James Cameron

The five-year lease includes 115,000-square-feet of sound stage and production office space on the 22-acre campus. The studio’s commitment to environmental design was also integral in attracting Cameron – who intends to make the production of the film carbon neutral. According to the owners, MBS features “an aggressive water conservation program, eco-friendly paints and cleaning products, sustainable café and craft services practices and a number of programs to promote greener transportation by its employees.”

Not content with just standard greening, Cameron is also footing the bill on a full-blown solar array said to “provide all the electricity needed for the “Avatar” films.” The $5M in improvements will also features like a gym for employees and a private screening room for the director.

Off the top of my head, if the “Avatar” sequels really do go solar, they will be the first big-budget Hollywood film to have walked that road – as well as donating a proceeds of box office receipts to green charities.

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Andrea Gabhart’s father is a small businessman who does custom laser wood cutouts. His business produces a large amount of small scraps of leftover Baltic birch wood. Andrea, being both entrepreneurial and green-minded, saw those scraps and decided to build a business on them — and WoodWear by Andrea was born.

Andrea takes the scraps of lightweight wood and uses them to create unique jewelry with a great natural feel. From simple teardrop shaped earrings to earrings with laser-cut designs and even the occasional bracelet, Andrea’s Etsy shop is full of one-of-a-kind items — all created from the “waste” material from her father’s business.

All of the WoodWear products are made in the United States, in Louisville, Kentucky. They are available on the WoodWear website and Etsy shop, as well as in select stores in Kentucky, Indiana, Florida, and Tennessee.

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After constructing her pieces, Dextras photographs each Weedrobe with a model and they are sent out to “engage the public” by interacting with passerby. Afterwards, each garment is left to be ‘reclaimed’ and to decompose naturally.

Dextras’ extensive array of natural materials is a veritable gardener’s delight, including yucca leaves, wild red rose, camellia, willow, hydrangeas, crab apples, kale, rosehips, laurels and thorns to pierce components together. She also uses invasive species like Japanese knotweed to call into question our attitudes toward certain species.

Dextras also weaves leaves together to create her clothing, allowing the shape of the plants to inform the specific pattern.

Though it may seem to be a little too fun to be serious, Weedrobes is not just some off-the-cuff project. Dextras’ view on fashion is from the inside, with a deep personal history with fashion beginning from her childhood memories of her mother’s clothing store, and Dextras’ own employment in non-union sweatshop, where she witnessed firsthand the poor working conditions and the chemicals used in the process.

Ultimately, the point of these ephemeral robes is to get people to see past the glamorous exterior and at the larger life cycles behind the fashion industry. According to Dextras:

The Weedrobes philosophy is based on being a free thinker, creating one’s own sense of style while also raising awareness about the impact of industry on our eco-system. Our most effective tool for change is for consumers to demand more equitable products. It may be impractical to wear clothing made with leaves but our future depends on the creation of garments made from sustainable resources.

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The photographs look like the Smurfs declared an all-out war against the Care Bears using sporks and Barbie accessories as weaponry. Or simply put, rainbows.

Jones has been collecting and recycling materials in to her art and jewelry since 2005. She uses everything from buttons to vintage linoleum which makes her pieces all one of a kind. In 2008 she began photographing what she saved from the landfill. But it was a vacation to Victorian beach in 2009, along with a really large bag of rubbish, that inspired the Skittle-esque photos you see.

She calls them Rubbish Rainbows.

“My first thought was to bin it all, but then the pretty colours were itchin for a quick sorting…and then I wanted to document it,” she explained to me. Not everything she collects makes it into the photographs. The picture below would have been 4-times the size had she used all the Coke bottle lids she found that day.

She goes to the beach about once a month but also gathers trash from nearby creeks which she visits daily.

“I am yet to find any real treasure, but would get a thrill if I discovered something really ancient and historical,” she confesses. I would have to disagree. Her art is the pot of gold.

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On average, products contained four of the eight metals of concern–mercury, arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, nickel, lead, selenium, and thallium. The Benefit Benetint lip gloss contained the highest level of lead at 110ppm, which is 10 times higher than the limit set by Health Canada.

The heavy metals found in the products tested are categorized as unintentional contaminants. They are not required to be listed on the labels, which is why it may come as a shock to some that they are in the products in the first place. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics points out that, in Canada, there are draft guidelines for impurity levels of some metals it believes are “technically avoidable.” In the United States, there are no standards for these metals in cosmetics, nor are there “draft guidelines.”

“Individual exposures to these metals in small amounts are unlikely to cause harm, but heavy metals can build up in the body over time and may increase risk for a variety of health problems,” the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics reports. Meaning, if you’re using cosmetics laden with heavy metals on a daily basis, or more than once daily, you could be putting yourself at risk.

