The founder of the Body Shop, Anita Roddick 64, passed away of natural causes last Monday. She opened with just one small store and grew her company to over 2000 stores which where eco friendly before it was fashionable.

Greenpeace director, said Roddick was an “incredible woman”, the prime minister of UK said “She campaigned for green issues for many years before it became fashionable to do so and inspired millions to the cause by bringing sustainable products to a mass market.”

The Body Shop, witch sells of beauty, body, and bath products, has always sought to be allied with eco friendly values and human rights from its beginnings in 1976. They were one of the first to be against animal testing, buying ingredients from local communities while doing it with a stylish image. They have also founded a human rights award and invested in renewable energy…

The Body Shop has been bought in recent years by the French L’Oreal but it operates independently. It was Riddick’s hope that the small company can teach its new parents eco friendly values of human rights, animal rights, and the environment.

Comment on her tribute page at The Body Shop

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Minneapolis headquartered, Best Buy is going green. Could it be because of those upper Midwest progressive values?

They have a program to take in your old cell phones, print cartridges, and batteries near the front entrance of their stores. They also take old TVs for a fee. The only thing they don’t have is a program to take old computers, but Dell and HP do have.

Starting soon in early to mid 2008 plans ll new Best Buy stores will be eco friendly. This will include energy efficient lighting, recycled content building materials, a high-efficiency HVAC system, and a day lighting system. This will qualify as a LEED project.

LEED is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design a US federal designation for green buildings. So far there are only 50 LEED retail stores. LEED certification will cut energy use by 1/3 at these stores!

They also plan to increase reusable containers by 30%, retrofit about 20% of stores with energy efficient lighting. They also plan to recycle 75K tons of cardboard 2K plastic, and 15 K of consumer electronics and 27 K tons of appliances.

Via Jets on Green

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We are so wasteful as a society that there is a small, but growing movement that lives off the “waste” of the American middle classes - Freegans. Some of the characters are depicted in this NY Times article.

They are able to get descent food and home décor dumpster diving in NYC. The Times reporter meets up with them as they are foraging through the departing NY University students leave for their summer break.

More power to these people. I totally agree that we are too consumerist and through away too much with hardly a thought. It amazes what I see on the curb on garbage pickup day here in affluent Northern Virginia – TVs, cribs, mattresses…

We need sustainable development and recycle what we use, no matter what we do. Cell phone companies are getting with it, PC manufactures are studying it… The furniture industry has a long way to go, but did you know that you can get organic mattresses? As far as food waste is concerned at least its biodegradable, but it’s a shame people go starving in this world.

What I don’t agree with this movement is that they describe themselves as anti-capilast when they are technically living on the excesses of capitalism itself. Like the Chinese who are supposed to be communist when they are really capitalist themselves.

This movement is too extreme for me. I agree that buying a hybrid prius and recycling your coke cans does not really make you green. But it’s a start and its more than a ton of other Americans are doing. At least the green movement is on the radar screen now, compared to just 5 years ago…

Lets start using cloth bags at the grocery store. You can get all these stylish colors and designs now. And no more plastic plates, utensils. No more Styrofoam cups for your coffee. Buy a mug and wash it! Its not hard !! Its that or dumpster diving like a Freegan!!

NY Times Freegan Article

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