Photos: Via Nativa.
In our recent
How to go Green Holidays, we’ve made the point: this time of the year is not about presents and errands, but about sharing with your beloved. Keeping that in mind, if you still need to get some presents and didn’t find anything in our
Green Gifts Guide, here’s a last minute option to shop while doing some good.
Via Nativa is an online store that markets responsible products by Argentine and Nicaraguan artisans under fair trade practices, but with reasonable prices as well. Some of the products include bags and purses starting at 20 USD and adorable kids booties at 28 USD. The initiative also has a base in Brooklyn, at the design shop and art gallery
Urban Alchemist.
Find out more about the project and more of the products you can find in the extended....

Today’s TreeHugger Deal comes to you from Gwen Designs and its adorable baby wear line called Little Chickie Wear. Each whimsical design is created by owner Gwendolyn Gardner, inspired by a cute antic from her daughter, and is truly a work of art. The baby wear is offered for both boys and girls and sizes range from 3 months to 6T. Little Chickie Wear onesies, tees, and hats can be found at stylish boutiques and online. New designs are added several times throughout the year and we love the
new holiday onesie (“Twas the Night Before Christmas”) and “
Local Catch,” in addition to “
Inside Me.” All Little Chickie Wear pieces are printed on 100% organic cotton and are made in the U.S.A. ...

Are you fed up with having to waste tin foil or plastic food bags to wrap your sandwiches? Or you had enough of carrying bulky plastic containers to get your snacks to work? Well,
BOC’N ROLL, a Spanish design by
MarcaDiferencia, (
VERY similar to
Wrap-N-Mat...) seems to be the solution. It is a reusable food wrapper, meant to pack up snacks like sandwiches, fruit or biscuits and take them to work, school or on a trip without leaving any waste behind.
See video and more information after the jump.
...

This week’s TreeHugger Deals comes to you from The Groovy Mind, a company that’s known for their
groooovy, gourmet gifts. Each is deliciously organic, fairly traded and seasonally harvested and includes coffee (one of our faves), tea, cookies and corn chips, to name a few. The Organic Meltdown chocolate is some of the best we’ve tasted (we love the “one bar saves one tree” campaign), while the
Metro Sensual Spa Box…we’ll leave it at that. Even the most discriminating treehuggers will lose their collective groovy minds over these one-of-a-kind green gifts. They are delivered in a hip, sustainable gift box is wrapped in hand stamped paper and shipped in a groovy literary box—a perfect size for re-use to store small collectibles, magazines or manuscripts....
Women’s Vote Ecologically Tee, $28. Men’s Vote Ecologically Tee, $34. Both available through UndertheCanopy.com.
With six weeks until Election Day, and just days before the first debates, there has never been a more crucial time to remind our politicians and fellow Americans to “Vote Ecologically.”
ECOFashion favorite,
Under the Canopy, makes it easy and sustainably-chic to spread the good word. The label’s attention-grabbing, body-hugging and 100% organic cotton, “Vote Ecologically” t-shirt reminds us to choose with a conscience; and with 2% of the proceeds donated to
The Rainforest Foundation, actions speak louder than words....
Cultivate Kids organic kids Tees remind us that growing organic isn’t just about reducing pesticides and preventing the spread of GMOs – it is about cultivating a healthy future for our earth and for our children. When we give our kids toxic messages instead of nurturing their natural qualities like curiosity and creativity, we end up short-changing both the children and ourselves. ...

Dutch designer Frans Prins and Swedish designer Cecilia Palmer have joined forces to create
Pamoyo, an ethical fashion label with a creative edge. Pamoyo is an open source label. Pamoyo invites designers to join their mission and enrich the offerings with their creations. Pamoyo, in return, will take responsibility to ensure consumers of the "high quality and sustainable production of every product made under the label".
Pamoyo will post patterns under the Creative Commons license. According to their blog, the Creative Commons office has confirmed that Pamoyo is the first fashion label under Creative Commons license....

All Sarah and Rose from
Greenknickers are waiting for these days is sunny weather as there is no more sore bottom excuses not to get on your bike! The girls have designed special padded boxers and knickers that look as sexy as the rest of their collection (see
here,
here and
here) to encourage their customers to cycle more.
(more about these and lucky wedding lingerie after the jump)
...

The Finnish family business
Lasistudio reclaims glass bottles and jars without crushing them in order to create new objects. All the products are hand-made in an old barn in Finland. By taking advantage of the original shapes of the waste packages, only 1/4 of the energy needed to shape new objects from melted glass is used, says Jan Torstensson Oy, glassworks specialized in manufacturing items from recycled packaging glass....

Swedish design company
Hetta’s favourite materials are cork, leather and wool. We particularly like the corky underlays for pots; one has the shape of a
Ladder, and another one is
Long and flexible for you to decorate the table in countless ways.
...

