Mad Men goes organic

Check out this cool commercial that won the Grandy (Grand Prize) for the most brilliant commercial 2012.

 Chipotle -   Back to the Start

Cell Phones

Using headphones when speaking on you cell phone is one of the easiest ways to keep radiation away from vital parts. Make sure also to keep your cell phone away from your body, i.e. in your purse, not in your pockets.

Recent research shows that we should keep our cell phones at least 15cm (6inches) away from our bodies. WHO has even put cell phones in the class 2B which means they are possibly carcinogenic to humans.

Check out this really interesting and scary information from Dr. Devra Davis;  Cell Phone Dangers. She shows the danger of radiation and especially warns pregnant women and children.

There is also some great tips on how to reduce the risks.

Bike to Work Day

Today it is Bike to Work Day in Denver. The League of American Bicyclists promotes this all across USA every year in may. May is Bike Month, last week of may is Bike Week and Bike to Work Day is Friday in Bike Week. Denver choose June instead of May, and 17904 persons took their bikes to work in Denver today.

Anyone can arrange a bike to work day together with their company or organization. If you email about your event to the League they will post it on their website to promote it and to encourage others to join in.

Some of the major cities that arranges this event have refreshment stations, they give out t-shirts and maps and arrange competitions. People ride bicycles with their kids to school and teach them about safety on the road at the same time. Races are arranged to see if you get to your destination the quickest by bus, car or bicycle during the rush hours.

Such a cool way to do something for your health, for the environment and together with the people of your company or community at the same time.

Read more on Bikeleague.

Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves

Indoor air pollution is not something we come across very often in the western world. But according to WHO, indoor air pollution kills over 2 million! people each year from diseases like pneumonia, lung cancer and heart disease. More than half of them are children under the age of 5. That's 5500 persons each day or 230 persons each hour that dies because they are cooking a meal for their family.

This is due to the fact that half of the worlds population cook their meals on open fires or stoves that burns biomass (wood, agricultural waste, charcoal, animal droppings etc). When cooking on inefficient stoves in poorly ventilated homes the fumes is highly toxic to both people and the environment. It can reach up to 200 times the level of toxins that's safe to breathe. In you own home!

Apart from being dangerous to your health it also highly impacts our environment. When those fuels are being burnt it creates carbon dioxide and methane which is a factor to climate change. Cutting down trees to use as fuel also leads to deforestation and erosion of the soil.

In a larger perspective, having a better way to cook food would benefit the economies of developing countries. Instead of spending up to 20h a week collecting fuel, women could work and children could go to school. That would benefit the entire family and in the end the entire country.

Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves is an initiative started by U.N. in 2010 and is meant to bring together governments, the private sector and other actors in a joint effort to develop and produce new stoves that will be cleaner, more efficient, more durable and cheaper. Their goal is that, by the year of 2020, there will be 100 million households using this kind of stoves.

In an effort to empower women it's also one of the goals that selling and repairing these stoves will create new business opportunities for women all over the world.

To work locally and share your knowledge globally is the best way to sustainability I can think of.

Read more and work together with Julia Roberts and Hillary Rodham Clinton and many many more to reach the goal by 2020 on Clean Cookstoves.

Refreshments

I tried a new organic fruit-drink today from Belvoir Fruit Farms. 

This was a pressé made of organic elderflower. Usually I find elderflower a bit too sweet, but this was the most delicious thirst quencher I've ever tried! Poured over a lot of ice it really is suitable for anything; a summer lunch, a trip to the beach or mixed with the evening drinks. Checking out their website I'm obviously not the only one who likes it. Belvoir has recieved several awards for their drinks.

Not all Belvoir drinks are organic, but none of them use any ingredients derived from animals, any chemical preservatives or artificial colors or flavours.

Their products can be bought in 21 countries, and in Sweden you can find it at Goodstore.

Electro Luxury

I watched CBS 60 minutes this weekend about Elon Musk who's the CEO and co-founder of Tesla Motors. This is the guy that founded PayPal and he is also the CEO of SpaceX; a forward thinking company working with private and commercial space transport. It was a good portrait, and I always find people that has the guts to take a big step out of their comfort-zone really interesting.

Tesla Motors is a young company (founded in 2003) that works on bringing us electrical cars without compromising with design and performance. They have produced three models so far and from what I've read on the internet most reviewers really likes what they see and experience.

As a gadget maniac, cool features like a really large touchscreen for information and entertainment in the front and a prepared slot to put you iPod in is really appealing.













As long as you choose where you buy your electricity from (sun, wind, water etc.) there are no emissions whatsoever with theese cars.



Model X

Model X is the SUV and will go into production in late 2013. It accelerates from 0-60 mph (96km/h) in under 5 seconds. On the homepage you can have a close look at it from a 360-degree angle.








Model S



This car is under production and deliveries will begin in the autumn of 2012. It's topspeed is 125 mph (200km/h). Accelerates 0-60mph (96km/h) in 4,4 sec. Estimated range (85 kWh) is 300 miles (480km) if you drive at 60mhp.






