H&M Launches Fashion Against AIDS T's Made from 100% Organic Cotton
by Petz Scholtus, Barcelona, Spain on 02.14.08
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.
![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.treehugger.com/nav-commenters.gif)
There is no book more eloquent about the predicament we find ourselves in, and the solution required for extrication. This is not a book only for three-to-four year olds, it’s an anthem for all humanity. Published in 1971, it has not dated, not a single second. Its clarion call still resonates with the same force. We would love to quote the gorgeous, quirky prose of Dr Seuss but that would to be to rob you of the power of reading it for yourself. Better still, read it out loud to a child. Discover it together. 
Full of sumptuous photography, The Beauty Of Straw Bale Homes could easily be mistaken for just another dust gathering ‘coffee table’ book. But that would belie the power that this very modest little volume can have. In changing the status quo of building construction. Taking more than 40 buildings as mini case studies, it definitively showcases the arrival of straw bales as a bona-fide method of construction. Ranging between Mexico and Canada, snug little cottages to expansive houses onto vast monasteries and even retail stores all get a look in. You’ll certainly see how straw bales can run the gamut of quirky and rustic, right through to sleek and modern. The Steens were co-authors on the now classic, The Straw Bale House, widely credited with bringing this earth-friendly building technique to the world’s attention. Whereas that earlier book was much more of a ‘how-to’ digest, the newer ‘Beauty’ simply demonstrates, with delightful visuals, just what can be achieved. It does, however, include a few salient pointers on the likes of retrofitting, paints, plasters, roofs and costings. Be warned though, it would be a rare reader of this book, who after seeing how beautiful strawbale can be, did not then reach for one of those numerous technical tomes now available. You could soon have mud render on your hands and flecks of straw in your hair!
Buy 
Admittedly this is not the most current of books. Originally published in 1995, it might be lacking in web and email resources, but boy, does it make up for that with just sheer bulk of information. Nikki and David Goldbeck have a story on how just about anything can be reused. And we mean Anything. Chopsticks - take your own and maybe get a small discount at some Chinese restaurants. Nail files - use a durable one like the Natural Nail File made from the scales of a Pirarucu fish! Golf Balls - a company that specialises in selling cleaned range balls. Pies - a Californian company that sells its pies in their own baking trays — return the tray and get a reimbursement. Movies - a company that salvages the stage sets from movie production. You’ll find odd stuff in here that will make your head spin, and simple solutions that’ll have you going “Doh! Why didn’t I think of that?” In covering subjects such as design, rental, repair, maintenance and remanufacture, the book’s 450 pages sure detail how we can enjoy life, without the need of always buying new stuff. Inspiring.
Buy 
The sub title says it all: A study of economics as if people mattered. Yet this is no desert-dry treatise crammed with numbers and figures, usually beloved of economists. Rather it is imbued with hard nosed, real world compassion. “If ... nothing is left for fathers to teach their sons, or for the sons to accept from their fathers, family life collapses. The life, work, and happiness of all societies depend on certain ‘psychological structures’ which are infinitely precious and highly vulnerable. A man is destroyed by the inner conviction of uselessness. No amount of economic growth can compensate for such losses ...” But E.F. Schumacher was not your tie-dyed style of greenie — he was, after all, Economic Adviser to the British Coal Board for twenty years. Yet he developed an understanding of the world so very different to his peers. “An attitude to life which seeks fulfilment in the single-minded pursuit of wealth — in short, materialism — does not fit into this world, because it contains within itself no limiting principle, while the environment in which it is placed is strictly limited.” Read this absolute classic to learn how Schumacher developed his notion of Intermediate Technology, as an appropriate mid-point between grinding poverty and decadent affluence.
