Image from Bag the Habit

My friend, the very lovely Liz Long, is launching her reusable-shopping-tote biz, Bag the Habit, with a month-long art exhibition “exploring the environmental repercussions of common consumer behaviors.”

Bag the Habit’s signature carry-all—which is made from recycled PET (think former soda bottles) and is itself recyclable—plus limited-edition bags created by various artists and designers, will also be for sale. (The proceeds from the second will be going to New York City’s Gaia Institute.) Liz’s très chic bags are also up for grabs on her Web site.

Photo by Chris Bayley/Getty Images

On Nov. 7, New Jersey residents will be asked to consider three ballot questions regarding additional funding for property-tax relief, parkland preservation, and road and mass-transit improvements. Note: None of the proposed measures will further increase existing taxes.

Question 1: Should half of the $1.2 billion earned from this year’s sales-tax increase (from 6 percent to 7 percent) be put toward property-tax reform?

Question 2: Four percent of the annual $2.8 billion collected in corporate income tax is constitutionally dedicated to funding environmental programs. Should a larger share of this fund go toward improving and preserving parkland for recreation and conservation purposes (i.e., $15 million per year till 2015 and $32 million per year thereafter)? More info, including a detailed FAQ, here. Hint: Vote yes.

Question 3: Should a bigger slice of New Jersey’s 14.5 cent per gallon gasoline tax be used to pay for road, bridge and mass-transit improvements (i.e., from 9 cents to 10.5 cents, which would raise an additional $78 million for transportation)?

Photo by Junk to Jewels

For girls (and boys) who love to ride bicycles, Junk to Jewels crafts necklaces, bracelets, and other shiny doodads from used bike parts, semiprecious stones, along with used, recycled, or vintage beads. (Left: bike chain chandelier earrings, $18; right: carnelian eye pendant, $35; Junk to Jewels)

We’ve been researching foldable bikes so we can PROCLAIM OUR INDEPENDENCE FROM OIL and use both public transport and pedal power to get places instead of renting a car like we usually do. (Which happens, like, once every 3 months anyway. Usually to go used-book hunting within Jersey. And launder our drug money.) Of course, this means I’ll actually have to learn how to ride a bike, first, which has proven difficult in the past because I have the hand-eye-leg coordination of a potbellied piggie stuck in a paper bag. Friends who have watched me “rollerblade” (read: standing very very still while hanging on to a lamppost) will just shake their heads and go, “uh … yeah.”

According to the fine folks at The Green Guide, conventional mattresses can potentially offgas toxic chemicals:

Mattress foam is treated with fire-retardants. The greatest potential health risk is posed by one class of fire retardants: polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). These have been widely used in polyurethane foam and other plastics. Due to the health risks and public pressure, use of these chemicals is declining and less toxic alternatives are becoming more common.

PBDEs are similar in makeup to PCBs—their chemical cousins that have been banned for nearly three decades, because they cause immune suppression, endocrine disruption, cancer, and behavioral problems, among other ill effects.

In California, two PBDEs are being phased out, with a total ban to go into effect after 2006. The Great Lakes Chemical Corporation, the only manufacturer of penta- and octa-varieties of PBDEs, agreed to stop production in 2004. Exposure to PBDEs may be especially harmful to infants and fetuses, with human studies revealing that these compounds accumulate in breast milk. Infants are always more vulnerable than adults to exposure to toxic substances.

You want to avoid mattresses and pillows that contain moisture- and stain-resistant finishes, PFOA (Teflon), flame-retardant PBDEs, and synthetic materials (including “hypoallergenic” down). Choose instead mattresses made with wool casings or organic cotton fills, and pillows stuffed with natural fills such as kapok, buckwheat hulls, synthetic-free latex, untreated wool, or, again, organic cotton (can’t really go wrong there).

To help you sleep better at night, the magazine has compiled a muy excellente foldable Smart Shopper’s Mattress and Pillow Card you can print out and tuck into your wallet for the next time you go shopping. (It also has a list of recommended retailers you can check out.)

Local alert:
New York/New Jersey residents can also peruse the offerings of NJ-owned and -operated White Lotus, which has locations in New Brunswick and Princeton.

