Reviewing Karmakonsum Greencamp

This weekend I visited the Karmakonsum LOHAS Conference and Greencamp. Most of this kinds of events mix in some green washing elements within the program, and I was excited to hear rather critical or in-depth approaches on these items from the stage (see my report on the Karmakonsum blog).

With this balanced program Organizers Christoph Harrach and Noel Klein-Reesink showed that they have a good sensibility for the case. The atmosphere was neat and informal, the audience was a good clash of green business professionals, marketeers and activists.

Compared with the conference, the green camp started totally different. Christoph and Noel pointed on the freedom and open space idea of the camp, and created some creative chaos on stage. 'Anyone still wants to give a workshop?'. Christoph did not only ask the audience what Karma means, he started the day with a meditation with the whole audience. Reactions in the public showed that some people got here for Karma, while others were far more interested in the topic of Konsum.

The Greencamp program was very diverse, from a workshop on LOHAS lifestyle by Ivy main editor Michalis Pantelouris, a workshop on online communities by Daniel Pichert from Fairdo, a workshop on the social fashion label Armedangels by Anton Jurina
till a workshop on meida and sustainability by Christian Neugebauer. A large, respectful program, created by the visitors.

For a Conference 2.0, the workshops I visited were still unnecessary topdown, while the public existed of professionals in the field. This reflects the double position of 2.0 methods, on the one hand it gives power to the people through blogs and communities, on the other hand web 2.0 functions are used strategically to create influence on a community.

The real value of the conference and camp lies in it's power to get people together and create a strong network of people working with the topic of strategic and ethical consume. In other words: good karma. Meeting still people on the station, I felt that the conference had a strong, positive flow. Energy I am still running on, a lot of new ideas for projects and cooperations.

Picture: workshop with Armed Angels

Karmakonsum Conference: It is not Easy being Green

I am right now on the Karmakonsum Conference on LOHAS Marketing in Frankfurt, and in a few hours discussions hit the podium and heat up the athmosphere. An eclectic mix of people on the conference and an enlightening sunshine makes the conference hot: “Alte Ökos” (old ecos), Neogreens, conventional marketing agencies, representatives from sustainable businesses...

Read my reports on the Karmakonsum Blog , the first post here

Green Chic - Saving the Earth in Style

Can we live a gorgeous green lifestyle without giving in on the comfort of our luxury consumption habits? There is a boom of new conscious and green lifestyle magazines and advertisements that promise us that the new green is all about luxurious and quality living. They say LOHAS (Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability) do not give in with consuming less, they choose for a lifestyle of conscious hedonism. But how is that possible?

Trendy green lifestyle
After a wave of articles on the issue of trendy green lifestyle, lately more and more guides on green living are being published. I read two books for chic women, women who care about their style but are also concerned about our planet. Both books are stuffed with tips on how to live green in a stylish, enjoyable way.

Green Chic
Green Chic, Saving the Earth in Style is a book by Christie Matheson, who helps her readers changing their lifestyle towards a more energy saving and conscious one, while staying chic. A lot of attention goes to tips that help reduce CO2 emissions.

Green is the New Black
Green is the New Black, how to change the world with style, by Tamsin Blanchard, is focussed on style issues such as being a green fashionista, designing your own clothes, green weddings and holidays.

Showering less
In first instance I fell for the design of Green is the New Black, but even with style handbooks it's not all about the looks! Actually Green Chic is a better practical guide and goes a bit further in green lifestyle tips. While the first hangs a lot on style details and is written for women who can't resist their consumerist addictions, Green Chic dares to get her chic readers into showering less or changing their fashion habits completely. Green Chic contains a lot of open doors, such as "eat more local, organic whole foods" but also some serious background information on the sustainability of different textiles.

Green fashionista
I liked Green Chic because it went into changing your lifestyle towards more quality. The best part is the advice on changing your wardrobe. She advices you to "edit" your whole wardrobe until you only have clothes that you really, really love wearing. And to get rid of everything else. An interesting starting point of becoming a green fashionista...

