Sewing

So i want to start sewing a lot more clothes for myself and mates. BUt i want to make all of them from organic fabrics or recycled ones. What are your suggestions on how to find these? Do you know a site that sells organic fabrics for not super over the top prices?

a MUST read.

This book was passed onto me by a fellow vegetarian. Her exact words were "you MUST read this". The book that she passed onto me, the one that i MUST read is The Ethics of what we Eat written by Peter Singer and Jim Mason. It is about how Peter Singer and his team go into three american families and follow them around on their shopping trips, only to then show them where and how thier "food" is produced. The three families are 1) A family following the standard American Diet aka SAD 2) The conscious omnivornes, a family that tries to make ethical choices but sometimes can't find the time or are too lazy to do it 100% of the time and 3) A vegan family that also buys organic whenever they can. Peter and his team then go and try to track down where this food came from, is the "humanely produced" bacon really humane and how is that milk produced that the SAD family just bought?

So far i've gotten through this book a bit more than halfway and its still very interesting to read. Its not your boring state heaps of facts now turn vegetarian kinda book. More of a we're going to state the facts, do a bit more investigationing and then you can decide for yourself what you're going to take out of reading this.

A great present for anyone who is interested in the subject or who want to be more informed about animal welfare and factory farming.

"I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur."

Does that sound cringe-worthy to you? Well I guess that I too would strip down if it helped to stop the fur industry. Here's the article posted on the PETA website.

As one of the stars of the Twilight Saga, Christian Serratos is used to working with vampires and the nonliving—but she would never wear anything dead. Christian strips down in the name of animals and is telling her fans, "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur."

Each year millions of animals are killed for their fur. Rabbits, foxes, minks, dogs, cats, chinchillas, and other animals are bludgeoned, strangled, drowned, poisoned, stomped to death, or electrocuted, or they have their necks broken, all in the name of fashion. Many are even skinned alive.

In the wild, animals can suffer for days in steel-jaw traps before they are killed. Animals raised on fur farms spend their whole miserable existence in tiny, wire cages where they are exposed to all weather extremes.

Christian explained, "I've always been opposed to slaughtering, eating, wearing carcass."
So here's the vid:

; PETAAsiaPacific.com.

Quote

"you know all the money we spend on the military each year - trillions of dollars? Instead, if we use this money to feed an clothe the poor of this world, which it would do many time sover, then we can explore space, inner and outer, together, as one race" - Bill Hicks

So true. Inspirational

Make your dollar count.

Whether you put up leaflets in the meat section, walk around with a poster stuck to your shopping trolley, give your local shops feedback on what you think of their support of factory farming or stick posters for others to see in the little baskets, there is always a way for you to get your message out there.

Just this afternoon did me and a friend go out to our local IGA and stick up two posters which I had made up the day before. It required little time, a bit of creativity and was an immediate success. As we bought a couple of little things here and there the many people that came by stared down the trolley and the poster on it.

I'm sure that you can come up with many more ways to take a stance on factory farming, or any issue for that matter, all it takes is a little courage. So hwy not go out there and design a couple of posters yourself. Here is our contribution:

Happy Holidays All!

The Christmas season is coming. While it is always a fabulous holiday, it often results in overeating, recieving a few bad presents, a lower bank balance and huge amounts of rubbish in the forms of wrapping, packaging and suchlike. We here at Green is the New Black can help with one or two of these issues.

One of the best possible Christmas presnts is something that is Heartfelt and Homemade. Even better; if it is made of environmental, animal-cruelty-free or recycled materials. It may be hard to do, but there are ways.

For example, you could make people their own, personalised shirt or shoes. To do this, just buy a pack of cheap white shirts in a style that your recipient would like, and do anything to it from stamping (use non-toxic dyes and you could use rubber stamp, leaves, lace, or even a potato if it takes your fancy) to tie-dye or screen printing. For the shoes, just grab a little acrylic or poster paint and go nuts! These ideas are cheap, re-usable and you could even make yourself one while you're at it!

If you aren't the crafty kind but still want to do somethign special there are plenty of options. For example, if you have a little cash up your sleeve, you could donate money to worthwhile charities like WWF or other animal or human rights and environmental funds. Many of these charities have sections on their websites that make it very easy to make 'gift' donations for other people. A great pressie for the person who has everything.

There are also any variety of other things that you can buy for someone that is green, clean and animal free! Look on the internet and you will find the most amazing stores and you can be assured that somewhere out there is the perfect present for absolutely anyone. Check out www.etsy.com for great homemade gifts!

Merry Christmas all, and enjoy the season of giving!

Recipe of the month December

A quick and yummy way to get your 2 and 5.

Easy peasy:
Mix your favourite fruits together in a blender
add soy or rice milk
blend and enjoy

for a variation use veggies like celery, carrot, avocado, tomato and capsicum instead of fruit.
yum yum yum

Is the egg industry now trying to convince me that this is a happy egg? Well i guess it is because its organic free range. I wonder if the cage eggs also have a little smiley on them to make the consumer feel good?

7 Feel Good Gifts to give this Xmas

When its far better to give that receive:

1. Contribute to Australia's largest christmas gift appeal at www.wishingtree.kmart.com.au

2.Give a "gift of sight" card from the Fred Hollows Foundation www.hollows.org.au

3. See www.karmacurrency.com.au for hundreds of worthy charities that would love your help

4. Adopt a polar bear, tiger or turtle through the world wildlife fund at www.wwf.org.au

5. Fill up your family's and friend's stockings with fair trade gifts from www.ibuttrade.com.au

6. Treat a loved one with a scented candle, symbolic adoption or body-care gift set "for him" by purchasing a gift on the www.unleashed.qnetau.com/shop/?product=21 site

7. Make someones christmas breakky, lunch or dinner just that little bit more special by bringing in non-perishable food items into the nearest Salvation Army Centre near you