Buy 
From the fork with which you eat your meal, to the school building you were educated in, most everything around you was designed. It has passed through a design studio, at some stage. Designers, because they are involved so early in the process of producing ‘consumer’ goods, are hugely influential in determining the materials to be used and because of their decisions, even the method and location of production. In Design for Society, Nigel Whiteley put the case for ensuring all this design has a net beneficial outcome for the community at large. He goes behind the gloss of arty magazines, exhibitions and black turtlenecks to look at what design has delivered and more importantly what it can offer us. In brief, he explains how design can be more responsive, to 'needs', not merely 'wants'. Peppered with lovely little examples, like the WoBo (or World Bottle) that Heineken designed, so African villages could build housing from these square beer bottles. Or chairs for disabled children, utensils for arthritis sufferers and urban housing for women. For an industry that prides itself on its freshness, it is sobering to realise that design is still in much the same rut that Whiteley chronicled a dozen years ago. Whether designer, or purchaser of goods, this easy-to-read book will clearly illuminate the choices we face. Choices we've been putting off for too long.
Buy 
Wanna do something practical? Get your hands dirty, or your T-shirt sweaty, making a real contribution? Grab a copy of this directory. But be warned, you might just end up in the Galapagos undertaking biodiversity surveys, tracking dolphins in the Med or protecting cheetah habitat in Africa. Flora and Fauna projects across the globe. This digest tells you what's on offer and has a web-based updates section, so it never goes out of date. Planned un-obsolesence, now that is a concept every Treehugger can relate too.
Buy 
One weekend, in an idle moment, I casually picked up a book with an intriguing cover. It was Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. Big mistake. I devoured it like some whodunnit thriller. My weekend was lost, but a new understanding was found on why civilisation flourished in certain hot spots on the planet and not others. Diamond is engaging author, who takes big picture stuff and explains it in terms that enthrall, without the reader needing to own a wall full of PhDs. In his latest writing, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, he seeks to establish what caused the demise of cultures, like those of the Mayan, Anasazi, Norse Viking and Easter Island. In short, he fingers ignorance as one of the main culprits. And although the book is full of less-than-positive pointers to the lack of practical intelligence of the human race, he also sees hope in our current turmoil. Arguing that we cannot hide behind ignorance this time — we are overflowing with information and knowledge — we merely need to act on it. In Australia to promote the book, he appeared on radio and TV programs and copped some flak from farmers, whom he suggested, in the chapter on this ancient, worn-down continent, were eking out an existence on land, that was unlikely to support them long term. They countered that his information was not current and their land management practices have improved in recent years. Which perversely vindicates Diamond’s hope that we can see the error of our ways, in time to make corrective changes. Reading this book will hopefully not only galvanise you into action but also to encourage those around you to act as well.
:: Buy 
Many readers of TreeHugger have asked for direct actions they can take to reduce their environmental impact. In the early 90s there was a plethora of books addressing such interest. The seminal 50 Simple Things You Can Do To Save The Earth prime among them. Although now out of print, it can be obtained second-hand. A decade after that guide came out, the Union of Concerned Scientists released their own take. The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices, was in their words, “the first comprehensive look at the full range of modern consumer activities, identifying those that cause the most environmental damage and those that cause the least.” It ruffled many feathers because it advocated focusing on the bigger issues and not fussing over debates such as paper or plastic bags and cloth or disposable nappies/diapers. And while some of their data might not be fresh out of the lab, the outcomes do remain much the same. So what is some of this non-small stuff, that the UCS would rather we sweat over? Choose a place to live that reduces the need to drive and buying a low- or zero-emission vehicle, if you must have one. Walking and cycling more and eating less meat and dairy while selecting organic produce also rate highly. The reasoning behind why these and other such actions were deemed crucial is lucidly explained in the book.
Buy 
Edwin Datschefski has been tracking the growth of eco-design for over a dozen years now. In this lavishly photographed and designed book, he has elected to show that a better world is already here. Everything that you touch on a given day is replaced with a more sustainable option. These are not airy-fairy, future concepts but products you can buy today. In this is an idealised day-in-the-life of a modern Treehugger, selected goods from all over the world have been gathered together into one persons green life. Edwin wants us to see that a more sustainable lifestyle is not only possible but most of its elements are currently with us. And they are good looking too. No scratchy sack cloth need apply. A rich, treasure trove of green optimism. If only the books high production values had not bumped its purchase price out of the reach of the many who would have benefited from the content. If wallet challenged, maybe encourage your local library to obtain a copy.