Less is more
To come back to the dilemma weather luxurious green consume is possible, I believe the green chic lifestyle should not just be about endless luxury consumption. Green products often carry a special quality that cheap or conventional products don't have. But above all green living is about enjoying quality above quantity. In supermarkets you are tricked into all kinds of psychological discounts, and in the end you always buy more things than you need. Since I exchanged supermarkets for shopping at local organic stores and the organic week market, I buy much less and enjoy much more of the products I consume. It is a luxurious lifestyle just buying organic food, but it does not costs me more than my former consume habits. Really! So the best way to enjoy a green chic lifestyle is to give in on the quantity and go for the quality. Less is more.

There is also two new books on ethical fashion with alike titles: Eco Chic, The savvy shoppers guide to ethical fashion, by Mathilda Lee; and the almost released Eco-Chic, The fashion paradox, by Sandy Black.

Switching off the light on global scale: join Earth Hour on March 29, 2008

It's night and the sky is... orange....green...or pink. In a large part of the world real darkness is unknown, caused by electric light pollution from cities, street lamps and green houses. Researches shows that unlighted highways are as safe as lighted, and offices and green houses can also function without lamps at night. There is more and more awareness for the topic, and some great initiatives to turn of the light.

During Earth Hour on Saturday, March 29 at 8 pm, cities across the globe will be powering off electric light for one hour. Lights and unnecessary electrical items will be turned off from San Francisco to Bangkok. 24 cities, thousands of businesses and millions of people are expected to participate.

And if we can organize this successful for an hour a year, why not do it a bit more often?

Romantic nights stop global warming
The event takes place from 8 pm-9 pm local time, regardless of the location. There is no reason for not joining. The only thing that could happen to you is paying a bit less on your energy bill. A good opportunity for romantic candle light dinner and a moment where people on global scale will be aware of the energy they use. With all the attention for climate change, this event has a huge potential.

sources: Grist Magazine, Triplepundit, Earthhour.org

Virtual activism: plant a tree in facebook or second life

It is a lot of tree planting actions these days, and I am wondering where all these forests are growing. Cleaning up our emissions, or just filling up the empty spaces of cut down Amazon forests?

The latest sprout on the tree planting hype is The Virtual Forest campaign by UNION FENOSA. The idea is simple, you plant a virtual tree in the virtual community Second Life, and for every second participant they plant a tree in reality.

But behind this campaign seems to be an energy company. Other virtual forests I recently read about were from a bank, the so called Facebook Forest Group where you plant a tree with every fifty new members, and the German online community Utopia, planting a tree for every new member.

I am really starting to wonder if all those planted trees are making a difference or just green wash our 'green sins'? Are we planting faster than we cut? Is there any serious research on this jet?

through: ecostreet

Rapanui: organic surfwear from the Isle of Wright

Rapanui is an organic and sustainable clothing company based on the Isle of Wight, using organic, natural and ethical fabrics. Rapui is set up by surfing brothers Rob and Mart Drake-Knight, 23 and 21. They say they were motivated to influence environmental change after becoming ill and even getting scars from surfing in polluted waters.

Their garments are manufactured in Fairwear Foundation audited factories and made of
sustainable bamboo, organic cotton and convergence cotton. The clothing is made from a strong environmental position: “We want to use the influential power of fashion to provoke change.”

It is great to see so much young people getting involved in the environmental issue in a creative or entrepreneur way. Especially of course because they often stay close to who they are. In this case surfers. Check out their surfers weather forecasts...

Boom of community based ethical consumer sites in Germany

In Germany there is a boom of new, community based ethical consumer websites that are being launched. One of the most successful of these on the moment is Utopia.

Another initiative with some good names behind it is New Ethics, both German and international. But they are still a bit in a starting up stage. Also a good one is Weltretter. Other sites working partly with a community are lohas.de and ivy.de.

It is a shame that some of these 'community based' sites choose a rather commercial strategy, which might weaken the purpose they say to stand for. The question is if conscious consumers want to connect their ideal word with too obvious product placements. But in general it is a good sign that so much of these initiatives are being set up, and that ethical consume is getting on the trendy side here in Germany as well.

