Got Vintage? San Diego does!

Aloha blog readers! 

Good to be back and blogging again, I really hope you all enjoyed my first guest post by Nate!
I certainly did. 

Now that I'm back from sunny San Diego and in the Dirty Jerze, I'm pumped to debut my first thrift/vintage post; a topic I feel is a bit underrated.

This is also where I show off what a great time I had in California inform you fine people of all the wonders of thrifting a.k.a. being resourceful, which, in this case, qualifies as being sustainable too!  
Wow, lucky you, huh? 

 

While I was out in SD I stumbled across this diamond in the rough, the United Cerebral Palsy Thrift Stores.  

An inside view of the UCP Thrift Store--mesmerizing or nauseating, whichever way you choose to look at it. I prefer more of a glass half full scenario, but that's your call.

I chose to feature this particular store not only because of the badass new additions I now have in my closet thanks to the UCP Thrift Store but also to shine a light on alternative options other than your typical big brand name brick and mortars for sustainable clothing.

Thrift/Vintage stores are tricky.

There are those avid thrift store junkies, a special breed if I may, who delve into the dusty piles of worn and used items with the enthusiasm of a toddler waddling full speed into a McDonald's ball pit (don't even try to tell me you didn't absolutely love those things...or still do, I'm not here to judge).

Happy as a clam.

There's somewhat of an art to thrifting and vintage shopping, insofar that one must remain open minded and have the patience to sift through those racks of moth-eaten garments for a good hour or so.

In other words, it doesn't really cater to the mass-consumer market the way a Target would and is therefore overlooked by many, which is a shame...yet it's prime real-estate for me, of course. Blogging fodder, for sure.

 

So, second hand stores like Buffalo Exchange (a store that let's you exchange your old clothing for money or store items)  and UCP Thrift Stores (that support AND employ those with cerebral palsy) are not only great places to shop but are sustainable as well!

How are they sustainable, you ask?

Any store that resells items is essentially an eco-friendly establishment because they aren't manufacturing products. Therefore they have virtually little to no impact on the environment in a harmful way when it comes to the production of their merchandise. 

It's the recycling of clothing and reducing of a carbon footprint. 

Oh, and it's cheap.

 

As promised, here is one of my spectacular new dresses I purchased for a mere $6.95. 

Accompanying my latest addition are my absolute favorite, favorite, favorite TOMS Shoes (a post on TOMS is on its way) that I'm wild about. 

Sustainability head to toe.

I highly encourage everyone to give second hand stores at least one shot in your lifetime. 

It takes a little more effort than picking something up at the nearest mall would, but really, what in life was ever worth having if it came easy, ya dig?

 

Also, farmer's markets like the one I bounced around in in Ocean Beach, stuffing my face with free samples of homemade, organic morsels (I ate peanut butter hummus...PEANUT BUTTER!) are fantastic ways of supporting local vendors whose small businesses have little environmental impact (no factories, no unfair trade, etc.).

Plus, they're super fun and are usually packed with crazy hippies.

Hippies love to be eco-friendly, therefore, I love hippies.  

My cousin Kristina stopping to "smell the roses" at the Farmer's Market. Get it? 

 

And a beautiful sunset in Ocean Beach, San Diego. Uhhuhh ;]

Peace, Love & Sustainable Thrift Stores<3

A Sanchez Special Feature

I could definitely relate this post to that of having a substitute teacher filling in for your least favorite class and finding out you're watching a movie because they didn't leave a lesson plan... or something like that.  


Basically, while I'm maxing and relaxing out here in San Diego putting together a fabulous new post for you turkeys, I've got someone to entertain you in the meantime! 


The substitute being Depeche, er, I mean, Nate Sanchez a classmate and friend of mine who pens the stylish and witty Nate's Forecast (I suggest you cyber-hop on over there after you read this, of course). 

I know y'all will enjoy reading this as much as I did, and for those who are interested in having a good, green time in Manhattan, this post is for you. So don your most stunning eco-friendly outfits and get goin' ;] Peace, Love and Sustainably Good Times <3

Ciara, Kim Kardashian, Drake, Chris Brown and Rihanna are some of the celebrities who frequently visit Varick St.’s Greenhouse in Soho NYC.  The environmentally friendly luxury club boasts waste-reducing features like waterless urinals, reducing water use by 15,000 gallons annually; and by buying 100 percent wind-generated power. Greenhouse also employs LED lighting in order to reduce the electricity (LED stands for Light-Emitting Diode which converts electricity to light while consuming much less energy than fluorescents or incandescent light bulbs).  