Photo by Stephen Mallon/Getty Images

N.J./Lisa Jackson rocks: “State leading fight on mercury suit.”

New Jersey and 15 other states are reviving a lawsuit to force the Bush administration to adopt tougher rules against mercury pollution.

The state announced Thursday that it would lead the legal challenge, a day after the federal Environmental Protection Agency rejected a request to tighten its limits on power plant emissions.

“New Jersey has adopted tough rules to reduce in-state mercury emissions, but we are faced once again with a failure of leadership at the federal level,” said state Environmental Protection Commissioner Lisa Jackson.

More N.J. rockage: “Vinyl chloride emissions cut in 3 states.”

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday a reduction in the emissions of vinyl chloride carcinogens in Texas, Kentucky and New Jersey.

The EPA said the reduction came under an agreement between Oxy Vinyls LP and the United States, the Louisville Metropolitan Air Pollution Control District and the State of New Jersey.

Meanwhile, back on the ranch, Exxon blows chunks: “Exxon declines talks on global warming.”

Also, global warming’s deleterious impact on biodiversity is bad news all round: “Lose biodiversity and gain diseases.”

Plus, gems go fair trade: “For gem merchants, a new focus on purity.”

Tracing the path of a colored stone through the vast and largely unpoliced gem trade is a complicated affair, even for the experts. Unlike diamonds, most of which are marketed by a handful of mining juggernauts through a supply chain that is under increasing scrutiny, gems follow a haphazard and opaque route to market that lends itself to smuggling.

That has not discouraged a growing number of gem cutters, dealers, jewelry manufacturers and retailers from demanding to know that the gems they buy and sell have been handled with social and environmental integrity.

“We’re selling something nobody needs,” said Earl Allen, co- owner of 1700 Ocean, a jewelry store in Santa Monica, California, that recently started a line using Fair Trade Gems. “If you’re going to buy stones that finance terrorism or send 9-year-olds into holes, I don’t want to be a part of that.”

From the Organic Consumers Association: “New Jersey State House poised to offer fair-trade coffee, tea and chocolate.”

Thanks to the hard work of Fair Trade activists in New Jersey, like the South Jersey Fair Trade Alliance, Assembly Resolution (AR) 178 was introduced on May 15, 2006 in the New Jersey Assembly. AR 178 would make fair trade certified coffee, tea, and chocolate available in the NJ State House Complex.

Click here to view the bill, and show your support by sending a letter to the New Jersey State Legislature through this handy e-mail form here.

Image by Escapemaker.com

It’s a good thing we’re not in the market for beachfront property. Global warming is the oncoming train to the New Jersey shore’s railroad-track-bound damsel in distress, says a new report from Princeton University.

From APP.com, “NJ groups take on global warming.”

Some environmentalists predict much of Atlantic City, Long Beach Island and the Cape May peninsula could be under water or prone to chronic flooding by Memorial Day 2100 at the current rate of sea-level rise.

New Jersey is one of seven Northeastern states to participate in a regional agreement capping carbon-dioxide emissions from power plants. …

A Princeton University study released last year concluded that New Jersey’s coast is highly susceptible to “inundation” as the result of a 2-foot to 4-foot rise in sea level.

The study suggested that the sea-level rise will have a “wide range of impacts on socioeconomic and natural systems,” including increased damage to property and infrastructure, a net loss of beaches and wetlands, declines in coastal bird and wildlife populations, and the contamination of groundwater supplies.

And from NorthJersey.com, “Projections see global warming erasing state park, Port Newark.”

The world’s rising seas could one day swallow Liberty State Park and Port Newark.

The shores of Gold Coast property from Bayonne to Edgewater could be overrun by the Hudson River.

The meadows and marshes along the Hackensack River could become mud flats and lakes, with floodwaters lapping at the sports stadiums as well as the Xanadu complex now under construction in the Meadowlands.

The New Jersey Public Interest Research Group used recent sea-level projections to develop this ominous prediction of what global warming will do to the state’s coastal and wetlands areas by 2100.

In a map released Thursday, the Meadowlands were listed as one of five “coastal treasures” that could be permanently submerged or chronically flooded unless policymakers act now to curb the global warming trend.

