“Mom, why do they keep talking about the war? Is it coming?” I remember asking anxiously. It was  Cold War and living in communist Poland, nothing was granted. My parents, my teachers, my neighbors has still not recovered from going through devastation of Second World War, my grandfathers were dead, killed there. I remember that in my grade school class there were a couple of “odd” kids, who had still living grandfathers. The rest of us had just grandmother and that was a norm. Our grade school teacher survived Auschwitz concentration camp. The warnings about what to do if you find an old grenade, were part of our education – many years after the war ended.

Not that the Poland was a stranger to war. Located between Germany, Russia and Austria through history, it spent its thousand years of existence  involved in more wars than one wished to remember. One thing is quite clear to me: no matter who was the attacker and who was a defender, since the roles changed a lot, nobody really won. The atrocities stopped occasionally but the memories in people’s mind did not. It continued into other generations.  Just like the war did not die for our soldiers coming back from Iraq or Afghanistan, did not die for parents of the ones who has not returned.

21^st September is an International Peace Day.  It was set up in 1981 by United Nations and devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace. The slogan “Peace = Future” says it all. Probably every single economic, social and moral problem could be resolved if we took our attention away from fighting and proving others wrong and turn to true solutions in peace.

Celebrate that day and make it known. Let’s all put together our strong intentions for Peace.  You can check out International Day Of Peace.org for a list of events in your area. If there is none – make it! Organize the get-together in your town. It does not have to be a huge campaign. Print a poster, put it in the window of the car. Tell a friend and neighbor. Get together. Wear Live in Peace Tee shirt. Take any small action you can.

Every newspaper, TV and radio is filled with “the news” about the violence and crime. These are not true news. Let’s fill it with real news – news of Peace.

“I like the message ‘Live Green’ and the symbols of simple life. These garments are stating a wish, not a demand and are usually met with a smile,” the owner says — at least in places like her local Farmers Market in Snohomish, Washington.

Natural Clothing Company commitment to sustainability shows in its vegan, natural and organic clothing store where you may search clothing choices by fiber – hemp, organic cotton, bamboo and even soy fiber reclaimed from making tofu.

“Live Green” selection consists of natural, mostly unbleached certified organic cotton. Nothing is printed with PVC containing plastisol – so garments are a great choice for people with sensitive skin. While every manufacturing step involves some compromise, “I try to navigate the best possible choices, there is always more room to keep raising the standards higher” owner explains.

“There are so many people with skin problems, having hard time with chemically laden clothing. Also, since I am a gardener, the bottom line for me is: after the years of use, if I can throw the clothes into my compost, because they don’t have toxins, metals , PVCs and so on,  they will decompose and improve the soil, help grow vegetables. You can feel really good about it.”

You can find out more about Live Green clothing at NnaturalClothingCompany.com/live-green-cotton-organic-clothing

Well, to some extend it is an illusion that one plant, one fiber will be everything we want it to be, wearing a green halo around its leaves. The simplicity is that commercial manufacturing of anything is not a black and white (or green) process, period. Breaking down the fiber requires either significant mechanical (energy consuming) efforts and water or chemical processes. The true evaluation comes from looking across all the factors involved from start to end AND comparing it to alternatives. That places that product higher or lower on the scale of sustainability.

Bamboo as a crop is actually classified as grass and is one of the fastest growing plants on a planet. Talking about renewable – you cannot really beat that. On top of it, bamboo fends off the insects and pests very well, so it does not need chemical spraying and requires very little water to grow. A lot of eco friendly clothing is made from actually certified organic bamboo, grown in truly sustainable manner. When bamboo grows, magic happens – it processes carbon dioxide in volumes larger than similar size trees. That is probably actually the biggest benefit of bamboo crop where it truly earns our support. Bamboo unaltered fibers have also multitude of wonderful characteristics, mentioned later in the article.

The problem is that – according to Federal Trade Commission, there is no evidence that these properties actually stay with the fabric after is processed. Bamboo is processed a lot and at this time is not processed organically at all. The fibers are broken down and dissolved through series of chemical processes, sprayed through the small holes and then regenerated back again into cellulose fiber. The FTC requires calling “bamboo textile” a rayon or viscose, being chemically altered, not carrying the characteristics of original fiber and a man-made textile. For more information, go to www.ftc.gov and search bamboo. There are many types of viscose, some

created from wood, cotton and some – from bamboo in similar process. There is a lot of effort put into creating better processing methods and not releasing the chemicals but reused. There is also bamboo processed mechanically like flax but it’s not very common.