Roadster


On the website you can design your own and see exactly what it would look like with different colours, wheels, interior etc.  Accelerates 0-60 mph (96km/h) in 3,7 sec. The range is 245 miles (390km) per charge and top-speed is 125 mph (200km/h).

Eleven.se

I buy almost all my skincare products from eleven.se. It's such a great place to shop! They have a fantastic range of organic products including many I've written about here; Burt's Bees, Bulldog, Naturligtvis and Luxsit

It's easy to find out which products are organic and there is a great variety of make-up, skincare, nail-polish, perfumes, shampoos, brushes etc.

You get your products within a few days - I've never had to wait more than three. Even if you have questions or special requests you get a reply from them in just half-an hour, and they listen to suggestions about products that you would like on the site. The prices are good and you always get samples of products with every purchase. Check it out!

Meat Free Detox Saturday

There was meat on our plates this monday so we postponed Meat Free Monday to Saturday instead.

We chose to go green (in every sense of the word) today.

For 4 persons

Breakfast - Fruitsallad
4 green apples
1 large box of green grapes
4 pears
4 kiwi fruits
1 galia melon

Lunch - Green lentil soup with lemon and garlic
1/2 kgs of green lentils
1 1/2 liters of vegetable broth
2 spring onions
4 tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
1 1/2 tsp of cumin
1/2 a lemon
Salt
White pepper

-Peel and chop spring onions and garlic. Chop the tomatoes and squeeze the lemon. Put the lentils, tomatoes, garlic and half of the spring onions in the boling broth.
-Let the soup stew for about an hour until the lentils feels soft. Spice it up with grounded cumin and pepper and salt. Sizzle the rest of the spring onion and lightly fry it.
-Right before it's served, put in the lemon juice and mix it all together.
-Sprinkle the fried spring onion on top.

Dinner - Green salad with all the good stuff we could find.
Fresh spinach
Avocado
Rocket sallad
Cucumber
Broccoli
Green Bell peppers
Asparagus
Pumpkin seeds
Olive oil.

Kingfisher Toothpaste

After a tip from a friend I just recently bought my first organic toothpaste from Kingfisher. This toothpaste contains no artificial colourings, sweeteners or preservatives and the flavours come from natural lemon, fennel or mint for examle.

I choose the fennel one without flouride, and it really tastes great and leaves that fresh feel that you expect a toothpaste to do. It should do it's job properly, it's approved by the British Dental Health Foundation to do as good a job as any of the regular ones.

Diesel and Dust

Today WHO made a statement that diesel exhaust is a cause of lung cancer and maybe also bladder cancer. Diesel is now considered to be as dangerous as asbestos, arsenic and mustard gas and has been upgraded to the highest risk category, Group 1, which means there is sufficient evidence that it causes cancer.

Diesel exhaust is an important factor to the rising amount of particles in the air, particularly in cities. The scientists behind this decision advises governments to lower the limit value of exhausts to protect people from the danger of those particles. Even though there have been more filters and better cleaning methods of diesel recently this is not enough. According to WHO,even cleaner diesel is still considered a health hazard.

Diesel submits less carbon dioxid than petrol (about 20 percent less) but diesel-cars submits more nitrogen oxide that acidifies soil and water and other particles that are dangerous for your lungs.

This puts a lot of pressure on the car-industry. In Sweden there are more and more regular cars that runs on diesel sold every year, and since 2010 more diesel fuel is sold than petrol. The car industry has been working hard to get diesel downgraded from Group 2A, so this is a big blow for them.

It's going to be interesting to see how the petrol- and car industry rises to this challenge.

Read more here http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/721892

Ecobags

Ecobags is an American brand based in Ossining. They make cute, cool organic bags to carry you groceries in, to use to the beach or to pack your lunch in. There are a lot of different shapes, sizes and colours and the prices are good to. Since they ship to the U.S, Canada and Europe it's easy to get a hold of them. Check it out and order you own at Ecobags

Solvatten - how to get fresh water from the sun

Solvatten (Sun Water) is such an amazing invention!

Petra Wadström came up with this idea when travelling with her family in Indonesia in 1997, and it took her ten years of research and testing before production could begin.

Solvatten is a container of 10 liters that, when put in the sun, cleans water from bacteria, viruses and parasites. Apparently UV-light kills microorganisms as well as boiling does, and combined with heat and a built-in filter this really works. And without any chemicals being used! The container can be used in any country as long as there is sun. Doesn't matter if it's cold as long as the sun is out. Solvatten can produce up to 30 liters (8 gallons) of safe drinking water in a day.

It's so easy. You fill it up with water and leave it in the sun for two-six hours and voilà, when the indicator tells you the water is safe, you've got water ready to drink. It almost sounds to good to be true, but the water from Solvatten is approved by both WHO and FDA.

In many countries wood or charcoal is being used to heat up water to make it safe. In Africa 70% of household income is spent on that kind of fuel. Solvatten can help reduce that cost as well as help preventing deforestation.

Such a great and simple way to use free solar-energy and completely organic too!

