>> Come join Women of the Green Generation  for a special Women of the Green Generation Holiday Event. Large Marge Sustainables will provide organic foods and GQ Eco Bartending will serve up organic drinks. The event takes place this Thu. Dec. 15 from 7:00- 10:00 pm at a private home in Santa Monica. The address will be disclosed to registered guests. Cost: $10; visit their website to register.

>>  Heal the Bay is coordinating its fifth annual A Day Without a Bag, which urges consumers to forego environmentally harmful single-use plastic or paper grocery bags in favor of reusable totes. Visit one of the more than 60 Giveaway Locations this Thu., Dec. 15 for a free reusable bag. Cost: free.

>> The Los Angeles Bioneers will be screening the film The Big Fix, the newest documentary from the creators of Fuel. The Big Fix will be screened this Fri., Dec. 16 at 7 pm at the G2 Gallery at 1503 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice. Cost: free. If you want to attend, RSVP to srnichols@mac.com.

>> Cruise into the holiday spirit with C.I.C.L.E.’s 4th annual Holiday Toys and Mittens Ride, which will gather toys and warm articles of clothing for Burbank’s Salvation Army, to be given to local families and children through their Giving Tree. The relaxed-paced, 7.5 mile ride will stop at various sites in Burbank. Join the ride this Sat., Dec. 17 at 10 am at Burbank City Hall, 275 East Olive Ave., Burbank for a fun-filled and family friendly day. Cost: the ride is free, but please bring a toy or article of clothing to donate.

>> Freedom and Fashion, an organization dedicated to educating society about the global issues of modern day slavery, sex trafficking, child labor and human rights violation, is holding a fashion show featuring seven fair-trade lines. The event takes place this Sat., Dec. 17 from 6-10 pm at the Cooper Design Space Penthouse, 860 South Los Angeles Street, 11th Floor Penthouse, Los Angeles. Cost: Ticket prices range from $25-100 and are available online.

>> Join GOOD LA in creating a giant human infographic to attack L.A.’s traffic problem. Currently, 81 percent of Angelenos drive to work. On average, they spend 72 hours of that drive stuck in traffic every year. It’s time to take action. Come out this Sat, Dec. 17 at noon at the intersection of West 4th Street and South Figueroa Street in downtown LA. Cost: free. Be sure to RSVP if you would like to attend.

>> Genetically modified food is in the majority of our food items today. The FDA is allowing these foods to go untested and unlabeled. Culture Club 101 is hosting a GMO Labeling Signature Gathering Training to train people in how to gather signatures in order to put a proposition on next year’s ballot to label foods containing GMOs. The training takes place on Sun., Dec. 18 at 7 pm at Culture Club 101, 30 S. Wilson Avenue Pasadena. Cost: free. Reserve your space on their website.

Slate’s article points out that as with many newly popular health foods, many of rooibos’ oft-touted health benefits are overblown. But the herbal tea grown in South Africa is rich in antioxidants and rich in nutty flavor too — making it one of my favorite coffee substitutes. And thanks to rooibos’ growing popularity, I got a bunch of organic rooibos samples to taste and compare. Here’s how four different rooibos stacked up:

Choice Organic Teas Rooibos Superfruit
Cost: 1 box of 16 tea bags costs $4.99

Want a citrus kick in your rooibos tea? Choice gives you just that choice, since this tea comes infused with orange and orange oil — as well as organic apple, hibiscus, rosehips, and schizandra berry. Plus, as a benefit to tea-drinking do-gooder types, this tea’s fair trade certified and also supports the Jane Goodall Institute. Unfortunately, I wasn’t actually a fan of the tea. The fruity flavors were barely noticeable — but made the tea less rich and slightly sour, making this my least favorite rooibos tea of the bunch.

Equal Exchange Organic Rooibos Tea
Cost: 1 box of 20 tea bags costs $4.50

For a pure, plain, rooibos tea that’s affordable too, go for Equal Exchange. This rooibos tea brews up clean and crisp and has a deliciously rich red color. Plus, this fair trade tea is grown by small-scale farmers that form the democratically-organized Wupperthahal Origiinal Rooibos Cooperative.

