shak-shuka

Must-Have Eco Travel Guides

I've been dreaming about travel lately, and have been planning a few trips to Copenhagen, London and Paris. Luckily I came across a great new site with tips for green travellers such as myself on Strawberry Earth (a great resource site for all things cool+green): Very-Eco are eco-friendly travel guides, and they have tips for cities like London and Paris, which are just up my alley. I also recently discovered on Strawberry Earth's website that there are a host of Dutch city "green" guides, called Good & Green Guides - they even have one for Rotterdam! How did I miss that?!! Also, if you're travelling in Europe, or even in NYC soon, there are a host of good eating guides (mostly vegetarian, but they tip you off to organic/bio places too) available here. When in NYC, I absolutely lived by my Vegan Guide to NYC which gave me the ins and outs of all the vegan places to eat in all the boroughs. So what are you waiting for? Get to (eco) travelling!

Umbrella Senz-less

Since I live in a rainy city, and for many people the same is true, I thought it best to write about an item that I keep running into: an umbrella. But not your usual, run-of-the-mill umbrella, this baby is aerodynamic - and for anyone living in a rainy location, they know that rain never travels alone - wind comes along. And POOF! you have an inside-out umbrella in no-time, and a useless umbrella in no time flat. Ugh.

Two of my best friends have this umbrella that I'm speaking about, the Senz Umbrella. Although the Senz looks the same from the front angle, from the side it's a completely different story: short in the front, long in the back - it's the mullet of umbrellas! Not only does the Senz look cool, it's so well thought out you don't even have to know all the features to really appreciate it (because you're too busy taking advantage of it staying dry while all your friends umbrellas are being turned inside-out): aerodynamic shape turns itself in the wind to keep from flipping inside-out, easy to fold shape, and an opening mechanism in the handle! The Senz may not have many eco credentials, but personally I think once you invest in a Senz Umbrella your search for the perfect umbrella is over and you'll never have to buy another one again!

Peddle to the (Carriage Bike) Metal

The other day I was coming back home in a downpour from walking the dog, and noticed my neighbors struggling to stay dry while they put their kids in their carriage bike, which is very common here in the Netherlands (both the carriage bike and the rain). First, the father tipped the rainwater out of the carriage box part so that it was empty and the kids could get in, then the kids got in, and to keep them out of the rain, the parents stretched a poncho or something over their heads! Poor kids! Although I applaud their attempt to be as eco-friendly as possible in their transportation, it looked like they needed a lift!

Prior to witnessing this scenario, I have been pining for a "bakfiets" (as they are called in Dutch, or "carriage bike" in English) for ages. First, I justified it because I carry so many groceries on my bike it's a matter of time before it all dumps over the street, secondly I attempted to justify it when my daughter arrived as it would be the only way that I could peddle her around town in the 9 months of rainy weather we experience. Now I have good reason to invest in one, as I am constantly peddling orders to the post office nearly every day! Good news for business, bad news for when the rain arrives and I have to drive our car to the post office! That's not very eco-friendly!!!! So here are my contenders for a truly green solution to my problem:

Bakfiets - most popular and common carriage bike in Holland. I'm not keen on it for some reason, maybe because I've seen it everywhere?

Babboe Bike - one of our other neighbors have this one, and it has a compact square shape, great rain canopy and now comes in electric form. Can't tell if that scares me or thrills me!

Gazelle Cabby - supposedly the most comfortable to maneuver, but I am not a fan of how long it is.....

Taga Bike - not very practical for carrying 10kg boxes, but cool as ever! I blogged about it months ago, but then saw it in person at the Kleine Fabriek trade show, and it lives up to the hype. WEEEE!

If you've ever used one or know of a better one, let me know, otherwise I'm going to have to test drive them all and I'll post it when I do!

Store in Style

Like every New Yorker, around the corner from your (tiny) apartment, is a 24-hour store/deli, and a dry cleaner. In our old neighborhood, there were even more than normal, because we were so close to the Financial District: Land of All that is Dry Cleaned. Business women and men in their suits, shirts pressed to perfection, were always the work of some genius dry cleaning steaming machine. Our place used to wash/dry/iron a button-down shirt for a $1, and they used to cringe when they saw me coming because I would bring my own hangers and garment bag and insist they didn't give me any plastic wrapping. I just couldn't fathom the idea of why I would need all that when I lived directly around the corner?! Regardless they thought I was nuts and the women there would shoot each other "the look" when I came in the door. 

Since I clearly "try" (but not always succeed) to keep my clothing in tip-top shape, I have always wanted to find a nice set of garment bags to store special clothing in. Most of them are either flimsy see-through, or as dark as night and resemble more a garbage bag, which makes you wonder what kind of garbage garment you have hiding under there! I was told that there is a new line of eco garment bags from California which are handmade by a woman using vegetable dyed (and also upcycled) leathers and organic fabrics. 

Naturally I hunted Jendarling down and found that her garment and travel bags not only look beautiful, but also treat the environment kindly with her use of materials. Not to mention the fact that she creates bags which help prevent the countless number of useless garment bags we're given. Jendarling bags are the creme de la creme (I'm not saying their cheap, but you are protecting well-loved articles of clothing, right?!!) and I have to stop myself from finding more clothing which needs this type of TLC. 

I think that if I brought these bags to my old dry cleaner in New York, I doubt they would cringe, but instead shoot each other a different look - like "Wowza! These are some nice bags"!!!

http://jendarlingbags.com/