The areas most at risk of being overrun by tidal waters are pulse points of the state’s tourism economy— Atlantic City, Cape May, Long Beach Island and the Delaware Bay Shore.

“Global warming is real. It’s happening,” said Doug O’Malley, the group’s field director. “If left unchecked, it will have a very real impact on New Jersey’s coastal communities.”

What you can do, besides getting out your swim gear: Ask Governor Corzine to reduce New Jersey’s global warming pollution by 20 percent below current levels by 2020 and pledge to make a 70 percent reduction by 2050. Sign the letter by filling in an e-mail form here.

Image by Rootsweb.com/USGenWeb

Best. Gristmill. Post. Ever.

From Adam Browning:

Like most people, I enjoy mocking New Jersey as a toxic miasmatic wasteland. Yesterday, New Jersey responded by serving me a double portion of shut-the-hell-up. By a 4-0 vote, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities approved one of the most robust renewable-energy standards in the country. By 2020, 20 percent of the electricity the state’s utilities sell must come from renewable resources. And there’s more: 2 percent must come from solar, making New Jersey, on a solar-per-capita basis, the nation’s solar leader. Take that, you California hippies.

I may have moved to Jersey City only because it was cheaper to commute to Manhattan than actually live in Manhattan or any of the other boroughs, but ungauche as it is, I’ve begun to think the Boss’s turf as home. Which is why, in addition to buying monthly green tags to offset our carbon emissions, my diminutive household is part of the New Jersey CleanPower Choice Program, which enables us to support the development of clean, renewable energy that gets channeled back into the Mid Atlantic power grid. (The more people who take part in the program, the greater the proportion of clean energy gets pumped into the energy mix.) And all it involves is an extra charge of $6 to $10 that appears as a separate line on your monthly electric bill from your current utility.

Other hurrah-worthy news: On Monday, the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission (we gots Jimmy Hoffa!) announced plans to build a 5-megawatt solar energy array, according to them “larger than any system currently existing in North America,” on its properties. (I’d like to think that my … ahem… empassioned form-email plea made some difference. I’ll try not to let it go to my head.)

To learn more about buying clean energy in your area, check out the National Resources Defense Council’s consumer’s guide.

Now to give my mayor another prodding over the phone about signing up for the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement so we can give global warming a good walloping.

I don’t have any little tykes in my life to spoil, but these organic baby tees were too darling not to write about.

Little Animals’ hand-silkscreened shirts are made in the USA from 100 percent organic cotton, which retain their natural, unbleached color. Bonus: The see-through packaging is made from a special type of plastic derived from corn, which means they are completely renewable, biodegrable, and compostable.

You can buy individual tees, packs of three, or gift sets for twins and triplets.

Lisa Boyce writes about how she came to found the New Jersey-based company after the birth of her son. From her Web site:

Much to my surprise, I learned that 99 percent of cotton grown for clothing contains artificial fertilizers, pesticides and toxic chemicals. This didn’t make sense to me. A newborn baby is the purest thing on earth; why cover him in cloth that’s loaded with chemicals? Clearly, organic cotton was a better and healthier choice for baby clothing. However, finding outfits made from organic cotton that expressed my little animal’s sense of style was difficult.

San Francisco-based Speesees is another adorable line of organic, fair-trade baby clothing for cherubs with sensitive skin. (The founder was allergic to plastic as a baby in the ’70s, which meant only natural-cotton diapers and whole-grain school lunches in recycled wax paper.)

Spun, knit and dyed with environmentally sound dyes in a sweatshop-free factory in Southern India, its clothing line features six different wild animals, but as pronounced by the company’s diminutive clientele, e.g., “je-raf” instead of “giraffe.”

You get a choice of lap tees, short- and long-sleeved bodysuits, and kimono-style onesies in a selection of colors that are thankfully non-pastel.

Speesee’s reason for going organic:

25% of the worlds pesticides are sprayed on cotton, causing devastation to our land, air, water and the health of people living in conventional cotton-growing areas. The simple act of growing and harvesting the one pound of cotton fiber needed to make a T-shirt takes an enormous toll. …

Organic cotton does not use chemicals in growing or processing and is the healthiest solution for the planet’s ecosystem and the health of our speesees.