Recently I joined the (invitation only) network FairDo, which gave me a good feeling being in a more real online community again. All the communities you join but somehow do not relate to that much, or never visit after registering, mean a lot of wasted time. Hopefully there will be technology in the future where your different communities interact with each other...

The sex appeal of ecofabulous lifestyle: green girls, stoere vrouwen, ethical girls and veggies in pumps

Hip, green lifestyle is growing more and more beyond the borders of classical, conscious consumer groups. In several countries there is a rise of groups and initiatives of mainly female consumers that want to shop ethical but sexy.

More and more online media and sustainable lifestyle magazines come to light, but also initiatives driven by consumers, such as the Dutch female collective Stoere Vrouwen, a network of succesful and stylish women promoting ethical consumption with playful actions. There is aslo several cool vegetarian initiatives, in The Netherlands in example Veggie in Pumps. Particularly interesting is that these initiatives do not target towards conscious consumers, or LOHAS, but to lifestyle addicts, fashionistas, people who care more about style than about the world.

The blog of German eco-fashion label Armedangels just attended me on the green lifestyle blog Green Girls Global, luckily also with a male version: Green Guys Global. In Germany the womens magazine publisher Burda started Ivy World, which also targets much more towards lifestyle consumers than towards conscious consumers.

In England there are in example the Ethics Girls, publishing a printed magazine as well. Also recently there are several recently published handbooks for the stylish ethical women, such as Green is the New Black, Green Chique and Eco Chique. I just started reading them and will write a review on these books soon. Also the site of La Mode Ethique gives quite a good, stylish ethical fashion shoppers help, with over hundred ethical fashion brands and designers.

Be ecofabulous and enjoy!

LOHAS Conference and Green Camp in Germany

The German eco-lifestyle experts from Karmakonsum organize a LOHAS marketing conference on May 30 and 31. LOHAS stands for Lifestyle Of Health And Sustainability and is said to be a large, new upcoming and long lasting lifestyle movement connected to a more sustainable consumption.

Next to the conference there is the Green Camp, organized as an open space for networking and exchanging ideas on several sustainability related topics. I am excited to come there because it could very likely have the right mix of creative activists, bloggers and green entrepreneurs, and have a good inspiring spirit. Joining the green camp is free of charge.

LOHAS marketing conference
On the conference there are several German specialists speaking, including representatives from the Club of Budapest, green fashion agency Good True Beautiful, cosmetics brand Dr. Hauschka, newspaper TAZ, organic supermarket Basic, and the green bank GLS.

LOHAS- green lifestyle or marketing concept?
Sometimes I can have my skeptical moments about the whole LOHAS thing, because it often presents sustainable products and lifestyle as luxury. Good strategy from a marketing perspective, but the LOHAS marketeers should be aware that being exclusive is a risk to exclude as well. Off course in the end sustainable lifestyle should be normal and not something for the ones who can afford it. Meanwhile it is better to be positive and promote green lifestyle in whatever way. In the end it is about the way you live your life so let's see if we can make a real green lifestyle movement out of the LOHAS marketing ideas!

Biofach bloggers: interview with Grass Routes by Karmakonsum

Christoph and Noel from Karmakonsum interviewed several sustainability bloggers during the bloggers meeting on the BioFach organics fair. All in German, but giving a good insiders view in the bloggers scene.

Also check out the other BioFach Bloggers:

• Alle Infos zum Bloggertreffen
• Andrea Nienhaus - alles was gerecht ist
• Andy Brandl - Blog-Abfertigung
• Christoph Harrach - Karmakonsum
• Det Müller - Lohasblog
• Frans Prins - grass-routes.org
• Fritz Lietsch - Nachhaltig Wirtschaften
• Gerhard Schoolmann - gastronomie blog
• Gerhard Zirkel - Waldbog
• herwig Danzer - Nachhaltigkeitsblog
• Hohannes Korten - Jazzlog
• Horst Klier - Leben ohne Diät
• Isabel Strohschein - Laufsteg Breite Gasse
• Kirstin Walther - Saftblog
• Klaus-Peter Baumgardt - Fressnet
• Manuel Rosenboom - Vitalgenuss
• Matthias Metze - viva-vino biowein
• Michael Wenzl - Farmblogger
• Milo Tesselar - biorama Magazin
• Noel Klein-Reesink - Karmakonsum
• Peter Parwan - Lohas.de
• Ralf Hense - Kleinsthof
• Reto Stauss - Nachhaltigbeobachtet
• Roland Dunzendorfer - Landscaping Blog
• Sandra Trummer - Erleben, Leben und Sein
• Sjörn Plitzko - Konsumguerilla
• Sophie Scholz - fairdo
• Thomas Geiger - Photopoolblog
• Thomas Hölzl - Stoibär

Photo impressions from the BioFach organics fair

A lot of different visitors on the BioFach organics fair: between all the neat suits and organic products one could spot quite some styles and cultures...

Reports from the Biofach: Life elixer from Makava

On the blogger meeting, I met a few Austrian guys who just started their own biological, fair trade lemonade brand called MAKAvA. Being about the same stage with our ethical fashion brand Pamoyo, it is fun to hear the stories of other young, green entrepreneurs.

Based on ‘green gold’ Maté, MAKAvA you to have a good mood and bring a smile in your face, as the makers of the drink promise. The drink is sweetened with Agave and elder blossom. It is made with real spring water and without any adding of carbonic acid. That’s why it tastes different than most other lemonades, less sweet, and quite a subtle taste.

The MAKAvA lemonade will be spread by selling in selected clubs, bars and shops. Soon they will expand to Germany as well. We will hear more of this drink, I hope. Now the Bionade limonade started to sell at MacDonalds in Germany, it's getting time for some new drinks!

Reports from Biofach: De Leckere, one of the best dutch special beers in the world

The international organic fair BioFach has an incredible offer of organic foods. For all I am amazed by all the innovative and luxurious products offered. Finest biological Belgian chocolate, in exciting new tastes, the best Italian pestos, exotic local fruits from Africa, sparkling new lemonades, etc. As a dedicated consumer of organic products one feels like Alice in wonderland.

One of the products presented on the Dutch area of the BioFach (every country has it’s own cultural-commercial trade space) is a special beer brand called De Leckere (“The Tasty One”). This beer brand was once started by some old housemates of mine in our basement. They were some young guys with a passion for beer, experimenting nights long to invent their own beers.

We, the other house mates, were a bit of laboratory rabbits, drinking the results from their experiments. There were always stories and rumors about the ingredients. And off course they tried out making cannabis beer as well. But in the end they developed some really amazing beers that were sold in the shops. After a fast growth and some troubles the beer started to conquer the world. With almost all smaller beer brands being part of larger ones, it is great to see a small, independent beer brand survive so long...

Reports from the Biofach organic fair: bloggers regarded as press

The Biofach is the largest business to business fair on organic products worldwide. While the leading fair is in Germany, other BioFach fairs are hold in USA, China, Japan and Brazil. The BioFach in Germany welcomes about 45.000 professionals in the field of organic products, for all in the food but also in the noon food sector. Among the visitors are about 700 journalists.

This year the BioFach has a new novelty: Bloggers on the topic of sustainability are treated as press, even with an own bloggers press center. A very innovative concept, and in a time where web2.0 and blogs are still in rising importance, an initiative worth for other events and fairs to consider to do as well. In example also in fashion blogs have gotten a great position in inspiring designers by offering ideas from the streets, niches, subcultures and avant garde.

Bloggers meeting at the BioFach
On Friday evening there was a special sustainability bloggers meeting on the BioFach. As bloggers you often know each others blogs and maybe have some contact, and than it`s great fun meeting the faces behind them. The evening went all too fast, but it is a nice community with great diversity, all between activist looks and casual suits.