Today's the big day--a full 24-hours dedicated to wearing your heart on your sleeve, and eating chocolate with friends, S.O.'s, and even colleagues. But if you haven't put enough thought into what you should be doing for that one special person in your life, it's not too late. Our Valentine's Day Gift Guide is a green cheat sheet to the perfect last-minute memento or bouquet, and we also give you hour-by-hour ideas for keeping it sexy all day long.
::Valentine's Day Gift Guide: Giving Greener Love...
Images by H&M, Photographer: Daniel Jackson
H&M, the Swedish high street store, has yet again made it into the TreeHugger news, just on time to spread some love for Valentine's day (check out
Green Valentine for other great gifts). After
applying the EU eco-label and
the launch of their organic cotton collection last spring, H&M has launched
Fashion Against Aids to spread awareness about HIV this month. Well-known artists such as Rihanna, Chicks on Speed, Good Charlotte, Henrik Vibskov, Jade Jagger, Justice, Katharine Hamnett, My Chemical Romance, Rufus Wainwright, Scissor Sisters, The Cardigans, Tiga, Timbaland and Ziggy Marley have each designed a 100% organic cotton T-shirts, tank tops or hooded sweater. Judging by the sold out racks of clothing the first days of the launch (at least here in Barcelona), the campaign is a great success....
Credit: Abbey Goes Design Scouting
Valentine's Day is almost here. What's that? You haven't picked out something perfect your sweetheart just yet? Never fear! Our Valentine's Day Gift Guide will save the day. Whether you're looking for something sexy (eco-lingerie, anyone?), standard (organic chocolate and flowers always do the trick), or dematerialized (giving to charity comes from the heart), we've got something for everyone for a full day of good green lovin'. ::
Valentine's Day Gift Guide: Giving Greener Love...
Credit: ulterior epicure
It may be the thought that counts, but let's face it, if your intention doesn't come wrapped up with a big pink bow on Valentine's Day, you could be sleeping alone. Luckily, we've put on our thinking caps and come up with a plan so you won't get a figurative dagger through the heart (ouch!). From standards like chocolate and flowers to totally kissable coffee breath, we've got you covered morning, noon, and night. ::
Valentine's Day Gift Guide: Giving Greener Love...

It may be the thought that counts, but let's face it, if your intention doesn't come wrapped up with a big pink bow on Valentine's Day, you could be sleeping alone. Luckily, we've put on our thinking caps and come up with a plan so you won't get a figurative dagger through the heart (ouch!). From standards like chocolate and flowers to totally kissable coffee breath, we've got you covered morning, noon, and night. ::
Valentine's Day Gift Guide: Giving Greener Love...

Here’s a new shop paradigm for you: Shop according to the revealed ingredients of every object. Because those ingredients sure look yummy with a range of products made from sustainable wood, cork, bamboo, organic and recycled materials. Monica Potvin in Barcelona and Anu Suominen in Finland have joined forces and created ‘a new version shop presenting a collection of objects for living made as sustainable as possible’.
Matteriashop is finally a shop that guarantees eco-smartness as well as fabulous design.
Through close collaboration with designers all over the globe, the Matteriashop offers a unique transparency and behind-the-scene information on each carefully selected product, taking into account its entire lifecycle. Monica Potvin explains:...
F*&king Recycle is the latest poster collection by graphic designer
Becky Redman. Designed to increase awareness and promote action, the 50 colourful and provoking posters do exactly that. With encouraging messages to get people to recycle everything that can possibly be recycled (glass, aluminium, paper, cans, etc.) and notes such as ‘
one recycled aluminium can will save enough energy to power a television for three hours’, '
every eight months the UK produces enough waste to fill Lake Windermere’ or ‘
plastic can take up to 500 years to decompose’, this is a great collection of typographic exploration, using intense colours to spread alarming facts and get people to recycle. All posters have been screen printed on 100% recycled paper and posted in public.
Click here to see the full collection.
(more posters after the jump)...

How about planting some wildflowers every month of this New Year? Canadian based
Botanical Paperworks’
Plantable Eco Calendar guides you through 2008 with its handmade monthly desk calendar that “creates beauty and leaves nothing behind but flowers”. Simply place the seed embedded paper into soil, add water and wait for Bird's Eye, Clarkia, Coreopsis, Poppy, Catchfly and Snap Dragon to come to life.
The handmade paper is acid and tree free, made from recycled bond paper, cotton remnants and abaca, a renewable leaf fibre. The plantable calendar is illustrated by Kal Barteski and available for $19.95
::Botanical Paperworks
Also check out
Blissen’s 2008 Hidden Habitats Calendar and our
2008 Diaries. ...

It is the first of January, which means it’s time to leave the worn-out diary behind and open up a new one. If you haven’t found the perfect agenda to start this New Year yet, here are a few fun and practical eco options. From recycled to social and paperless, there’s an even wider range of treehugger-style diaries this year than any of the previous years.
Starting with the recycled options,
Kara suggested Scribesdelight journals that are made from recycled saddle leather. A
recycled saddle leather agenda/address book is available for $79. If you got one last year, just order your re-fill now and reuse the sleeve.
::Scribesdelight
Another recycled option is the diary by
Bandaderodadura, a Spanish company. The sturdy black
sleeves of these diaries are made from recycled car tire inner tubes and are locally made in Barcelona. The sleeves come with a zip pocket for extra storage space and are guaranteed to last you through quite a few years.
::Bandaderodadura
More diaries after the jump....
We'll be working on better category archives soon. In the meantime, take a look at the
if you really want to dig around, or use the search box at the top of the page.