Armchair Environmentalist Blog » My favorite things

Simmons soaps

Karen Christensen — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 22:35:07 +0000

I’ve never been big on product recommendations, not because I don’t like some products a lot but because I know I’m no expert on organic baby food or toilet paper. I tend more towards broad principles, because they’re easier to remember. Choose small things. Choose light things (concentrated products without much water, for example). But when I find myself going back to the same small northern California company to stock up on soap, for what must be 10 years now, it does seem time to recommend them. Especially since they are, in every way they can think of, a green company. They are called Simmons Naturals, and here’s what they say about their soaps:

Using the finest Handcrafted Soaps made from natural ingredients, Simmons soaps are handcrafted with care using the traditional cold process method. Carefully cured to perfection, then individually wrapped by hand in beautiful, ecological, handmade Thai papers and labeled with recycled paper, printed with soy-based inks.

We start with the finest natural oils of olive, palm, and coconut for our basic recipe. Organically grown herbs, grains, and pure botanical essences are added to make each variety unique. And we monitor each batch to ensure what we make and sell is the best.

I know that if I run out of their aloe vera with kelp soap (“The best of land and sea. Citrus scented complexion bar with skin softening kelp. Moisturizing.”), I find myself longing for it!

Hop Stop

Karen Christensen — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 11:50:45 +0000

Just as there are reasons we grab a fast-food meal instead of making lentil soup or a vegetable stir-fry, there are reasons we jump into the car instead of using public transport. Every life choice requires us to balance a variety of demands, desires, and practical limitations. That’s why those of us promoting change need to lower the barriers to entry. We shouldn’t talk as if we require total conversion to the cause, but make it clear that we welcome and appreciate everything that’s done to reduce carbon emissions, for example. Here’s one of my favorite tools, Hop Stop, a website that helps plan trips using public transportation in major cities. It’s a great example of how technology can be used to lower the price of admission to the green cause.

Urban skywatching!

Karen Christensen — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 11:01:50 +0000

I was at my niece’s wedding last month, in a museum courtyard in Florida under a beautiful evening sky. A fine crescent moon rose behind the palm trees, with a bright star near it. Venus, I thought, vaguely remembering the the first star in the sky is a planet. I wondered, though, and asked around. No one knew more than I did–and that was all too little. Here is a great site for anyone who wants to be more attuned to the natural world: Urban Skywatching by Bob Parvin

Cradle to Cradle Design

Karen Christensen — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 01:40:15 +0000

I’m in the process of gathering lots of new content for this blog and website, because I can see that in light of recent events we’ll all be thinking much more about both energy conservation and our relationship with the natural world (though at this stage the hard-hit people in Lousiana and Mississippi aren’t thinking like that, and my heart gos out to them). In the meantime, I want to recommend some of the most intriguing thinking around, when it comes to designing products and processes to put us in sync, and not conflict, with the process of nature:
Cradle to Cradle.

The world in a bottle

Karen Christensen — Sat, 05 Mar 2005 23:15:59 +0000

This won’t save the planet, but it’s a useful and seasonal tip, here on the East Coast, because so many people go to Florida this time of year. It’s so tempting to bring reminders home—even when we should “Take only photographs, leave only footprints.” (And traveling by any vehicle other than a plane is also a good idea.) I’m not a regular Florida tripper, but a couple of years back I found myself with a small bag of shimmery white sand, full of tiny bits of coral and seashell. Not much use, not much beauty, and an ecological no-no to boot.

What I did was this: I put funneled the sand into a long clear whiskey bottle with a wooden cap. On its side, lying here on my desk, it reminds me of the sea and sunshine, of the wider world, on the beauty we need to preserve.

Old acquaintances

Karen Christensen — Sat, 22 Jan 2005 13:25:21 +0000

The holidays gave us time at home, cooking and baking, pulling out the dishes we always use for celery and baked squash, and figuring out where I left the other Christmas pudding. I’ve lived in this house for almost 10 years, far longer than I have ever lived anywhere, and during these inside months (we’re expecting another 18 inches of snow this weekend) I’ve been noticing how many useful household items have become old friends.

This blender, for example. It’s not a reproduction. It’s an original ‘osterizer’ and god knows how old. It cost $2 at a tag sale a decade ago and still works perfectly. How long would a modern equivalent hold out? Secondhand shops, tag and jumble sales, and friends and neighbors are a great source of friendly furnishings, and a way to reduce consumption and waste, too.

Talking about community

Karen Christensen — Tue, 30 Nov 2004 22:30:10 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to talk about “Defining Community” at a conference held at Hancock Shaker Village, which is not far from here. It was a miserable damp day and we were in an unheated barn, but what a pleasure it was to talk about community, and the Encyclopedia of Community, with a knowledgable bunch of scholars and communards. I took this photo moments after we arrived–I love the turbulent autumn sky.