Equal Exchange Organic Vanilla Rooibos Tea
Cost: 1 box of 20 tea bags costs $4.50

This tea’s just like the one above — except with an extra dose of vanilla. Vanilla lovers will love how the sweet, mellow flavor of vanilla complements the nuttiness of the rooibos in this concoction. Equal Exchange says “It’s almost like dessert in a cup.” That description’s really pushing it; rooibos tea just isn’t that sweet. Still, the tea could be a nice complement to whatever dessert you’re eating.

The Tea Spot Organic Red Rooibos
Cost: Sample pack that makes 5 cups costs $4 (1/4 pound bag costs $11)

Hands down, this rooibos tea won the taste test — which isn’t a surprise, since this is a higher quality loose leaf tea, while all others are more affordable paper-bagged teas. This loose leaf tea will give you a richer, fuller, earthier flavor — and leave you with a pleasant nutty aftertaste. Unfortunately, this is the one tea out of the four that is not fair trade certified.

What’s your favorite rooibos tea?

After 20 years of addiction, I’ve finally quit coffee — and developed a raging addiction to green tea.

The addiction swap-out, apparently, means great eco-benefits. According to GOOD, a cup of coffee requires 37 gallons of water to make (from growing the coffee, etc.) — while a cup of tea requires just 9 gallons.

That isn’t why I quit coffee though. Though GOOD’s chart compares somewhat similar choices we make in everyday life, I don’t think the lower water use option is necessarily always the choice you “should” make. If it were, we should eat oranges (13 gallons) and shun apples (18 gallons), and always opt of beer (20 gallons) over wine (31 gallons). A healthy, eco-friendly diet, though, requires variety — and in my opinion, a fun factor that makes room for individual taste. Picking fair trade coffee — or an organic apple — seems to me more eco-effective than always going for tea or oranges.

But now I really am always going for green tea over coffee. Why? I finally realized coffee was making me a more anxious, less even-keeled person.

I’d been drinking coffee daily since sixth grade, so I thought my anxiety levels and daily energy highs and crashes were just part of my nature. Coffee was just a normal, daily habit — a morning routine I looked forward to. Until recently, I started each day with three cups of French-pressed organic fair trade coffee — and couldn’t function without it. In fact, when I started my personal green blog, its main focus was coffee — fair trade, organic coffee, to be specific. I did lots of coffee reviews, interviewed movers and shakers in the fair trade coffee world, achieved some eco-notoriety for co-starting a Starbucks Challenge for fair trade coffee, and gave advice on drinking the most eco-ethical cup of coffee.

But about a year ago, when I complained about low-grade anxiety, low energy in the afternoons, and some trouble falling asleep at night, a doctor recommended that I try cutting back my daily habit to just two cups of coffee.

So I did. The result? I still felt my energy dip in the early afternoon, but I felt less anxious and I slept better! In fact, I felt so much better that whenever a friend mentioned anxiety or mood swings or insomnia, I waxed lyrical about how much cutting back on caffeine helped my sense of well-being.

Oddly, this did not spur me to explore actually quitting coffee altogether.

I think part of the resistance was that I’d tried to quit coffee before — and failed rather miserably each time. Usually, these attempts to quit were linked to some sort of bigger lifestyle change that sparked my interest — that forced me not only to go cold turkey on all caffeine, but totally revamp my diet or some other big aspect of my life (one especially tortuous stab at the Master Cleanse comes to mind).

Needless to say, those “change everything” dealios gave me horrible caffeine withdrawal headaches and just made me feel crappy altogether. It’s been an extremely slow process, but through the years I do seem to be finally accepting the fact that I generally do better when I try to make gradual changes over time, instead of attempting to alter everything in one go as I’m often tempted to do.

If you’re like me, my method of finally quitting coffee successfully might work for you.

My attempt to go from the now 2-cup habit to zero began when I decided to do the Crazy Sexy Diet cleanse — in a sane manner that wasn’t too shocking to my body. That cleanse recommended, among other things, quitting coffee — but also preached moderation and going at your own pace.