The finish viscose from bamboo is quite beautiful though it might vary depending on length of fibers. It is extremely soft, has beautiful sheen and it being anti-static drapes very well, allowing for flattering clothing.  Like I mentioned before there are legal limits of what I can say about viscose from bamboo but I can share my own experience. I was stunned when I used bamboo towels at first, it wicked water so well, much better than our old friend cotton. Bamboo is said to have anti-bacterial properties, similar to hemp or soy, which inhibits creation of body odor. Is it true?  My son loves wearing his bamboo Tee for PE classes (despite different intentions of his mother) because it absorbs the moisture so well and there is no unpleasant smell, same for his bamboo socks. That’s a sell! It is very comfortable and it washes very well without losing any color or getting much wrinkles. Probably the best is to give it a try – all in all considering the benefits of bamboo as crop, great properties of clothing itself and especially comparing it to oil derived polyesters, this textile has quite a lot to be respected for.

For more info visit http://www.naturalclothingcompany.com/bamboo_clothing

We were celebrating the Earth Day with our company in our small town, when the news reached media, 41 years after the 1969 Santa Barbra oil spill, which contributed to founding Earth Day itself. Together with number of local organic farms, businesses and organizations, we were acknowledging the accomplished progress in protection of the environment. The oil spill put a different perspective on that – are we really moving forward? There are some, like British The Dark Mountain movement, which see this civilization already past the point of return. As much as unreal this seems – look at the gone ancient cultures: ancient China, the pyramids, the Coliseum in ruins. Civilizations do rise and fall and mostly they destroy themselves.

Nature and our relationship to it are worth a double look each day. Acts of nature are often unpredictable, acts against nature are not. Drilling through 5,000 feet of water and then 13,000 feet of rock are acts of greed, arrogance and unfounded confidence in the superiority of our technical knowledge and equipment. There is nowhere else to point the fingers than ourselves. Our blind love of oil, which Dana Lyons sings about in “Lubricate the Red, White and Blue” feeds 97% of our cars, trucks and plains. When we walk around in conveniently non-wrinkly, easy to wash polyester derived directly from oil, carry our oil derived shopping bags, we condone the price of the event like this one over and over again.

We have reached the state of the illusionary technical expertise which cannot answer the most basic question: “How do you reverse it back to the way things were?” We are so smart combining the chains of polymers but once synthesized, we don’t know how to degrade them. We can split an atom but we have never figured it out how to put it back together. We feed our children Genetically Modified foods, ignoring all the warnings. We give the free ticket to mad scientists to combine plant DNA with fish DNA, spike our soy, corn, wheat, sugar with cancer producing insecticide molecules and most of the time don’t even know it and don’t ask. There is no one on earth able to reverse the loss of 96% of our soy, large percentage of cotton and corn to GMO crops. Most of us don’t even know that we are not eating food anymore, we are eating the largest science experiment in history of humanity, only called “food”. Our grandchildren will tell us if we gambled right. In a meantime, we observe with astonishment the rising of illnesses, “food” intolerances, rash and eczema where our chemical laden clothes touch the skin. Just like when Chernobyl blows up, when drilling rig explodes, we look with surprise at damage created, saddened and always clueless how to reverse it.

At this point there are no perfect solutions, only compromises but first, it is crucial to recover our lost reverence to nature, our respect for natural resources. We need these for thousands more years. Maybe we should not drill the hole if we don’t know how to plug it. A petroleum engineer involved in the spill supposedly said in a radio interview “It just seems like every now and then, you can’t win against Mother Nature.” Correction – you can never win against the Mother Nature. That’s not the direction we want to keep going.

Please, keep doing your part in taking steps, no matter how small or challenging they might be in supporting the eco-friendly efforts and groups which try hard to not work against Mother Nature. We are in it together.

The green community of Snohomish invites you to join us in celebrating Earth Day’s 40th Anniversary. On Thursday April 22nd, 1 pm – 6 pm, local green businesses, farmers, and organizations will display their products and services in KlaHaYa Park, right off historic First Street by the Snohomish River. Various businesses along First Street will also be participating.

