TELL (as we call it around the office) is an online store, blog and forum.  Our motto is that you can come learn, shop, and share about all things eco,all at the same time!  We have created the largest online eco friendly store with products that run the entire lifestyle spectrum from beauty to fashion to home to mom and baby and pets, men and much much more.  And, we have many price points so that you can find those eco things out there that will work for you.  We really want people to know that eco isn’t about compromise anymore, these products are phenomenal and you’ll see that exact fact if you open yourself up to try something new that’s better for you too.

Of the three of you… who is considered to be greener?
Probably me or Alex.  We are the ones using the clotheslines and I am doing my best to reduce my consumption.  I have started swapping my clothing with friends and fam and always make it to my local farmer’s market.  I do my own manis and pedis these days with my non toxic kit and I have put about 20 miles on my car over the last three months.  I hate to drive!

Please share a recent eco sin(s) with the readers…
I have been in DC over the past few weeks visiting my family.  I was routing around my childhood bathroom looking for some sort of lotion after my shower and found a bottle of Clinique Happy.  I sprayed it on myself and almost choked to death.  That is what I get for trying to smell good the toxic way!

How did The Eco Luxe Life celebrate Earth Day?
We found it really hard to come up with some big promotion for Earth Day.  Protecting the planet, to us, is about consuming less.  So, we focused on education.  We went to the movie premiere of No Impact Man, we attended a few charity events and we just really tried to raise awareness. We focused on encouraging people to make one small step towards a greener lifestyle which would hopefully be the start of a long journey.

Amen to that!  Thanks Sydne!

AND…

now for the extra fun part!!!

The Eco Luxe Life Girls are kicking up this interview a notch by giving away a gift certificate worth $35 dollars!!

HOW TO WIN

Visit The Eco Luxe Life shop and tell me what your interests!

EXTRA ENTRIES:

Please be sure to leave a seperate  comment for each entry!

* Tweet, tweet!

* Add my button to your blog;

* Join this site via Google Friend Connect;

* Subscribe to RYD emails;

Giveaway ends Wednesday May 19, 2010

Winner will be announced the following day.

Hope you enjoyed the interview!

Good luck!!

** WINNER, is Julia, from Easy Eco To Go!

Congrats, girlie!!

Thank you to all those who entered and to TELL!

Stay tuned!

In June of 2007 I saw a photo that changed my life.  It was a dead albatross chick filled with plastic pieces from daily life:  bottle caps, toothbrushes, lighters, plastic toys…  At that point, I had never heard of the North Pacific Gyre (the area in the ocean now known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch where so much of our plastic trash ends up) and I had no idea that our lifestyles were causing such harm thousands of miles from civilization.  I looked at my life and realized I had to change.

The plastic collection was a way for me to see just how much plastic waste I was generating in the first place and the blog was a way to keep myself on track.

How did you come up with the blog title Fake Plastic Fish?

It’s actually a reference to a Radiohead song, “Fake Plastic Trees.”  (Radiohead is one of my favorite bands ever and pretty environmentally conscious.)  I came up with name Fake Plastic Fish because if we don’t stop polluting our oceans with plastic, they could be the only kind of fish we have left.

Who are your mentors?

My first inspiration was actually Colin Beavan, the No Impact Man.  I had heard about him and his project to live for a year generating no negative environmental impact on a radio program.  It was via a link on his web site that I stumbled upon the photo of that albatross chick.  He helped me believe that my personal actions could make a difference.

Closer to home, one of my mentors has been Stuart Moody, the coordinator of Green Sangha’s Rethinking Plastics campaign.  Green Sangha is a spiritually-based local environmental organization whose philosophy is that there is really no separation between us and that if we want to heal the planet, we need to come from a place of love rather than creating enemies.  The Rethinking Plastics program is one of their major efforts, and they give presentations to schools, businesses, and community groups about the problem of plastics for health and the environment.  I’ve actually given that presentation a couple of times myself.

And finally, one of my heros is Captain Charlie Moore who first discovered the plastic in the gyre over 10 years ago and has worked tirelessly to bring awareness to this issue.  I love that he never minces words.  He says that plastic pollution is just the visible symbol of our global crisis of over-consumption.  He came up with that in a strategy meeting I attended, and I was so moved that I wrote it down and memorized it.

Honestly, the people I admire are those who stand up for what they believe and don’t worry about looking foolish.  That’s what I aspire to.

What are some of the challenges you face when choosing an alternative to plastic?

Some things simply cannot be replaced.  That was the hardest lesson for me.  I actually was addicted to convenience foods.  Energy bars.  And especially frozen dinners.  But after stubborn trial and error, I found that there is no frozen convenience food that is not packaged in some kind of plastic.  Even the cardboard trays are lined with plastic.  I used to think I could order drinks in a disposable cup and just ask for no lid and no straw.  Then I learned that all those cups are lined with plastic too — as are metal cans, which also contain BPA.

Can you tell us more about your job as the Plastic Sea Monster?

Ha!  Don’t know how many more times I will do that because walking around in plastic all day is not fun.  Especially in the hot sun.

I created the plastic sea monster costume for the SF Bay to Breakers (the annual foot race/walk across San Francisco).  My friend Eli Saddler from Ocean Health (http://www.facebook.com/oceanhealth) dressed as a leatherback sea turtle (because sea turtles eat plastic bags) and I chased him around SF.  We actually won the Bay to Breakers costume contest in the green category.