I remember when the club opened in November of 2008, the door policy was very strict, while the outside crowd attempting to get in seemed like a Coldplay concert, you either had to know someone or get on the list, preferably with some tall, statuesque females to facilitate your entry.  

Nowadays however, as the average life expectancy of maintaining the "hotspot" title in NYC has reduced to a mere 6-7 months before the hipsters migrate, the door is much easier to penetrate.  

Although most jaded New Yorkers would not be cab-racing to go to Greenhouse, the venue still maintains a celebrity clientele and the decor is (let’s be honest) stunning.  The music is a melange of house, techno, hip-hop, depending on the night, and the light system is INCREDIBLE.  

Three years in the game is pretty impressive (Rihanna recently crowned it one of her favorite and Drake had his concert after party there) and it is definitely worth experiencing at least once.  If not for the celebs, do it for the sound system and lights!

My forecast?  Greenhouse is going to gracing us with its environmentally friendly presence for a little while longer. 

Thanks Nate! <3

Everything You'll Ever Need to Know About Organic Cotton! (For Now)

Hello class, 
I'd like to give you a lesson today on organic cotton and why it matters. 


If you've been a loyal follower/devoted reader of my blog then you know that I never shut up about it. "Organic cotton this and organic cotton that" but so far, I've given you little reason to care about it...until now ;]. 


Fortunately and unfortunately there is more to it than just the albeit simple and wonderful fact that it is good for the earth. 


However, all of this, when broken down, is quite easy to comprehend. It's all a matter of, now everyone say it with me... "biodiversity". 

Now that I've gone all Captain Planet on you guys, I'd like to take it a step further and define that term:

bi·o·di·ver·si·ty [bahy-oh-di-vur-si-tee, ‐dahy‐] : Biological Diversity. Diversity among and within plant and animal species in an environment.

Biodiversity is fundamental for the survival of all natural and human-engineered ecosystems. Think of it in terms of the food chain or photosynthesis or Nemo and his sea anemone. 

Biodiversity is the sole reason behind organic cotton and farming; once conventional farming comes into play, the natural balance of the ecosystem is thrown off. 

This turtle is ALL about biodiversity. 

There are more than a few important distinctions between organic and conventional farming. 

Organic Cotton seeds don’t treat crops with fungicides or insecticides (treatments farmers use to kill fungi and insects on crops) nor do they employ GMO’s-Genetically Modified Organisms on any of their plants. 

Basically, they take the DNA from one organism and put it into another to completely change and recreate the make up of that organism in order to provide herbicide-tolerance and/or insect resistance to the plants (See: "Playing God"). 

One might think that GMO’s are beneficial as they increase lifespan and productivity of crops. 

However, it isn’t as simple as it sounds. 

The effects that the GMO’s have on other species (humans included) is unknown.

It may also be possible that just as mosquitoes develop a tolerance to DDT in bugspray, pests and fungis can become immune to the GMO’s and thus be useless as well as detrimental. 

 

Economically, GMO’s are costly to make, which raises the issue of running out small farmers and third world countries who can’t afford to grow crops using GMO’s. 

There are 20,000 deaths from pesticide poisoning each year by field workers and townspeople ingesting the chemicals or from run-offs into their water supply. 

That is on top of the countless, life-threatening side-effects, such as the pictures shown above. 

 

Conventional farming is an industry based primarily upon mono-cropping. 

Mono-cropping being the harvesting of one single crop every season without crop rotation, which is necessary for biodiversity and the healthy continuation of the land. 

Mono-cropping destroys the land by ruining soil quality and depleting it of it’s organic matter so that growing crops is no longer a natural, inherent process but a man-made, chemically driven action.

It’s also very important to note that ridding fields of pests is not exactly effective farming. 

Pests that are natural to the land are there to eat other bugs; so killing them off is really quite, ahem, dumb. 

If the “Lion King” has taught you anything, it should be that the circle of life moves us all on the path unwinding and to let nature do it’s job. 

Something like this...

...or this. Take your pick.

When all is said and done, the harvesting of organic cotton is really important for biodiversity because cotton as a whole satisfies half of all the world's fiber needs. 

Organic cotton is grown using methods and materials that have a low impact on people and the environment.

It's just really good stuff.

Plus it's comfy and super-soft. Win-win.

Here are a few companies that use 100% or blends of organic cotton:

Nike

H&M

Levi's

GAP

and more. 

 

And now you get to watch the Lion King. Just as a reinforcement.

Peace, Love and Organic Cotton y'all <3