While surfing the web doing online shopping I like to check the “about” or mission statement sections to see about a shops environmental initiatives. One of my favorite clothing brands is Banana Republic and their parent company is The Gap. I was pleasantly surprised that they have an Environment section now. The Gap has had social responsibility initiatives for a while mostly pertaining to fair labor in the textile factories, but now they have expanded on their social responsibility just like many major companies have recently.

The Gap is exploring the more use of organic cotton, which is cotton that is grown without the use of pesticides and fertilizers that can be harmful to the environment. Did you know that a quarter of all pesticides are for the apparel industry? Well the Gap has been offering, at select stores, Men’s T-shirts and tanks made of 100% organic cotton. These t-shirts are not chemically dyed too. Call 1-800-GAP-STYLE to find the Gap locations where these items might be available….

Also during summer 2006, Banana Republic sold a skirt made of hemp/silk blend. Hemp is eco friendly because it grows fast like a weed, requires few pesticides and fertilizers which are harmful to the soil and environment.

The Gap is also looking into sustainable packaging and store fixtures. For example, Banana Republic’s new fragrance collection comes in cute wood boxes harvested from harvested from certified sustainable forests. It’s a small step, but it’s a start at least…

Also the Gap headquarters building in San Francisco also used eco friendly construction. For instance the concrete used was Fly ash which is a by-product from burning coal. The construction diverted 1,800 tons of ash from landfills, and eliminated 2,000 tons of CO2 that would have been generated during cement production.

More at Gap’s Environmental Initiatives
Hope more is soon to follow.

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Nordstrom has embraced the organic style. While its just the beginning, its great when you see a major retailer go eco friendly. They have a variety of apparel made with organic cotton including

-womens dresses
-cute womens t-shirts
-womens long sleeve shirts

the men finally have some selections with many
-dress and casual long sleeve cotton shirts
-organic cotton hooded cardigan
- organic cotton pajamas
- organic cotton sweaters

Organic cotton is said to be softer, and more comfortable to wear than regular cotton and there are many environmental benefits. Did you know that globally 25% of all insecticides and 10% of all pesticides are for the growing of cotton for clothes. Where do you think they go?? Back to our earth! And a lot of people are needlessly affected by it including workers and local peoples…

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Every little bit helps. In the future all trash will biodegrade, but for now we need more green pioneers… Gift cards are popular nowadays but they always end up in the landfill useless. Why not invent them as biodegradable.

Theses biodegradable plastics are made out of plant materials and don’t contain toxins like regular plastics. Anyways these plastic gift cards are made of a bioplastic called Mirel made of core. They are said to decompose after only 40 days. See the before and after pictures here.

Lets hope these bioplastics gain in popularity. It does cost 3x more to produce bioplastics but you can’t put a price on being eco friendly. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says only 6% of plastics are recycled in the U.S. With bioplastics we can take advantage of the lazy U.S. consumers unwillingness to recycles as these plastics biodegrade in the landfill.

Via Sustainableisgood.com

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A supermarket chain of stores in South West England, M&S, plans to add a ‘bag tax’ on plastic bags. The aim is to do it in the whole country of England. The program has been tested in Northern Ireland and it showed a 66 percent reduction in the use of plastic bags.

It would be great if a store would do this in the United States. Surprised Whole Foods has not done such a thing like this yet. It seems the consumer will use less plastic bags only when their is a financial incentive. There is a huge plastic bag lobby in the United States that wants use to be addicted to these environmentally unfriendly trash.

The supermarket chain M&S plans to give out free re-usable bags to consumers for 3 weeks prior to the plastic bag tax.

You can do your part and get some reusable bags. Its the right thing to do even if you are the only one!

Flora Series Pouch - Envirosax® Bags (FL.01)

Via UK Hippyshopper

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