Buy 
A very TreeHugger-esque philosophy is expounded here. Your Money or Your Life helps you understand your relationship to money. How you get it, where it goes, and how inconsistently you value it. The goal it sets up is to move toward a state of financial independence, so that you can spend your time doing what you’ve always wanted to do (which, the authors intimate, should be save-the-world-type stuff). Importantly, the authors exhort you to really understand your expenses and to reduce them to those that bring you the most pleasure, and nix the rest. Compellingly, this doesn’t mean giving up your expensive Japanese porn collection or SoHo House membership, if you determine that they’re essential to your happiness and well-being. Secondly, they teach you to calculate your actual hourly wage, including commute, clothing, work-related downtime (a lot lower than you might expect), and consider your purchases using this metric. That shirt that you don’t really need may look different when you realize that it causes you to be another 1.2 hours away from doing what you really want to be doing.
Buy 
Treehugger founder, Graham Hill bought this Pulitzer Prize-winner en route to the Galapagos and it opened the immensely enjoyable world of layman science reading to him. "Weiner weaves the tale of Darwin’s discovery of evolution into the story of the Grant couple, who have spent the last 20 years studying the evolution of finches and other fauna and flora on the Galapagos Islands. Their major discovery: despite Darwin’s belief that evolution happens over decades, you can actually watch it happen over as little as months or years! The Grants’ close observation of finch beaks allowed them to see the significant changes that occurred year to year. The Galapagos is one of the most incredible places on Earth and this book is a great way to learn about it, and about evolution."
Buy 
An environmental call to arms for the designer, Greenie, and business person, this book profiles the next industrial revolution and proposes that will be thoroughly green and pro-business. Companies, it claims, should model their business plains based on the concepts of natural capitalism—biomimicry, resource productivity, service and flow economy, and investment in natural capital—and thereby achieve a competitive advantage, while bettering the environment. To illustrate one of these concepts, a service and flow economy shifts from selling products to selling services. This changes the incentives and does so in a very positive manner. Manufacturers focus on making lasting, repairable, recyclable products instead of planning their obsolescence. For example, by selling you the function of your fridge versus the actual fridge, the manufacturer will create a fridge that needs minimal repairs and that can be fully recycled once its useful life is over. Concepts like these, flushed out with examples, make for a great read. Viva la revolucion!
Buy 
This brick of a book played a large part in inspiring TreeHugger. Full of pictures and key info about sexy, green furniture, transportation, materials, clothing, and more, it’s the bible of green design. Each selection in the book has a handy legend that explains the eco-design strategy applied, the materials used, designer, etc. It’s a fascinating read for both the average green-interested consumer and the hard-core green designer. Instantly up your eco-status by sliding this into your coffee-table collection. An updated edition became available in 2005.
Buy 
At the screening I attended of this provocative documentary, The Corporation, one of the Directors, Mark Achbar, was in attendance for a Q&A session. One audience member harangued him over the limited number of ‘worthy’ corporate executives interviewed. Maybe that person needs this DVD, because it would seem to have an additional 5 hours of footage from the 40 or so interviewed persons. The Corporation explores how business came to have such open slather on legal and financial power, when originally corporations were created for the common good, such as building expensive infrastructure for a city. The movie jumps around some, as it cherry picks examples from the multitude of ill-tidings that corporations have wrought. But it retains a central theme: that the definition of a psychopath appears to be a perfect match for many a corporation. Except, of course, that they are not an individuals and therefore avoid the laws and strictures that the rest of us live by. A plethora of case studies are presented to ram home this psychopathic analogy. And although a little drawn out in parts, it contains very often compelling viewing, like the stunning gall of water business, Bechtel, who deemed it fair and reasonable to charge its Bolivian customers for harvesting their own rainwater. Those customers revolted — literally — revealing that David can indeed smote Goliath ... if the planets are in alignment and people work together. View this, get fired up and then go support your locale community co-operative.
