One of my favorite ways of recycling clothes is to organize or host a clothing swap. This is a fun way to connect with family and friends (or make new friends depending on where the event is hosted), find a new home for some of your old clothes, and maybe pick up a few new items for your wardrobe.

Basically you have a small potluck party (I like to host them as brunches myself) and invite anywhere from 5 to 12 of your friends, family or neighbors, and encourage them to invite some of their friends as well. Everyone is required to bring at least one bag of lightly used clothing, shoes and accessories they want to get rid of to the event.

As people arrive, they throw all their clothes (shoes and accessories) into a large pile on the floor in a room with a mirror (and preferably some privacy to try things on). All the participants are encouraged to dive into the pile and search for clothes that appeal to them or would be suitable for other family members. If you’ve got a lot of people at your event, you may want to set a ground rule that on the first and each subsequent pass each participant is limited to three articles of clothing at a time. Participants then try on the items they retrieved from the pile and decide if they want to keep them. If not the clothes get returned to the pile for others to try out.

Collect whatever clothes are left over at the end of the event into bags. Reserve one or two of the bags with the best selection to seed the next clothing swap, and donate the rest to a local charity of the group’s choosing. The next time you host or organize one of these, be sure to invite some new people to add some variety to the selection of clothing – both in terms of style and sizes.

If this seems like to much work or you can’t seem to get enough people to come to one to make it worthwhile, then consider finding a commercially organized event in your area. If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area then check Clothingswaps.com for local commercial events and information on their attempt to host events nationwide. You can also try clothesswap.meetup.com or use Google to identify local or regional clothing swaps in your area.

For those of you that own a small local retail business (i.e. a salon, clothing, shoe store or any type of retail space that you want to draw more attention to) hosting a clothing swap in your store is a great opportunity to connect with customers or prospects in your local community and increase visibility for your business!

If you’re serious about greening your lifestyle then greening your wardrobe needs to be part of that plan. This is one are of your life that is surprisingly simple to green. In fact, you may already be doing it without realizing that you are!

With spring coming up right around the corner, this is the perfect time to start working on your Spring Cleaning and weed out all the clothes, shoes and accessories you don’t need anymore. There’s nothing unusual about doing this and many of us do it if not every year, then at least every now and then. But did you know that recycling your clothing is one of the easiest ways to green your wardrobe?

The idea behind recycling in the larger sense is to breakdown items whose useful life has ended and re-use their raw materials or components to create new, similar or totally different items. Recycling clothes can be the same – i.e. tear it apart and collect all the pieces that could be re-used for something else like buttons, lace trim, fabric, zippers, snaps, etc. Well that can work out great if you’re a seamstress or have a seamstress in your life, but most of us don’t have the time, presence of mind, or money to consider recycling at that level.

So another way to look at recycling is to find a way for other people to re-use your clothes. This can be accomplished by donating your old clothes to disaster relief organizations or charities, or by placing them in consignment shops. In the former case, your donations will not only ensure that your clothes get a second life but will also have immediate and meaningful impact either by clothing those in dire need or by providing additional revenue streams to fund the work of the nonprofits who re-sell your clothes through their thrift stores. In the case of Goodwill Industries, one of the largest non-profits that do this, their stores also offer job opportunities to the unemployed and homeless. And because they sell lightly used clothes at substantial discounts, your donation also offers people on low or tight budgets the opportunity to acquire quality clothes at an affordable price. The ripple effect can be huge!

Do you recycle clothes by donating them to charities or disaster relief? If so, what organizations are the ones you most often or prefer to donate to?

One of the more interesting developments taking place at the Green Festival over the past couple of years is the phenomenal growth in interest and demand for “green” clothing. The number of booths selling green clothing as steadily grown and for the casual observer attending the festival, it’s obvious the clothing section is one of the most popular among attendees.

So what are these vendors selling that people are clamoring for? Mainly clothes made from renewable resources and natural fibers like hemp and organic cotton, silk, and soy; clothes made from fabrics whose color comes from natural pigments (non-chemical dyes); and clothes that Fair-Trade source.

Most of these clothing companies don’t design clothes that conform to the mass-market notion of what’s fashionable, but instead seek to forge a new notion of fashion that’s built around more casual lifestyles and eco-friendly values.