At the meeting we discussed the possibilities of a common shared online network project, without all too concrete results, but with a good exchange of ideas. Most important is that we as bloggers had the opportunity to get in touch. I met some really nice people and found it all together an inspiring event. Thanks to Geoffrey Glaser from the Nuremberg Messe, Herwig and Christoph , and off course the bloggers. Hope to see you soon again!



More reports on BioFach expected...

green is sexy and organic underwear is getting hot

Green is sexy - and new cool green fashion is combating the old eco-stereotypes succesfully.
And new organic underwear lines are giving green lifestyle a fresh, kinky sex appeal.

If you consider trying out some eco-clothing, underwear is not the worst to start with, because you don't really want chemical leftovers direct on your intimate body parts, do you? And some new organic underwear lines really give organic a new image. Also conventional lingerie producers start to take up the topic of sustainable production, as this article describes. A marvelous example of sexy green underwear are the collections by ethical lingerie brand Enamore (picture). For more info on organic underwear, see this informative blog post or read this report by green guide Inhabitat, handing you some last minute tips for Valentine...

Berlin Fashion Week reports: Federal Office for Garment

The streets of Berlin are crowded from German and international fashionistas, as the Berlin Fashion Week is hitting the city. Some small reports from your Grass Routes agents...

Bundesamt für Bekleidung
At the Premium fair visitors were invited to analyze their clothing in the laboratory of the Federal Office for Garment, a Swiss institution. With a newly developed laboratorial computer system the "beamter" (officers) could analyze all the steps in the production chain of a garment: where it was made, the age of the producer, the environmental impact of the materials, etc.

After such an analyze, this brilliant invention "greening machine" would take care of all eventual negative social environmental scores. 2 seconds of "greening" was enough for the organic t-shirt I had tested, but also tougher cases could be handled with this machine, neutralizing any damage being caused in the production process.

Green washing
Frans tested his Italian jacket, with the outcome: made from wool & poliester, origin of materials: Thailand and Pakistan, 312 travel hours, 4 sewers, the dyes causing a small risk of cancer, and all kinds of technical details I did not understand. Anyway this jacket had to be green washed for almost a minute.

Because of their innovative approach, the Bundesamt für Bekleidung is travelling all around the world with their laboratory. They might visit your town as well to give you the chance to test the production process of your wardrobe...

German social fashion contests by Armed Angels and Fairwear.de

Armed Angels are a young, trendy social fashion label from Cologne. They are conquering Germany with just a few simple shirts. Only selling over the internet, or through friends and friends of friends of friends. 3,33 Euro per piece of clothing goes to charity. For their innovative business concept, Armed Angels recently won a German innovation price. Check these guys out, we will hear more of them!

Angelface 2008
Armed Angels organize open contests on both their designs and models. More than 200 models have already joined. It's actually quite fun to have the chance to choose a model for a clothing brand. They also have style-of-the-month voting, where people can send in their designs and vote two shirt prints per month into the webshop. I just wanted to comment that they should also put a vote for their charity projects, but they already do...

Streetwear & social activism
Also the crew of the German ethical fashion webshop Fairwear.de organize a shirt print contest. You can send in your print design, graphics and creative impulses until the 8th of Februari 2008. The best designs will be printed, the deisgners get 50 Euros and discount in the webshop. I like the Fairwear guys because they connect their site to both streetwear styles and social activism, and seem to stay close to their ideals. They have a nice mix of fair fashion labels including Kuyichi, Tudo Bom?, Epona, THTC, Machja, and No Sweat. Just on question, where are the German ethical fashion brands?

picture: Armed Angels

Rainforests disappear faster thanks to biofuel

In an effort to make our cars go greener, our EU governments decided to push the production of biofuel (also known as biogas or biodiesel, with an immediate result: rainforests are disappearing faster. After environmental organizations alarmed, the EU promised to forbid to cut down rain forests for the production of biofuel. But generally, the high demand of resources makes it more attractive than ever before to cut down these trees and plant soy for oil or hamburgers.

All in all the question rises: can we save our planet just with the 'right' consumption? Or can we only by a grand, political shift, a green revolution? At least, just consuming the right, green sounding products won't help. On the other hand, for us as consumers it is the only way to change the way things are produced, and the effects are larger than one might think.