:: Buy 
In another corner of my life I co-manage a reuse store, which may explain why I so enjoyed this movie, when I saw it on the big screen. Gleaning is the art of gathering what others have deemed unwanted. Agnès Varda has crafted this very personal and quirky documentary that has won awards all over the place. At times she gets a little side-tracked but for the most part focuses on a underbelly of society, that many don’t realise is even there. We met people who scavenge vegetables from the fields after harvesting, and learn that in Europe there are indeed long established laws allowing this. Another group are discovered doing the same thing, finding the bulk of their food in the leftovers from urban produce markets. In the gloom of the night we stop to talk to collectors sifting through household discards put out on the kerbside, for the local government to take to landfill. One such gleaner (or dumpster diver, if you prefer) shows us through his house, furnished almost entirely from the detritus of others lives. While the lifestyles led by those interviewed may not be what many of us aspire to, their take on how the developed world cast asides useful resources should cause astute viewers to see the world around us in the different light. The ‘waste’ our affluent society leaves in its wakes is truly staggering and this movie reminds us that it needn’t be so. Apparently the DVD includes a one hour film, that follows up on the eclectic characters we’ve seen and records how they've fared, two years on.
:: Buy 
To date we have only seen the trailer for this DVD. But when it wins three Telly Awards, including the top one for Outstanding Multimedia DVD, it scores 5 stars from 15 Amazon reviews and The Last Straw (the definitive journal on strawbale) says, “the aesthetic details are stunning .... with all the “bonus” footage on construction details, this video is a real bargain” then you get the sense it has something going for it. The multimedia presentation follows the construction of hybrid Strawbale and Adobe house, which cost just $88,000 to build. That’s all up, even inclusive of architects fees, licences and an even tools. 80 hours of footage have been edited down to a total of 5 hours, which shows the building procedure from wo-to-go, including a 16 minute slide show on construction detail. The DVD comes with a colour information booklet too, that has floor plans and elevations. Learn about photovoltaic energy (100% of the power for the house comes from the sun), rainwater harvesting, earth renders and much more. If you can’t get yourself onto a natural building workshop then this DVD seems the next best option.
:: Buy 
In this hip-looking tome, McDonough (architect) and Braungart (chemist) propose an industrial revolution, but this time, a green one. Taking cues from biomimicry, they propose that WASTE = FOOD, and suggest that things should be made from one of two types of materials: biological nutrients, which decompose naturally, and technical nutrients, which are designed for upcycling (little to no quality lost during recycling). A speedy read from two men who walk the talk, as many of their revolutionary projects unfold around the world (cradle to cradle chairs, windows, packaging etc..). And with plastic, upcyclable pages, you can read the damn thing in the bath!
Buy 
Evolution’s beautiful system of trial and error working over millions of years clearly has created the most advanced designs we know. Despite this, for the most part, we carbon units have insisted on doing things our way. Well, the spider is able to create stronger fiber than the best human efforts to date. And she does this at room temperature, without toxic chemicals and at normal pressure. The diminutive mussel is able to create a glue on the spot that allows him to stick underwater to slippery surfaces better than any genius material scientist’s “breakthrough technologies”. In this book, through these and many other examples, Janine points out that if we open our eyes to the nature around us, we can learn design approaches that will really push technology forward and at the same time help us to minimize our environmental impact. We found this book very inspiring and a must-read despite it being a little hard-going at points.
Buy 
This small book explores a very simple but critical meme: most of the seemingly benign stuff in our everyday lives has a very complicated past that’s energy-intensive and environmentally damaging. To convey this, Stuff follows a typical North American citizen through a single day and backtracks the inputs required for their coffee, T-shirt, computer, hamburger, etc. The findings are startling: did you know that it takes 700 gallons of water just so you can have your Quarter-Pounder? Statistics like this create a kind of social unease, hopefully enough to bring awareness to the significant environmental aftermath of our everyday lives. TreeHugger hopes that Stuff will spur readers on to vote against needless waste with their every purchase.
Buy 