Recycling Queen Karen of Snohomish Farmers Market, Full Circle Farm, Flying Tomato and Caruso Farm will present their green ways and eco-friendly methods. Cedar Grove Compost will share secrets of successful composting and Earth Wise Excavation explains how earth work can be done sustainably with care for the environment. Natural Clothing Company will display organic clothing of hemp, organic cotton and other natural fibers, along with information why are organic textiles important for you and even better for the planet! The Boys and Girls Club will display art made from recycled materials. Sip organic coffee from Java Inn while sampling certified organic skincare products from NYR Organic Skincare. Rowdy Rascals Toy Store will demonstrate which toys are safe for your youngsters. Come and meet Chris from Wolf College as he describes his fascinating camps and classes on survival skills and his fascinating camps and classes on surviving in the mountains, wild cooking and herbology and more. SongCroft is a self sufficiency school and a family farm run by Marilene Richardson, who is not only Master Gardner, Certified Permaculture Designer but also an originator of Foundation for Sustainable Community. Check out www.NaturalClothing.com/Earth_Day for a other exhibitors, like Esoterica Candles – all natural soy wax candles, hand-crafted locally.

Each exhibitor will answer the question: how is your business/organization sustainable? The answers might be as varied as the issue. Is it organic? Energy efficient? Recyclable? Reusable? Compostable? Helpful to future generations? You can ponder on that and your own definition at Grilla Bites Cafe, which offers delicious food with lots of organic choices and non-gluten or non –diary options. Grilla Bites composts its trash, serves as a pick up place for the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program and is a great gathering spot for the community. Join us there after the event for great food at a special Earth Day discount and appropriately enough – Dirt Cake! Also, a showing of the 20 min video by Annie Leonard “The Story of Stuff”, will be a great finale for an amazing day!

Thursday’s Earth Day event is sponsored by Natural Clothing Company and Grilla Bites Café with help from City of Snohomish and Historic Downtown Snohomish.

Don’t forget to join us on Saturday, April 24th, 9 am to 4 pm – for the City of Snohomish Spring Clean-Up. Join us at the Boys and Girls Club, 402 Second Street, for sign up and assignments. Bring gloves, rakes and enjoy a day of fun and community spirit helping to make the city more beautiful. This yearly event is sponsored by City of Snohomish, Chamber of Commerce, Lions Club, Kiwanis Club and the Snohomish Parks Foundation. There will be lunch served by the Snohomish Lions Club. The Household Clean-Up is held at the City shop yard, 1801 First St where City of Snohomish residents can dispose of household waste items.

There might be no uniform definition of “sustainable” but it is simple to recognize when one really cares about their environment. Our community certainly does –come and see!

Organic clothing and living sustainably while looking great was the focus of an eco friendly evening in the historic town of Snohomish, Washington.

Natural Clothing Company, hosted by Grilla Bites Cafe, presented a selection of beautiful organic clothing, made from organic fibers like hemp, organic cotton and bamboo. Green ideas were flowing also from other presenters: recycling and re-use ideas, darling children’s wear from a local thrift store and handsome kitchen aprons made from recycled shirts.  The evening was filled with laughter and common interest in living eco-friendly while being in style and having fun.  Flavorful organic food, wine samples  and lively music created an unforgettable experience.

Press Release

How we can live sustainably , minimize our impact on the environment  but still have fun and look great?  An eco-friendly community gathered at Grilla Bites in Snohomish, WA has some practical ideas.

On January  16th, 2010 Natural Clothing Company, invited by local Grilla Bites Cafe, presented a selection of beautiful organic clothing, made with all natural fibers. Featured were versatile hemp dresses, sweaters and pants, naturally dyed scarves and hats, organic cotton blouses and skirts as well as bamboo clothing with a popular line of reversible tops and cropped pants. Even a hat made from recycled grocery bags got well deserved round of applause.  Gracious models streaming down the runway were a local artist, a Historic Downtown Snohomish representative and local students. Annie, the host and owner of organic Grilla Bites Cafe, was also wearing eco-friendly, fair trade organic clothing from Natural Clothing Company.

The owners of the company, spoke about the benefits of growing organic crops for textiles. Organic clothing is made and grown without pesticides or chemicals, comparing it for example to conventional cotton, which uses 24% of the world’s insecticides.  Organic clothing is very safe for people with skin sensitivities because of lack of harsh chemicals in their production.