Here are links to some of the new generation of companies that are creating sustainable clothing and forging a new style and sensibility in this sector:

Avatar Imports
Fair Trade clothing and accessories for Women and Men

Blue Canoe Organic Cotton Clothing
Organic cotton clothing for yoga and nature enthusiasts

Nomads Hemp Wear
Stylish clothes for women made from fabrics of hemp blended with other natural fibers

prAna Sustainable Clothing
Sustainable active wear and accessories for men and women

Sweet Grass Fibers
Eco-friendly and sustainable clothes for women and men from natural fibers

Tinctoria Designs
Tinctoria’s garments for women and men are made in Portland, Oregon from a variety of natural ecologically beneficial fibers such as hemp, bamboo, soy, and organic cotton, and they hand dye exclusively with plant and insect dyes.

Xylem Beauty in Balance
Dedicated to using the finest natural fibers to create earth and community conscious clothing for the dynamic modern woman. Xylem features unique fashionable designs made from Soy “Kashmere”, Organic Cotton, Hemp, silk and Tencel, which create clothing that is both rich in style and environmentally sensitive.

This trend in eco-fashion is all well and good and I predict that gradually over time you will start to see many of these fabrics and even some of these styles begin to permeate the mainstream via popular designers like Eileen Fisher or Donna Karan. But what if this style of clothing doesn’t suit your taste? What can you do to “green” your wardrobe? Be sure to read my next blog post on all the different ways you can recycle your clothing.

One of the key ways you can green your lifestyle is by following what I call the 3-Rs: Reduce, Re-use and Recycle – more or less in that order. To start reducing, think about the different ways you can lower your consumption. Buying and consuming less means you produce less waste – so maybe a simple first step is resolving to only buy products with the fewest ingredients and minimal packaging. So in your mind, replace the old adage “more is better” with “less is more.”

Buying food and goods produced locally can significantly cut the amount of energy required to transport them from far away places and not coincidentally, the associated carbon emissions. It also keeps the flow of currency in your community supporting the local economy.

Another important way you can reduce consumption is by re-using things either by donating them or giving them to other people who can use them rather than just tossing them out. Of course, if your stuff has reached the end of its lifecycle then the last resort is to recycle it.

But take the time to consider the second R and the different ways you can give a second or even third life to some of your possessions, either by patching, repairing or giving them away to someone else. Clothing swaps and shopping at thrift stores are a great way to re-use clothing, shoes, accessories, and furnishings for your home. Many thrift stores have merchandise that is almost like new and they use the money from your purchases to support worthy causes.

Another important thing you can do, is repair things around your house so that you can either re-use them or give them away in a condition that allows others to make use of them.

The Daily Green put together this cute little slide show with their suggestions for 15 Things You Should Repair Instead of Replace which includes some unexpected items towards the end!

While you’re there, check out their link to 17 Things You Can Rent Instead of Buying for a chuckle!

I’m always thinking about and looking for additional and simple things you can do to be more green – no matter how trivial they may seem. Back in December of 2008, Planet Green compiled this list of 21 clicks that can help save the planet, so I’m sharing them with you because as hokey as it may seem, these are infinitesimally small ways you can make a difference, but if enough of us do it, who knows how big of an impact we might have?

These links point to sites like The Ecology Fund, Care2, The Rainforest Site, and The Hunger Site to name a few. Depending on which links you click on, you can help save various wilderness including rainforests, chimps, wildcats, birds and the oceans, or you can help reduce CO2 emissions, feed the hungry, or stop global warming. Some of the links appear to be outdated but most of them work. All you have to do is click on them. Seems like a simple thing you can do to add to your list of ways to be greener. If you bookmark it you can visit it regularly and click through to those site!

Happy clicking!

Here’s a brief summary of the most interesting findings from the dozens and dozens of studies conducted by these and other institutions on the effects of olfaction (smell) on a variety of human behaviors including learning, memorization and buying patterns:

1. Dr. Alan Hirsch of the Smell and Taste Research Foundation in Chicago discovered that people will judge a product a better value when bought from a shop where there is a pleasant aroma.
2. In another study by Dr. Hirsch, he found that when a mixed floral aroma was suffused throughout a room of calculus students, they increased their speed of learning by 230%.
3. One study conducted at the Las Vegas Hilton revealed that a certain aroma that was diffused around the slot machines in the casino resulted in an increase in the length of time gamblers spent at the machines as well as a 45% increase in the amount of cash they spent.
4. Psychology professor Robert A. Baron at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY found that people in pleasantly scented rooms carry out their work with more confidence, more efficiency, and with greater willingness to resolve conflict. Clerical workers in one of his studies set higher performance goals for themselves while working in scented offices.
5. At the Worcester Hospital in Hereford, England, a 6-month trial showed that vaporizing lavender through the air caused patients to sleep in a more natural pattern and made them less aggressive during the day. Over the 6 months, some patients were weaned off their tranquilizers simply by substituting lavender in the atmosphere, which has a calming effect on the brain.
6. In Japan, the fragrance company Takasago (now a subsidiary of Avon) has shown that data entry errors fell by 20% when lavender was diffused in the atmosphere, by 33% with jasmine, and 54% with lemon. Furthermore, by changing the aromas around periodically, workers sensitivity to smell and their efficiency could be maintained.
7. When students at Warwick University in England were told they performed poorly on a simple test they had taken while smelling a particular odor, they became depressed the next time they smelled that odor. Those who had been told they were successful had the opposite reaction: their self-confidence was boosted.
8. A study at Wheeling Jesuit University, in Wheeling, West Virginia, found that subjects who inhaled the scent of peppermint while running for 15 minutes felt less fatigued, more energized, and more positive about their performance than those who didn’t inhale the scent. They were also more likely to run faster during those fifteen minutes.
9. According to a report in the journal Chemical Senses, women out-performed men when asked to identify a given smell from a group of four scents 10, 30 or 60 seconds after sniffing the original scent.
10. Sex and scent are so closely intertwined that as much as 25% of people who lose their sense of smell, also lose their ability to become sexually aroused.

The implications of these findings are astonishing. There have even been studies that suggest that adding certain scents to food can aid in weight loss, and sniffing lavender can significantly increase slow-wave sleep – the deepest, most restorative stage of sleep.

While scientists continue to try to understand all the elements at play in olfaction and how scents that exist in nature differ from those made from synthetic chemicals, knowing what we now know about what the nose knows, how will you re-evaluate and tend to your relationship with this vital organ?

Most people are totally unaware of the impact that smells can have on their mood, ability to learn, stamina, perception of themselves and others, and ultimately, their behavior and motivation. In fact, when given a choice between losing a big toe or their sense of smell, people are far more ambivalent than they are when given a choice between losing a big toe or their sense of sight!

Our sense of smell is the strongest of all human senses and the closest sense linked to memory and emotion. Every day we encounter aromas (pleasant and unpleasant) that have a powerful influence on our emotions, moods, and behavior. Until the 1990s, very little was known about the sense of smell or even the human brain, but now science recognizes that the sense of smell is a major key to understanding who we are as individuals and as human beings.

While we know that humans can distinguish between as many as 10,000 different aromas, there’s still much to learn about how the brain actually translates aroma molecules into smells and why we react differently to the same smells. What we do know is that through our sense of smell, aroma molecules set off a cascade of reactions involving proteins, enzymes, cell depolarization, and secondary messengers – all leading to an electrical impulse being sent to the brain.

The part of the brain most directly involved in olfaction (our ability to smell) is the limbic system, evolutionarily the oldest part of the brain (sometimes referred to as the “reptilian” brain). The limbic system controls emotions, memory and learning, imagination, intuition, and sexuality, as well as primitive drives and survival instincts. With olfaction these can all be evoked – even subconsciously.

Most of the research currently being done on smell is by people who want to bombard you with it for commercial reasons. In labs, subjects are exposed to fragrance and wired up to equipment that measure electrical skin response, skin temperature, muscle tension, heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure. Pictures of the brain can be seen changing under the influence of aroma.
Research into the psychological effects of aroma now attracts major funding. There are 4 major research institutions: The Olfactory Research Fund (NYC), the Monell Chemical Senses Center (Philadelphia, PA), the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation Ltd (Chicago, IL) and the Olfaction Research Department of Warwick University (UK). There are also a number of private companies engaged in ongoing research for commercial purposes, most notable is International Flavor & Fragrances (IFF) which serves the perfume and food industries.

How conscious are you of the scents in the your environment and how they might be affecting your mood? Have you really considered how the scents you wear may be impacting others around you?

Valentine’s Day can seem like a sad or very lonely time if you don’t have a significant other in your life to celebrate it with. If you’re single and hoping to find a mate then the feelings of loneliness or “missing out” can be intensified even more on this occasion.

It’s in our nature as human beings to want to be loved and feel validated so it’s not unusual to search outside of our selves to get these needs met. In fact it’s quite normal to project these needs by building a fantasy in our minds of the “perfect” or ideal mate who will continuously validate us and make us feel special – rescuing us from our perceived loneliness or inadequacies.

But much of the marketing around romance involves fantasy and false promises, and consumers are constantly faced with the shortcomings of reality as compared to these illusions.

Successful couples know that the true grit of relationships tell a different story … Even a partner who might be considered an “ideal” mate based on shared values and interests can’t provide you with enough love and validation if you don’t love and validate yourself first!