Green revolution
The effect of a high demand for eco-products is the mainstreaming of good business. And in the side stream, this development is part of a bigger movement, a movement of global consciousness. I believe we are at a paradigm shift of which the effects are still to come. We have the possibility of a historic moment. We can. By making a choice in what we consume, and why. And by demanding high results from our political representatives. It's time for some revolution, and we might be just in the middle of it.

Saving rainforests is so...retro
Yes, we better be in a hurry to safe some rainforests (again). Some time ago I had a conversation: where is the safe the rainforest thing? Why is it not hot? An excellent topic to get high up on the agenda again. Especially because it is connected so narrowly to climate change. Because it doesn't make sense to plant trees as long as we cut them down faster. Saving Rainforests is so... retro. But what about a nice recycled Save the Rainforest shirt in best New Rave style cut?

Resources:
EcoWorldly , GreenPeace , WikiPedia

Picture by Lova Palmer

NVOHK: eco-fashion managed by the people who wear it

All these new, green eco-fashion brands. They are soo cool, soo green, soo georgeous. A serious fashion event can't do without them. And there we are. Sometimes I wonder, why all activists, all creatives, all green thinkers are capitalist entrepreneurs nowadays. Do we really believe consumption can save the planet? Concurrence will make us more friendly to each other? Fashion brings enlightenment?

In this light, initiatives that strive to create a different company model are rather interesting. There is a growing a amount of network / community based social companies. Although they are pioneers, they also set the trend in an era dominated by web2.0.

Fashion 2.0
A good example of a community managed company is the eco-friendly surf brand NVOHK. They recruite members through what they call a "crowdfunding business" to develop and launch a new lifestyle brand that blends social responsibility and financial performance.

Based in Los Angeles, Nvohk is recruiting 20,000 - 40,000 members to contribute $50 a year to develop and shape the nvohk brand. Members will make major business decisions including logo design, web design, product design, advertising, etc. Members will also receive a free member t-shirt, 35% of nvohk's net profits in the form of reward points that can be redeemed to purchase products, and 25% off all nvohk products. nvohk will donate 10% of net profits to environmental organizations selected by its members.

I just heard from my partner Cecilia that she already is a member. I am curious...

Source: www.projectnvohk.com

Green caravan dreams, or how Berlin lost its mobile homes

Berlin lost a bit of it’s rebellious soul again. Since the 1st of January, most remarkable vehicles are considered illegal because of their high emissions. Until recently, the streets of Berlin were filled with old caravans, self-made buses, hippie vans, mobile homes, and gipsy style movable houses. But new, green policies declared war to the unfiltered diesel-motors. And the streets of Berlin are… cleaner.

What is presented as greening in one way, might be greenwashing in another. Strict emulsion and pollution policies in cities are a good initiative, in my opinion. But the rules only target to older models, while the new cars are not stimulated to become more greener than they are. On the contrary, the ‘green’ sticker on your car gives you the illusion, that your car is green.

As the owners of an old Volkswagen 'Bully', we are lucky to have a gasoline van with catalysator. Our bus got a ‘green’ sticker, the greenest level one can get (there is green, yellow, orange, red, and no sticker for the too dirty outcasts). But what is green about a van driving on gasoline and drinking one-on-ten?

It would be more honest to make emission restrictions for new cars ass well. While the old cars are bullied away and will find a new life in Eastern Europe or Africa, a pressure on new cars could mean something on a global level. If they would have the courage, the Berlin municipality could start to forbid or eco-tax extreme jeeps and other new, polluting car models.

We are meanwhile dreaming of new alternatives for our ‘green’ but polluting travel friend. Recently we found out about the Verdier Solar Power, a Westfalia based, high tech caravan on hybrid and hydraulic power. A wet dream for green travelers, Wesfalia hobbyists, LOHAS, and design fetishists. The red dot award winning design is still only a design, but let’s hope it will be released rather soon!

(images (c) copyright Verdier)