Visit Environmental Defence to download the report (pdf) and make sure your favorite products aren’t listed. While you’re there, sign the petition asking Health Canada to better regulate impurities in cosmetics.

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They’re not the first to introduce eyewear that benefits eyesight restoration projects, we’ve covered brands like Proof and Kayu who follow a similar model, but due to TOMS cult-like following, this initiative could have global impact.

TOMS will help those in need with medical treatment, prescription eyeglasses and sight-saving surgery through a partnership with California-based Seva Foundation . Seva has been working for more than thirty years on global blindness prevention and sight restoration. TOMS is focusing their efforts in Nepal, Tibet and Cambodia to start.

The eyewear is currently available in both men’s and women’s style at TOMS.com and Nordstrom; prices range from $135 to $145.

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Sway Handbag

Less than a month ago, we announced the finalists in 5th Annual Independent Handbag Designer Awards (IHDA), hosted by Handbag Designer 101 and InStyle, in the green and socially responsible category, and now, we’re announcing the winners.

They’re given more than just an award to put on the mantel, they’re given a platform to launch their brand. In the green category, New York-based The Sway, for one, now has the opportunity to partner with Timberland. Read on:

As a member of the preliminary judging panel, I saw more than 1,000 independent handbag designs while judging and The Sway’s “Marlo” bag was among my favorites from the beginning. It is made with recycled leather scraps and recycled cotton linings and has not only a lot of intricate pieces of leather but a lot of character, too.

As the overall winner in the “Best Green Handbag” category, The Sway will have the opportunity to collaborate with the design team at Timberland on a limited edition Earthkeepers handbag and boot collection for women, set to come out in 2012. The Sway bags are available online at The Sway NYC, and in-store at Fred Segal, Kaight NYC, Searle, and International Playground.

Another favorite is the artisan-made crochet and aluminum soda pop bag by Neide Ambrosio Martins de Souza of Brazil. It was a winner in two categories, the “Most Socially Responsible Handbag” and the “Audience Fan Favorite.” As the winner, they will receive a marketing feature with Professional Sebastian and, along with all winners, a feature in the September issue of InStyle.

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We wrote about the Holstee Wallet made from upcycled newspapers in India last year. This summer they have launched a new version of their wallet called Delhi Rang, this time made out of colourful plastic bags.

The Holstee crew tell us about the distinctive product name and manufacturing process:

“The name pays homage to the city (Delhi) where the colored (Rang, meaning ‘color’ in Hindi) plastic bags are collected off the streets, cleaned and sorted before being hand stitched into this slim wallet design.”
As with the newspaper wallets Holstee is working with Conserve India, a local NGO, to produce the Delhi Rang wallet, helping “those often referred to as ‘rag pickers’ by providing fair wage employment, education and health care for employees and their families. As each wallet is handmade and without using any dyes, each is one-of-a-kind in its pattern and style based on the specific colored bags used to make each wallet.”

These upcycled Delhi Rang wallets make a colourful alternative to the muted original newspaper wallet. Happily, as with all Holstee products, 10% of sales are lent to entrepreneurs in the developing world through their partnership with Kiva.org.

Dehli Rang Wallets ($25) are available to buy on the Holstee site

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But what about making recycling fun, something you’d even want to take an active part in doing? Is that possible? Our partnership with NBC New York is another step on that path for us. Putting the silly in recycling is a ridiculous animated Rube Goldberg style machine that “processes” things like Starburst wrappers, with the resulting new product popping out the other end.

And this NBC recycling machine doesn’t just stay put on their site. We’ve made it embeddable, and shareable on Facebook and Twitter. It may look silly, but it does two things: gets people’s attention, and makes it clear that things they’re used to only being able to throw away can in fact be made into something else entirely.

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Constructed to attract big-budget filmmakers to PA, Sun Center is the first purpose-built campus and sound stage facility specifically designed for feature-length films and episodic television programs. The $85 million studio sits on 33 acres and includes five studios, seven soundstages, a 4-D movie theater and a high-tech museum encompassing some 370,000 square-feet.

In addition to a geothermal energy system, the studio also recently unveiled a new 216 kilowatt photovoltaic array.

“Sun Center Studios’ commitment to sustainability extends throughout the entire facility from the efficient design of the campus’s new buildings and stormwater management, our use of organic and locally grown foods whenever possible, to our participation in ‘smart-grid’ technology programs through integrated demand response and the installation of electric vehicle charging stations along with a fleet of hybrids for our production company clients,” commented Adam Rotwitt, Senior Vice President of Sun Center Studios. ‘We believe our studio will serve as a role model for other local Pennsylvania businesses as well as companies operating in the film and television industry.”

Keep the green coming, Hollywood.

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