I wore an earlier version of the costume at Oakland’s Earth Expo and for two days in a row at the Marin County Fair.  That was what turned me off from ever wearing it in the sun again.  I think I need a cloth lining.  Sweating in plastic trash is not a good time.

What is your biggest pet peeve with plastic?

Bottled water.  Hands down.  Not only is the bottle plastic, but the whole idea of bottled water is one of the biggest scams ever perpetrated.  Why pay so much money for something we can get for pennies out of our taps?  Not to mention the environmental impact of extracting water, shipping it from the source to the bottling plant, using the energy and plastic that go into the bottles, shipping it to the store, and then the waste after the bottle is used.  Why can’t we invest in our water infrastructure, making sure there is clean municipal water for all?  And that our drinking fountains are plentiful and actually work?

Okay, my other pet peeve is overpackaging.  Individual fruits and vegetables wrapped in plastic.  I recently saw an article about 7-Eleven trying out bananas wrapped in plastic.  Bananas come with their own natural wrapper!  And all the automatic extras you get at take-out food places.  Utensils, straws, condiments, napkins, etc.  The plastic containers are bad enough, but restaurants should ask if you need that stuff before automatically sticking it in the bag.  Automatic unnecessary plastic that many consumers don’t even question or that they see as an entitlement.

If you had the opportunity to make/change the laws surrounding plastic what would be the first thing you do?

1)  I would require full disclosure from manufacturers of the ingredients in their plastic packaging.  We know about chemicals like BPA, phthalates, styrene, and recently antimony in #1 PET bottles; but what about the chemicals we don’t know about?  Plastic bottles, bags, and containers rarely contain the simple plastic polymer.  Companies use additives to affect the strength, texture, pliability, color, and even antimicrobial properties of plastic.  And for proprietary reasons, they are not required to disclose any of those additives.  If consumers don’t know what’s in the plastic, how can we really know it’s safe?

2)  I would like to see packaging included in requirements for organic certification.  Isn’t it ironic that we are willing to spend extra money to make sure no toxic chemicals have been added to our foods and personal care products, only to have them packaged in plastic that could potentially leach hormone disrupting chemicals back into them?

3)  I would pass EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) legislation which requires manufacturers to provide for the full life cycle of a product.  Currently, we as citizens spend our tax dollars to figure out ways to handle all the plastic and other waste generated from these products.  Our cities have to pay for recycling services and figuring out what to do with the material.  When EPR legislation is in effect, as it is in Europe, companies that make the stuff are much more conscious of the materials they use in the first place, because they are the ones who have to figure out what happens to it when it’s used up.

What do you want people to know about your plastic less journey?

First, I want to clarify that I am not against all plastics.  I want to see an end to single-use plastic packaging, as well as plastic used for food packaging and storage.  But in terms of durable non-food related items, I’m obviously using a computer made from plastic.  My phone is plastic.  My kitchen appliances are plastic.  To me, the key is reducing our consumption over all.  Taking advantage of resources like Freecycle, thrift stores, lending/borrowing programs, repair services.  We are living in a disposable society, but it doesn’t have to be that way.  For example, why does each home need to have their own lawn mower?  Here in Oakland, we actually have a tool lending library, where we can check out tools just like we would books.  In fact, it’s part of the public library system.

The other thing I want them to know is that I don’t expect anyone to be as extreme as I am.  My goal is simply to show what is possible.

AND just for fun… if there were no issues with plastic whether in landfills or toxicity; what would you buy?

I’d do the same thing I am doing now.  You know why?  Because of all those things still require materials and energy to produce in the first place.  The manufacture of so much stuff is one of the causes of global warming.  But also?  Living more simply with less stuff just plain feels better.

touche’

Thanks again, Beth!! It is truly an honor to have you as a guest at RYD.

Hope everyone enjoyed the read as much as I did!

I made lots of mistakes, wandered way off-topic, and didn’t really understand the nature of the web as it’s being used today. As I studied the style of better and bigger sites, I gradually improved the quality of mine. And then one day, I was approached by the editor of EcoChildsPlay.com to write for her, and it was a very flattering and satisfying experience to know that somebody was reading my stuff and actually wanted to bring me on as a writer. Since then, I’ve managed to land more gigs and give my site a little better visibility in the blogosphere, and the future is looking brighter all the time.

With Twitter, I signed up when I saw some of the buzz surrounding the service, but I really didn’t understand why or how to use it – I was a total n00b, posting really boring things and not really interacting with other users. But I started watching how others were using it and tried to emulate them so that I was adding value and not just telling everyone what I had for lunch Once I started using Tweet Deck and Seesmic, it became more of a useful tool to me, and I started sharing environmental news links and asking questions of others to use in blog posts.

TreeHugger nominated my partner Adam and I as green ‘Celebrities’ on Twitter last year, and my follower numbers skyrocketed. Shortly after that, I was featured in a post on HuffPo Green, and the same thing happened to me. I began interacting more with others and really seeing the value of it for writers and readers alike. I used to warn new followers “I Tweet a lot, be forewarned.”, but now I figure that if you’re following me, you want to know what I’m sharing, so I don’t do that anymore.