Live demonstration of reusing plastic grocery bags by Karen Erickson followed next. Then local thrift store Cinderella Closet’s young models fashioned delightful reused clothes that would not break any budget.  At the end was presentation of  Cody’s sewing skills learned from his grandmother. Cody created a line of aprons using recycled men’s shirts.

Wonderful live music was played by talented musicians from Tim Noah Thumbnail Theater of Snohomish while guests tasted organic food by Grilla Bites Cafe and sampled wine from local wineries. Aside from the delightful evening, it was a birth of ideas on how to stay focused on helping environment, have fun and create next green gathering on larger scale. After all – every day is an Earth Day on this planet! See more photos from the show at www.NaturalClothing Company.com/green_fashion_show. and join us on Facebook http://tinyurl.com/NaturalClothing and Grilla Bites Cafe.

Natural Clothing Company is a retailer of organic and natural fibers clothing for the whole family. Located in Snohomish Washington  they are focused on helping people find natural and great looking organic clothing. As the family owned business they practice organic gardening, composting and strive to be “zero waste” family as their personal goal. For more information visit http:/wwww.NaturalClothingCompany.comor email info @ NaturalClothingCompany.com. Media contact Alina 877-800-8878. You can become our fan on Facebook  http://tinyurl.com/NaturalClothing

Grilla Bites Cafe is an organic food restaurant in historic downtown Snohomish. It offers variety of delicious organic food choices, including non-gluten and vegan options. Grilla Bites participates in recycling and composting programs, uses local suppliers and is a pick up location for a local Community Supported  Agriculture (CSA) program.  Visit http://grillabitessnohomish.blogspot.com/

It is a very interesting question. Nano-technology fascinates many by binding particles like silver, with its anti-bacterial properties, with common materials presumably for our benefit. But there are also serious opponents of that technology with valid concerns about possible health dangers.  As the owner of Natural Clothing Company, I come across much of different and often very interesting information, which does not have a clear cut answers.

Take for example the Chinese Hebei Metals & Minerals Corp, a producer of fiberglass insulation, mineral wool and calcium silicate insulation. These products make an organic person like me shiver… But let’s look. The company is exploring other hi-tech applications as production and sale of the anti-electromagnetic radiation fabric, anti-static fabric and apparel. Their anti radiation material was used by for astronauts.

As many holistic people confirm, there is a growing concern about the effects of electromagnetic wave (microwave) and increased by it cell temperature on human organisms. Hence the concept of anti-electromagnetic radiation fabric was born, shielding 99.99 percent of harmful electromagnetic waves.

Hebei  other path of research involves two naturally occurring materials like bamboo fiber & silver, then spinning and weaving together. The result is an anti-bacterial fiber, which retains its properties with washing, sun etc. On a surface, sounds like natural product. Is it?

OK, my actual question is: can we really protect ourselves from ill effects of technology by increasing our use of the technology itself? Are we playing catch-22 with ourselves?

Hemp, bamboo, even soy  have inherent anti-bacterial properties serving us, as in case of hemp for thousands of years. Well, does it protect from  electromagnetic waves?  Who knows… I know the vibrations of natural fibers do increase our well-being, consciously or subconsciously.  When you put on natural fiber clothing,  your body registers something, a vibe of goodness, a breath of relief.  Maybe a solution is  a “middle path”:  we limit the offensive forces in environment, while we work like crazy to grow and process natural fibers organically. If we fast enough we might repair some of the damage to our earthly home and ourselves.  What do you think?

I found out also, what I really wondered about: “yes, the cups are biodegradable, but only in commercial composting facilities or other composts that reach 150 degrees with 90 percent humidity”. We have quite large compost piles for our few acres of veggies but we don’t get that temperature at all. No corn forks go there! Read more at http://bit.ly/BQRSB

Here is what Anne says: “As a yoga instructor, and customer of the natural clothing company I support the Jambange Project. We are raising funds to build a medical center at the village, and we hope to see in the future the village becoming sustainable by itself. Donating a contribution to the Jambange Project will help all the people at the village to get medical care. You can contact OmGuru for donations. Check out the Jambange website! www.jambange.com . Thank You all!”

Another beautiful part of green movement is that Anne is French, I am Polish, you are who you are. The project is in Himalayas and there are no boundaries to compassion.

So let’s be clear: get yourself a fresh bowl of strawberries, spray with Raid, grease up your lunch salad with motor oil – it does not really change their nutritional value. Bon Appétit!

Hello…

Read Organic Consumer Association much better stated article http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_18745.cfm