Carrie Stevens
Founder / Editor-in-Chief, Envi-Image
Carrie's organic cotton t-shirt says "Visionary". It's by WildChildWear ($62). By wearing organic cotton rather than non-organic cotton, you save about 1/3 of the chemicals and pesticides from being used. This helps create a healthier planet.
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
So you think the world revolves around you? Then change it!
Photo by Steven James May
Some might say I am the most unexpected environmentalist. I can't blame them. After all, last time Hot Moms Club Magazine asked me to write an article for their "green" issue back in 2006, the only thing I could come up with was "Men Who Recycle Gifts." (read this article below)
Sure, the piece is a hilarious read (if I do say so myself). But my level of awareness has gone light-years beyond such gossip like the story of the man who stole his wife's sweater to give to his mistress.
Today, I am now more concerned with what materials that the sweater was made from, and more specifically whether it's good for the woman who wears it as well as good for the planet she wears it on!
That sweater story marked a sad ending to the marriage, as the wife left her husband because he literally made her sick (you know...herpes, depression, and other various predictable results of an extramarital affair). But save some sympathy for the hussy, because that stolen sweater was not luxurious cashmere. No, no, no! It was made of rayon, polyester, acrylic, acetate and nylon highly processed with tons of chemicals proven to have an adverse affect on our health, not to mention the planet. Not only would cashmere have made a more impressive gift, but it is ECO! And it is cool, way cool, to be ECO. (Just to be clear, I am not encouraging men to recycle gifts. If you must do it however, at least do it with some sort of consciousness.)
You might be wondering about my personal eco-awakening. How, you may ask, did a self-indulgent Hollywood girl decide to go ECO?
My answer is simple: Motherhood. The last few years, my son, who's now six years old, has begged me to come to school and speak to his class on career day. I felt terrible dodging it, but I did. Was I supposed to send him to school with my June 1997 Playboy centerfold? How about my acting reel, in which I play a heroin-addicted, sailor-mouthed slut in almost every scene? So, career day was a no-go at preschool and by kindergarten I was officially truant from my parental appearance. Instead I sent him to school with on of my zed cards (a composite of professional photos models use to submit to casting agents).
Earth day was easy for me, though. Having grown up in the country in central Massachusetts, our family composted, grew our own organic veggies, milked goats, and basically lived off the land. I was forced to collect eggs from the stinky chicken coop before the geese chased me to the school bus every morning. I could go on and on about the torture that was my childhood! (And though at the time I thought my mothers was mean for making us pick green beans and for not letting us eat Fluffernutter sandwiches, I now see as her as a visionary of sorts).
My son brought me back to my eco-roots. Inspired to be a better role model for him, I decided to go green.
But it was completely out of the question to give up glamour! Once I started looking for eco-friendly clothes, and non toxic make up, I was astounded at the amazing products that are available.
I have since made it my mission to show the world that you don't have to compromise your health or the well being of the environment to be fashionable. And that is why I founded Envi-Image, and became Eco-Carrie.
P.S. Diamonds are ECO (but only if they're certified conflict-free diamonds, of course!)
MEN WHO RECYCLE GIFTS
"The Garbage Man is the New Milkman"
Photo by Steven James May
When Hot Mom's Club told me that October was "Green Month" and that I was to come up with an environmental theme for my column, I said to myself...I write Sex and the HotMom! How the hell do I tie saving the planet into sex? And then it came to me: Men Who Recycle Gifts!
Last Saturday night my girlfriends and I were chowing on pizza and sipping Jack and Coke at the Rainbow bar and grill on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood. We were swapping bad date stories. I started with a report of a recent second date with a man who showed up with a beat up Saks 5th Avenue bag with snowflake prints on it. It was July. This was the first red flag considering southern California was in the middle of a heat wave. He insisted I shut my eyes and remove my shoes for the big surprise, I felt an icky sweater-like thing on my slither up my calf and I had to peak. Shoe boots with legwarmers attached? "Where did you get these?" I asked. He said Plein Sud on Rodeo. I couldn't believe my ears. You don't mess with a woman when it comes to shopping! There is no Plein Sud on Rodeo. Besides, even if he got them at PayLess Shoe Source...they should come in a box. As he left the restaurant with the beat up bag of non-exchangeable merchandise in tow, I knew I wouldn't take his calls ever again. How could I give another chance to a man who tried to pass off his ex-girlfriends shoes as a gift for me?
My girlfriend CeCe had a similar tale to tell. Her boyfriend was a well-known director. She found a pink cashmere sweater in his house that did not belong to her. When she questioned him about it, he explained that he had bought it for her. The fact that there were no tags on the sweater alarmed her enough to start checking his voice mail. She heard several messages from a famous actress asking him to return the pink cashmere sweater that she left at his house.
Lori chimed in with another sweater story. After dating a charming man for a few months, he gave her a hideous cardigan for her birthday. When she tried to return it, the store clerk informed her that they hadn't had that style in stock for more than a year. Realizing that she hadn't even known this man that long, she got suspicious. She asked around and found out he was married! The sweater was probably something he found hanging in his wife's closet, and seeing it had never been worn, he must have thought it would make a cheap gift for his mistress.
When the "Shoe Imposter", as I like to refer to him, sent me flowers that resembled a funeral wreath, it revealed to me that he knew he was busted. I guess this man did not know that he did not stand a chance. Most things are recyclable, but not men...and the moral of the story: not gifts either!
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