Eco-friendly business cards don’t come cheap, I discovered a while back. But just in time for the BlogHer conference later this month, eco-cards have gotten a lot more affordable, with Moo.com entering the eco business card business!

Now, you can get 50 business cards– printed on 100% post-consumer chlorine-free recycled paper — for $21.99. These prices, you’ll note, aren’t actually less expensive than those from eco-friendly business card companies I’ve written about before. However, while those companies require that you commit to at least 500 cards or so — driving up the upfront cost — Moo.com lets anyone with $25 or so get their hands on all-recycled business cards.

Unfortunately, the ink used by Moo.com is not veggie-based; Moo.com says such eco-friendly inks aren’t available yet for digital print. However, Moo.com points out other eco-features of digital printing: No film separations or plates — and the chemicals used with them — are employed in the printing process. Plus, since orders can be for as little as 50 cards, there’s less chance of paper waste created by overordering.

Like Moo’s already-popular minicards, these new business cards let you print a different image on each card. And while Moo also offers a “classic,” virgin paper option, the “green” paper doesn’t cost any more. So opt for the “green” option — and see you at BlogHer!

[crossposted from BlogHer]

Update, 8/8/08: I got my own Moo.com cards!

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So I’ve found the perfect bamboo T-shirt: eco-friendly, fairly made, quite affordable, with a perfect fit. I even have my color and size picked out.

But I’m not buying one — yet. Read on –

First, here’s why Tees For Change’s Bamboo Raglan Sleeve Tee’s perfect. Made of a 70% bamboo, 30% organic cotton blend under fair trade conditions in Turkey, these tees are soft and light — perfect for summer — and have raw edges to go with its modern cut.

Tees For Change as a whole’s a very green company which not only plants a tree via American Forests’ Global Releaf for every shirt sold, but also donates T-shirts to a variety of events and causes, including American Cancer Society Relay for Life and New Orleans Green Project. In addition to bamboo-cotton blend T-shirts, Tees for Change also makes 100% organic cotton T-shirts and tanks — which are made sweatshop-free in the US!

Even better, the shirts are much more affordable than most eco-friendly fashions. Tank tops go for $28; T-shirts for $32. I have my heart set on the eggplant bamboo raglan sleeve tee — especially because it matches this pair of purple plaid pants I have –

So why haven’t I bought the shirt yet? My problem is the slogans. The eggplant tee has “practice kindness” emblazoned in white letters across the chest. And while I’m all for people practicing kindness, I find such messaging too — didactic.

Unfortunately for me, these instructive messages seem to be part of the “point” of Tees For Change. Andreea Ayers, the woman who started the company, apparently got started by making herself a T-shirt with the slogan “Be Courageous” across the front, as a personal response to those who didn’t support her home birthing plans for her first child. Thus, Tees for Change’s tagline is “sustainable tees on a mission.” Buy a shirt, and you have to wear a “mission” across your chest.

Mind you — the slogans ARE nice affirmations. But messages like “live mindfully” or “today matters” are ideas I’d rather think or perhaps speak about than wear emblazoned across my chest. I could see wearing the shirt with the “practice yoga” message to, say, yoga class — but that’s ’bout it for me.

But maybe that’s just me…. Other bloggers certainly think otherwise! Valerie of Zoë b Organic Weekly says the statements “are proof that you can look good, do good, and feel good, all at the same time.” And Lorie Sigua of Poise says the shirts “reinforce your conviction to change your outlook for the better and encourage you to actualize your existence to the fullest.”

How do you feel about such messages on your T-shirts? Do you wear affirmations on your chest?

Regardless of the affirmations, Tees For Change’s business model’s certainly inspiring in and of itself. You can hear Andreea Ayers chat about her eco-business in a podcast on Startup Story Radio.

Images from Tees For Change

[crossposted on BlogHer]

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Back in April at its 80th anniversary celebration, the Big Blue Bus announced a collaborative project with the Art Center College of Design to “create a ‘big picture’ vision of the next generation of transit — namely, design a v. cool, modern bus. Now, the website — Bus of the Future — is up and ready to take your bus-related suggestions.

What does the bus of your dreams look like? What amenities would they have? What annoying features would they avoid? You can put in your two cents on the Bus of the Future blog, which includes progress reports written by design students — and most interestingly, rough sketches of the concept vehicles. Check out one of them below.

The Bus of the Future project’s scheduled to be finished by the end of August, by which time the designers will have 6 conceptual versions — including three 3-D models! — of this futuristic bus. These 3-D models will be judged by transportation and design experts at AltCar Expo in Santa Monica on September 26.

Image courtesy of Art Center College Of Design

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The first Venice Beach Music and Arts Eco-Festival happens on the Venice Boardwalk tomorrow! Stop by and be among the 30,000 expected attendees who’ll be browsing over 100 booths, getting entertained by local artists and musicians on a solar-powered stage, taking in the soy-based artwork of local graffiti artists, and nibbling on vegetarian eats and power drinks.

Ed Begley, Jr. and Councilman Bill Rosendahl are expected to attend. Kids will have their own art and play area, where they’ll hopefully stay.

When: June 28, 10 am -7 pm
Where: Venice Beach at Windward and Ocean Front Walk
Cost: Free!

So bike over (there’ll be free bike valet) with your own reusable water bottle (there’ll be filtered water stations) and any smallish old electronics you no longer use (there’ll be an e-waste collection).

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Take a trip to the Antarctic on a walnut oil-powered Polar Traverse Vehicle — or at least pretend to. Tomorrow, the nonprofit Drive Around the World will showcase in Santa Monica one of four alt-fuel vehicles that’ll be heading to the Antarctic in 2009 as part of its climate science project, Zero South.