You can find a long list of the organizations Solvatten cooperates with on their homepage.

I'm so proud of this Swedish innovator!

Bulldog - for men

Bulldog is an organic skincare brand produced especially for men. I got it for my dad as a
Christmas-gift last year and he really likes it.

It includes the whole range of products you may need; shaving-cream, eye roll-on, shower gel, scrub, face wash and different kinds of moisturizers. There's even a specific Fair-trade range.
Bulldog don't test on animals and they use as much natural contents as possible, which means no synthetic dyes or perfumes and no parabens.

In the spring of 2012 they've won awards for best skincare products in both U.K and the U.S, so it's well worth to try out. The prices are good too.

In Sweden their products can be found at for example NK and Åhléns. In Denmark at the newly opened Sephora (the first Sephora in Scandinavia). In U.K they can be found in several stores as well as in their own web-shop.

Diamonds are forever

If you want to make sure that your gold and diamonds come from a sustainable source there are a few things to consider.

The Kimberley Process is a social initiative that started in May 2000 to stop diamonds from conflict areas, so called Blood Diamonds. Many countries and companies in the diamond trade participate in this important task and they have reached great results in just over ten years. You can read a lot of interesting information about the process in the webpage. Since the KP certification is not legally binding for the participants every consumer plays an important role. The Kimberly Process really emphasis the importance we all play as consumers and what we need to ask for when shopping jewellery.

You can also look at Fair Trade Gems for more information and finding retailers.

Coalition for Green Gold is an interesting initiative on sustainable mining. Working against rainforest deforestation and mercury, cyanide and arsenic contamination this is extremely important. For example; mercury is used when extracting gold, and it's poisoning the water, the animals and the people living close to the mines. You can also find information about this work on Fairtrade and on Alliance for Responsible Mining.

If you want to shop some gorgeous jewellery, check out these websites;

Noën is a german company making beautiful jewellery in organic gold and diamonds. They don't want to compromise between beauty and social responsibility, and they really manage to mix those two together. The gold is extracted without chemicals and their diamonds are certified through the Kimberley Process. On their homepage you can even watch a video from one of the sites where they extract gold.

Ekoguld is Sweden's first Fairtrade certified goldsmith. Their gold are Fairmined certified and their gems are from sustainable and fairtrade sources. They even offer their customers to use recycled gold if they want to.

Meat Free Monday

Today we had pancakes à la LCHF with fresh strawberries.

4 pcs/2 persons

4 eggs
2dl cream
2dl almond powder or shredded coconut
2 pinches of salt
1 tablespoon of baking soda

Whisk eggs and cream together och add the rest of the ingredients. Fry in i pan with a generous amount of butter. Serve with whipped cream and fresh berries.

They are really good but you don't eat as many of them since they are quite filling.

Dandelion is spelled with three E:s

Dandelion Sportswear is a Swedish company based in Stockholm. The three E:s stands for Ecologic, Ethic and Esthetic and is the foundation of the entire company.

Dandelion encourage their customers to consume less and recycle more and they adjust their collections according to this principle. The clothes are beautiful and functional and once they are worn out you can return it to them for recycling.

All clothes are 100% organic and they make sure that everybody in the supply chain gets a decent pay for their work and that no producers use child labour. No toxic dyes are being used which not only is beneficial to the environment but for the employees as well. The design and function is not compromised with and comfort is the main goal.

Nicole, the designer and founder, has a genuine design background from some of the most prestigous schools in the industry. She is also the founder of Strömmingsloppet (The Herring race). It's carried out each year in the city of Vaxholm in the archipelago outside Stocholm. The race has recieved the eco-label Håll Sverige Rent (Keep Sweden Clean)and 100SEK of each participants fee is donated to WaterAid.

Bile Soap

Bile Soap is exactly what it sounds like. Soap made of ox bile. This may sound really weird, but the fact is that this is a fantastic product for stain removal. It works on almost any stains and any material. We use it for tough stains on clothes and carpets, but it can be used in the kitchen and in the bathroom too. People use it instead of schampoo to clean their animals. It comes as a soap bar or in liquid form.

Bile soap is completely organic and biodegradable. Every ingredient is organically grown and they are Fair Trade certified.

More information in Swedish; www.galltval.se. For information in English; Sonett. In Sweden it can be found in well-stocked supermarkets, stores for outdoor living or in health food stores.

Goodstore

Goodstore is located in Stockholm and committed to organic and vegetarian merchandise. It's a cosy place with a wide range of food, cleaning materials, candy and beautyproducts. If you don't live in Stockholm they even deliver for you. Visit their webshop to see the complete range.

As well as providing you with everything you need for dinner you can also buy ready to go meals, smoothies and fruit. If you want a vegetarian wedding or birthday party they'll help you with the menu and cater the event.

Goodstore sell produce from a lot of different brands such as Kung Markatta, Saltå Kvarn, Ellas and Clipper. They also have their own brand, Goods, which provides organic produce at good prices. If you're a member, Goodfriend, you always get 3% off every purchase.