Recycled Canvas Bags and Hats by PAZ Apparel | Fashion Peace.

Check out our new look!

We recently updated our website with a fresh new look! Please have a look at our recycled canvas hats, bags, totes, and baseball caps.

More Pickens

CSPAN coverage (25 minutes long but very informative)

PickensPlan.com

Featured! July Issue Wellness Magazine

Just a quick note to be on the lookout for us in the July issue of Wellness Magazine!

The Greening of your Holiday

Here's an interesting article with some fun information resources for those of you opting to stay home for the Holiday. Times Online Eco Worrier

Recycling is so last century....it's all about Upcycling now !

One of my favorite resources, Wikipedia, tell us that Upcycling is the use of waste materials to provide useful products. (recycled or upcycled canvas hats and bags from PAZ Apparel) Ideally, it is a reinvestment in the environment and embodiment of the notion that while using resources one is also contributing to them and their value.

This is antithesis of the consume and waste concept in society. "Upcycling is the practice of taking something that is disposable and transforming it into something of greater use and value." The term upcycling was coined by William McDonough and Michael Braungart, authors of Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things.

So while the rest of the world is just catching on to the fact that recycling is critical to improving the welfare of the planet you and I can begin to think of ways we can upcycle more of the things we use in our lives.

In fact I've already turned a spent can of tomato soup into an urban pen holder complete with cork insert to blunt the tin sound as pens are deposited into their new digs.

Not sure what I'll do when I have another can of soup except maybe not have another can and instead make soup from scratch when my tomato plants mature. We shall see. At least this is one can that won't make it to the land fill anytime soon.

See what you can make with something you would ordinarily toss into the earth!

So Many Wonderful Things Are Happening!

In just the past week I have noticed more and more buzz about recycling, re-purposing, salvaging, re-using and reducing. It's a very exciting thing to witness when you've spent much of your adult life wishing the mainstream would just 'get it'....and it seems like this whole idea of being responsible and actually caring for the planet that sustains us might just finally be sinking in.

We CAN live in a sustainable world if each of us would actually accept personal responsibility.

And to help us see the light, TLC (The Learning Channel/Discovery) is getting ready to launch an entire network of programming dedicated to all things 'green'. Planet Green.

One of the new programs, 'Wasted' shines the spotlight on a different family each week and helps them take steps to reduce their eco-footprint while teaching them how to live more responsibly and sustainably.

Maybe the days of watching twenty something spoiled brats romp around the big brother house 24/7 are nearly over.

One can only hope.

Are you the Greenest Person on the Planet?

Visit 3rd Whale and take their survey to see if you are the greenest person on the planet.

Ok, unless you are so green that you live off grid in a forest (hopefully one that hasn’t been deforested yet), you have all heard about global warming, deforestation, peak oil (if you haven’t heard of it, just check the prices at the pump), peak food (more recent and maybe even more scary threat), etc. We don’t want to depress you with the whole list.

In honor of Earth Day 2008 and a recognition that finally it appears environmental and social issues have come to the forefront throughout the world, 3rdwhale.com would like to tip the scales even more.

We are announcing a global competition for the greenest person in the world. If there are enough applicants we will let each country vote online for the greenest person in their country and then the winning entries from each country will be faced off and a global vote to determine 2008’s Greenest Person on the Planet. Each country representative will have their entry posted on www.3rdwhale.com and they will be given the opportunity to post a 5 minute video of their life and why they should be considered.

Take the Survey!

Norman Foster Speaks About Green Architecture

A tiny bit long winded but definitely informative.

Bagging Plastic!

Good news!!! Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and City Council are proposing a 20-cent surcharge on plastic bags in an effort to get consumers to reduce their use of plastic bags and to encourage re-usable shopping bags.

A small victory in an epic battle against the plastic bag. And think about it, plastic bags are made from petroleum products so kicking our bag habit will go a long way toward kicking our bigger gas guzzling habits.

And in yet more encouraging news, this past March 15, all IKEA stores in the US started charging a nickel per plastic bag in an effort to get customers to take their purchases home in reusable bags or better yet, armfuls. Another move in the right direction to cut down on plastic bag waste.

"Proceeds of up to $1.75 million (that's a whole lot of bags) from the bag campaign will go to American Forests, the nation's oldest non-profit citizens conservation organization, to plant trees to restore forests and offset CO2 emissions (we mentioned that program here).

To help alter customer behavior and endorse environmentally responsible habits, IKEA will be selling its reusable 'Big Blue Bag' (pictured above) for 59 cents, reduced from 99 cents.

"We realize that our 'Bag the Plastic Bag Program' is a small step. But we know our customers want to help and support the sustainability of our planet - for today - and for the future of our children. This program lets our customers know we have our stake in the ground and are committed to continuing to be an environmentally responsible company," says Pernille Spiers-Lopez, president of IKEA North America.

IKEA projects that the number of plastic bags used by their U.S. customers will be reduced by at least 50% from 70 million to 35 million in the first year. This program was launched in IKEA stores in the UK in late Spring 2006, and reduction has been an impressive 95 percent.

And just when you thought plastic bags were going to take over the world along comes Craftzine.com wiht some pretty creative uses for used plastic bags! (The outfit at the top of this post is a plastic bag creation) Check out these other creative uses for plastic bags!!