pair of shoes to keep up with the times. And some people probably have the financial ability to transform their wardrobe every season.

Heather and I were just interviewed for an upcoming article in the Sierra Club’s e-zine, and the writer asked what I missed most about NYC, to which I answered public transportation - I loved to just zone out and watch people and read a book while being productive (I was being rapidly transported to work with little eco-impact).  And what did I not miss at all?  The fashion temptations.  Just by walking home from work I would pass fabulous stores and boutiques and convince myself that I needed these new _________ --fill in the blanks, and yes it was usually shoes because unlike jeans because they usually fit!. 

And have you been to a Goodwill lately? The majority of the ones I have tried to donate my stuff to are only taking donations during very small windows of time, and if you leave stuff there you can be fined $500!  The point is that they are bubbling over with STUFF, and last year’s fashions.

Anyway, I would say try to buy classic cuts, classic styles, and next time you pass by that store window without succumbing to temptation, pat yourself on the back – your pocketbook and planet thanks you.

Off to get a pair of pants stitched. (They are classics but I don’t sew… and someone recently pointed out the hole in the crotch - not too fashionable in anyone’s opinion.)

- Jen

In general, I make a pretty bad tomboy. I'm a little squeamish about a lot of things (bugs, mice, sludge), and there are a lot of girly things that I really do like (you all already know I'm a total spa/cosmetic whore).

But I just don't get the diamond thing.

Seemingly normal women turn all gushy and strange when it comes to their diamond engagement rings. (I'm soooo going to get in trouble for this blog). Honestly: I like bling and beauty and love and a good cry and schmoopiness as much as the next person. But what is it about diamonds that makes completely sane women start gesticulating wildly with their (left) hands and then constantly straighten their arms out in front of them, hands back, cocking their heads to one side as if they were checking a manicure, moving that blasted stone back and forth to catch the glints in the sunlight/spotlight/bar light/barely-there-light in the back of the cab?

I mean, maybe I, too, would become a huge diamond-lover if I were given a pretty ring. It could happen (as one friend said recently, after becoming engaged and getting an arguably gorgeous ring: "Who KNEW I liked diamonds so much???!"). But I just can't see it, really. I think I'd rather have an old heirloom ring or simple band or, let's be honest, a bang-up trip to Italy.

Fortunately, I avoid the atrocities committed in the name of diamond sourcing by staying resolutely single and consistently broke. Let's just call it me doing my little part for the planet.

Not to be a ring pusher, but this concept of recycled jewelry is so amazing. Did you know about the pollution associated with gold mining, or that Canadian diamond mining is trashing sensitive permafrost regions?

These two beauts are from the greenKarat site... I like some of their pieces a lot and their purist attitude. The upper-left is called "seed" and it is recycled Titanium. The other set is recycled platinum pair for only $350!

As the founder of greenKarat said when we spoke to him:

"Using recycled gold displaces demand for mining of gold. That reduces the massive waste rock, energy usage and risk of cyanide spills associated with mining. We are also finding that we can leverage our success to help other environmental projects.

It's also gratifying to hear that we've provided couples with a means to express their love for each other, while also embracing the environment. We are frequently told that the combined symbolism is important to them."

Awww... off to find a husband who would be into eco-rings,

Jen

Tonight, I hosted a little Sunday dinner with some friends - tomatoes and basil and CSA produce and lots of good stories and chats in spite of the mad torrential downpour and lightning storm that drove us indoors.

In a complete change of pace from my normal offering of copious amounts of wine with dinner; tonight, I decided to try to beat the infernal August heat by starting with gin and tonics. Sadly, my freezer is the size of a child's lunchbox - with no room for ice trays - which is why I found myself buying ice at the local supermarket this afternoon.

Buying ice seems so idiotic to me. It's water. Probably tap water. Frozen.

The whole "buying water" concept in general has always seemed stupid to me. Don't get me wrong - I like my water. I grew up being forced to drink a ton of it, and I continued on in adulthood. In fact, all that water I drank as a kid was water from a well. And when I wasn't drinking well water, I drank it directly out of a mountain creek (and THAT was laced with giardia so my brother and I have a slight tolerance for the bug...).

All in all, I have never considered water to be something worth PURCHASING unless I was in a bind on a road trip.

Which is why I was glad to discover my faucet filter - I no longer have to buy bottles of water or keep filling my pitcher to ensure that I'm not throwing something nasty into my system. Instead, I flip a switch on my faucet, and viola! Instant, clean water.

I think it even traps the giardia.

-Heather... off to do some dishes and drink some Brita-ed water while watching Entourage...