More organic baby goods at Tiny Birds Organics and Great Green Baby. Shut up, Jasmin’s ovaries.

As far as tree-hugging goes, heaven knows the hub and I aren’t perfect. In fact I’m pretty sure there are things we continue to do that are downright ungreen. *cough*chekhovhasawaterfountain*cough*. Not that we don’t try, of course. (And by “we”, I mean mostly me unless I look at the hub with my features HIEROGLYPHIC WITH TERRIBLE MEANING.) As the faboo Umbra of Grist says in her Consumption Manifesto, however, feeling guilty only makes you sad. So don’t sweat the small stuff—focus on what you CAN do, rather than what you can’t.

Some items on our Green Home laundry list:

1. We’re gradually replacing our toxic cleaning products with natural, eco-friendly alternatives from companies like Seventh Generation and Method. From Seventh Generation’s Web site:

Many of the chemicals that are found—unregulated—in conventional household cleaning products are not allowed in workplaces due to Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) regulations. Seventh Generation was born out of a desire to provide effective, useful household products that will not harm the earth or its inhabitants.

Have you seen Method’s absolutely exquisite packaging? Donna Reed would have a spasmodic fit if she gazed upon the gut-wrenching beauty of my sink area (or at least shed a single, picturesque tear). Seventh Generation’s recycled garbage bags, which we’ve switched to using, also deserve all kinds of profanity-laced superlatives. Again, from their site:

If every household in the U.S. replaced just one package of 15 count large trash bags made from virgin plastic with 100% recycled ones, we could save:

93,000 barrels of oil, enough to heat and cool 5,300 U.S. homes for a year

1.7 million cubic feet of landfill space, equal to 2,500 full garbage trucks

and avoid 34,600 tons of pollution.

2. I’m cooking at home more, and whenever possible, choosing organic food that’s not grown with pesticides and artificial fertilizers (or worse, frankenfied by gene insertions.) In fact, we’ve just sent off our application to our neighborhood community-supported agriculture (CSA) program, which will not only support our local farmers, but also provide us with fresh, organic produce throughout the growing season. Did you click on that last link? Mr. Burly Macho Farmer Man has kittens on his farm. If that doesn’t make your ovaries go into nuclear meltdown, I don’t know what will and you’re dead inside.

Do you know how hard it was convincing my pizza-and-cheeseburger-loving hub to try ORGANIC POPCORN? (Mostly it was me shaking his shoulders while yelling, “Can’t you see I’m trying to KEEP YOU ALIVE, MAN?”) I don’t know why I haven’t been declared a national treasure and placed in charge of hostage negotiations. Similarly, my inner vain Jane is chucking my regular makeup for products made from natural ingredients. The FDA doesn’t regulate cosmetics—thanks, FDA!—and the open secret is that many ingredients in our makeup are known or potential carcinogens. Seriously, I’m paranoid as it is without having to worry if my eye shadow is trying to eat my brain.

3. We’re purchasing green tags to offset our carbon emissions and support the development of clean, renewable energy. Trust me, I’m not about to sit in the dark meditating on how one cat could generate so much poop, so going climate neutral and balancing out our impact on global warming is the next best thing. We’ve also signed up with an affiliate of New Jersey’s CleanPower program, which actually pumps back electricity generated from renewable resources back into our local grid.

4. We’re buying less. (If you know me at all, this is a HUGE deal.) Reusing and recycling are essential, of course. But the first “R”, which urges us to reduce and cut down on our contributions to the waste stream, is far, FAR more effective. The hub and I make excursions to the library for our reading fixes as much as we can. His cheap-skate insistence on buying books used is also a stealthily sustainable practice of his, which yes, is sometimes endearing, but when he takes HALF AN HOUR debating whether TWO DOLLARS is too much to pay for a pulp sci-fi paperback, then not so much.

Chekhov takes a rather dim view of our efforts, however. And I think if I attempted to feed him organic cat food, he’d rip out our throats in our sleep. I know where to pick my battles. You don’t mess with the kibble, not even if that nice Paul Newman.