Self-love and high self-esteem are the foundation of strength from which we can reach out and give to others, and from the act of giving we can open our hearts to receive. The inner self is where ALL love stems from and is found. Love increases your ability to relax deeply inside, eliminating those stuck, energetic blocks in your body that stop you from manifesting what you truly desire. To be able to accept yourself exactly as you are, for the pure pleasure of it, is one of the greatest experiences there is.

So if you’re dreading Valentine’s Day because you’re single or recently became single, find a meditation on self-love that you can practice not just at this time of the year but throughout the year. Here are links to a couple of good ones:

Satya Center’s Back to the Garden: Meditations on Self-Love

Online Meditation Center: Self-Love Meditation

For more inspiration, try reading Deepak Chopra’s book The Path to Love. And if you need a few reasons to feel good about being single on Valentine’s Day check out this blog post too: 5 Benefits of Being Single on Valentine’s Day.

Building on my previous post, this article I came across offers some additional ideas for setting the tone to make the most of this special day:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/115134/top_3_free_romantic_valentines_day.html?cat=7

Along these lines, share any tips you have for ways you can re-claim your space to make it more conducive to a celebration of romance.

Going out to a nice restaurant for Valentine’s is a great gift if you don’t have the opportunity to do this very often, or you’re feeling so cooped up that you need to get out of the house to enjoy yourself. On the other hand there are many ways you can celebrate this occasion by staying in.

Below are some ideas for ways couples can celebrate the day in a way that focuses on nurturing each other rather than succumbing to the old standby clichéd way of giving each other store bought gifts and (ho hum!) “dates.”

Why not try a variation on the old breakfast in bed? Rather than one of you making breakfast for the other, why not prepare a nice breakfast or brunch together then retreat to the bedroom to eat it in bed. Plan it all the night before and don’t make any other plans for the day. Just enjoy a lazy day at home sharing favorite moments from your relationship or what you adore about each other.

If you want to spice things up and do something to commemorate the occasion, swing for a set of satin or high thread-count organic cotton sheets and add some of the traditional accouterments –scented candles, dark chocolates to nibble on, a bottle of champagne (for mimosas) and roses or other flower petals strewn around the room. Try an aromatherapy massage followed by a hot bath with mineral salts. Or curl up together with lots of soft cushy pillows, some hot cocoa, and your favorite movie or a new one you’d both like to see.

If lazing around all day doesn’t suit your style then why not work on a project together that celebrates your love for one another? Consider creating a scrapbook or collage that chronicles the highlights of your relationship. Collect everything you think should be included: photos, ticket stubs, matchbooks, souvenirs and other meaningful memorabilia. Start from the beginning, group and arrange related items you want to include and as you add them into your book, write the narrative together. If you have different memories of an event or occasion then each one can write down their version – like an entry in a guestbook. The experience of putting this together helps you appreciate each other and your relationship and you can re-visit the scrapbook whenever you like (maybe make it an annual Valentine’s Day ritual) and update it with new insights or adventures you’ve shared and would like to record. Or you can create mini-scrapbooks that are specific to events (vacations or celebrations), or different periods in your relationship.

Another variation on this theme is creating a vision board for your future together. This can involve using photos you have or photos you collect from a variety of sources with images that symbolically represent things you want to do, places you want to go, goals you want to achieve, possessions you want to acquire (a new car, vacation home, RV, kitchen, swimming pool or Jacuzzi, etc.). Include graphical text headings from magazines or newspapers that communicate the substance of what you want to accomplish and how you want to feel when you get there. This can be a powerful bonding experience and an affirmation of your plans moving forward as a couple –one that energizes you rather than draining you. The other benefit is that you can do these activities regardless of the weather, which can be somewhat unpredictable at this time of the year.

For some simple sensuous essential oil blends you can to create the right ambiance for love try these combinations:

Lavender, Geranium, Clary Sage
Lavender, Sandalwood, Vanilla
Lime, Geranium, Cypress
Orange, Ylang Ylang, Jasmine
Grapefruit, Bergamot, Rosewood
Lime, Vetiver, Coriander

Combine 2-3 drops of each and add to an aromatherapy candle-based diffuser (in some water to prevent burning the olls) or to a tablespoon of jojoba or coconut oil for massage; or a cup of epsom salts or baking soda for a bath. Our Certified Organic Body Oils work great for massages too and they’re $5 off this month. You can buy them here.

For more ideas and recipes for using essential oils to create a mood for love, pick up a copy of Nitya Lacroix’s book The Art of Sensual Aromatherapy: A Lover’s Guide to Using Aromatic Oils & Essences.