The walnut oil-powered vehicle will be a highlight of Santa Monica Museum of Art event, “Watch the Wattage and Cool the Fuel,” which’ll highlight Drive Around the World’s work as well as serve as a hands-on workshop by letting participants create one-of-a-kind functional objects that make use of alternative energy sources.

When: Saturday, June 28, 1 - 4 pm
Where: SMMoA, Bergamot Station, Building G1, 2525 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica
Cost: $15 for SMMoA members; $20 for non-members. All ages are welcome. RSVP required to Asuka Hisa at asuka.hisa@smmoa.org.

Drive Around the World basically puts together very long trips to “promote cross-border understanding and good will through innovative educational programs” — in this case, about climate change. The nonprofit’s website’s pretty inspiring — if a bit outdated….

Image courtesy of SMMoA

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For dreamers who fantasize about building their own permaculture homes: Take the “Hands on Permaculture Mapping Workshop,” happening in Santa Monica tomorrow. Intended as a follow up of sorts to the Westside Permaculture Gathering’s “Introduction to Permaculture” talk earlier this week, this workshop will let would-be designers put ideas into practice — at least on paper. Here’s the description from the Westside Permaculture Gathering organizer Sean Jennings:

You will learn how to draw a basic site plan of your dwelling, analyze zones and sectors, identify proper placement of plantings and more. No Drawing skills required, just an eagerness to learn. Having a well thought out design for the place you live is the first step towards being able to make thoughtful change.

When: Saturday, June 28, 1 pm - 3 pm (or possibly longer)
Where: Conor’s House, 1838 16th St., Santa Monica
Cost: $5 suggested donation; no one turned away for lack of funds.

The event’ll be held outside and will include a potluck — so take sunscreen, blankets, and other stuff to keep yourself comfortable as well as food and drinks to add to the table (optional). Warning: People are allowed to bring children. RSVP’s requested but not required. For more info, contact Sean at Swjennings@gmail.com.

For those interested in becoming serious students of permaculture, the 6th Annual Los Angeles Permaculture Design Certificate Course, led by permaculture designer and teacher Larry Santoyo, begins in October. The full course meets one weekend a month for 6 months (October through March 09), but the less-committed can sign up for just a day or a weekend. Cost: $90.00 per day, $175.00 per weekend, $950.00 for the full course.

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A twice-weekly sharing of eco-shwag.

Today’s giveaway is an organic cotton Rogan tote bag which I got at Barneys back before the cheapo Rogan line went to Target.

It’s basic and roomy –

Comment or email by Sunday to get into the drawing, which’ll happen Monday. US addresses only.

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Save money, go green: That seems to be the message for “The Urban Homestead” talk, slide show, and book signing, happening at the Los Angeles Eco-Village tonight.

“The Urban Homestead” is a book by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen, who write the blog Homegrown Evolution chronicling their adventures as urban gardeners and farmers. According to the Facebook invite for the event, the book “covers various topics from raising chickens, to carrying cargo on your bicycle, to canning produce from your garden, to harvesting rainwater, and much more! All very inexpensive and step-by-step instructions.”

All of it sounds a bit (too?) hardcore — but I’m hoping to be inspired….

When: Tonight, June 26, 2008 7:30 pm
Where: Los Angeles Eco-Village, 117 Bimini Place, Los Angles
Cost: Suggested donation $5, no one turned away for lack of funds

I’m planning to be there — You? This’ll in fact be my first time at the LA Eco-Village, which I’ve always deemed way too far to go to and return from via public transit in the evenings — let alone bike round trip with cargo! Don’t tell anyone, but tonight I’m driving and may not even carpool!

For more info about the event, email crsp@igc.org or call 213.738.1254. Can’t make it? Read an interview with the homesteaders and buy the book for $15 here.

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Get stuck in a storm on Mount Everest with an android — via an uncanny story by David Beavers published in Diagram:

The robot is sitting across from me against the frozen rock wall of the cave, with its damaged right leg pulled up underneath it like an animal. It keeps saying things like, “I’m cold,” and, “How about this weather.” Its voice is programmed to be neutral and pleasant. It says that it is cold because the thermometer nestled in the fiber-optic guts of its chassis is sensing that it is a dozen degrees below zero, Fahrenheit. It guesses that this must be uncomfortable for me. It knows that I haven’t eaten much for two days and that we have not moved from this cave for even longer and that the longer we stay here, the greater a chance there is of something tragic happening; “tragic” is a definition programmed into the android, recognizable by a number of preset conditions that it is programmed to suggest we avoid; “are you cold?” it asks me periodically, “are you hungry?”

Read the story, then resume your socially programmed behavior –

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>> Whale tail artist vs. Coastal Commission. Laguna Beach artist Wyland, who created the Cali whale-tail license plates, is suddenly asking the Coastal Commission for 20% of the state’s annual profits from the plates.

>> Whales and co. vs. Navy sonar training. The battle between the Navy and enviro-groups over the Navy’s sonar training exercises is now going to the Supreme Court. “The intense sound waves from the sonar are believed to frighten, injure and possibly kill whales. But the two sides differ greatly on the extent of the effects.”

>> Whale Tails Tortilla Chips vs. Doritos. The former is made with organic corn, contain no GMOs or trans fats, and are seasoned with Alaea Hawaiian Sea Salt harvested from tidal pools in Hawaii. The tail shape makes for easy dipping –

Update, 8/14/08: Enviro groups and the Navy reached an agreement that restricts the use of low-frequency active sonar — but the mid-frequency sonar issue’s still pending at the US Supreme Court.

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