Around the same time, I read Robin Barooah’s post at Quantified Self about how he quit coffee due to the “growing suspicion that coffee was causing mood swings and crashes that are bad for my overall sense of well-being.” His quitting method? A very gradual and exact self-devised program that required a lot of measuring — and some unfortunate coffee waste:

I made the same amount of coffee each day, using a vac-pot. Although I didn’t measure caffeine content, I did control many factors including grind, age of beans, water temperature and water/coffee contact time. From this controlled pot of coffee, I used measuring cups to discard an additional 20ml per week.

He quit successfully — and found his concentration improved to boot!

So instead of going cold turkey, this time I decided to channel Robin’s anal retentive methodology — minus the coffee waste. How? I counted beans. I started with 100 beans every morning, cutting back five beans every few days and reducing the amount of water I put in the French press. Finally, I had about 15 beans left in my coffee jar — with which I made my last weak shot or so of coffee.

The next day, I drank a cup of black tea instead — without suffering a caffeine withdrawal headache. I had about 20 bags of black tea stockpiled in the apartment, mostly begotten as friends or as samples for review. Those finally got quaffed. Then I moved onto the green tea — I also had about 20 bags of those to get through.

After those were gone, I went entirely caffeine-free, starting my days with herbal tea. I even proudly told a number of organic tea companies to not send any more caffeinated tea samples, because I’ve quit caffeine — to which they replied with congratulations and herbal tea samples.

That caffeine-free streak lasted less than a month.

It ended when I read some nice things about green tea’s many healthy properties — things I had certainly read before, but this time, could use as an excuse to enjoy some caffeine in the morning. I guess I’m just not ready to part entirely with a caffeine habit yet — because I don’t see a reason to kick caffeine entirely. The switch from coffee to green tea has definitely lessened my mood swings and energy crashes — and I’m happy with the results as they are.

Perhaps twenty years from now, I’ll find a reason to quit green tea. For now, I’m slowly becoming a green tea connoisseur — so expect to see more fair trade, organic green tea reviews here.

One thing I’ve discovered so far: Back when I drank coffee, green tea never seemed to “do” anything in terms of a caffeine kick — the effect of the brew seemed no different than just water. Now, I not only feel the caffeine jolt — but also can feel the difference in the caffeine levels of cheaper, paper tea bag coffees and the more expensive, premium silk satchel bag or loose leaf coffees. The latter definitely gives you more of a kick!

Have you quit coffee — or tried to? What’s your story? And do you have a green tea to recommend?

Photo by Lynne Lowe/Flickr

Did you know yesterday was National Mai Tai Day? It’s been just over a year since I’ve had an alcoholic drink, but I honestly can’t remember the last time I had a Mai Tai — or any other frou frou cocktail. Sometime in my twenties, I decided those sugary, high-calorie drinks just weren’t worth the calories — or hangovers.

But I love the idea of tropical fruity cocktails — which still make me think of a deliciously decadent beach vacation (ah, the power of advertising). And this week, I’m rediscovering the taste of these treats — minus the sugar, fat and alcohol. How? Zhena’s Gypsy Tea.

This organic, fair trade company — which made me really sad by no longer making its delicious biodynamic green teas — is back with a perfect-for-summer tea line: Tropical green teas.

My favorite so far: Coconut Rum. Just pour hot water over this pretty sachet and you’ll be greeted with a luxurious coconut-meets-pineapple flavor, spiked with a hint of rum. It’s like a summer indulgence — with green tea antioxidants! I also liked the Berry Bellini — a more tart, fruity brew made with organic apples, orange and lemon peel, raspberries, and peach flavor.

I discovered those two at Evolue’s fundraiser party for Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep cosmetic safety database earlier this week — and I’m already looking forward to trying out the other three flavors: Mojito Mint, Strawberry Kiwi, and Papaya Mango. Want to try one of these cocktail-teas yourself? A tin of 22 sachets costs $6.99.

Earlier: Tasty teas — that are fair trade and organic too

Some love maca for its alleged libido-boosting effects. I just love the stuff because it’s sweet and yummy — especially when combined with chocolate. My favorite way to eat maca? Biting into the Chocolate Maca Chunk bar from Lulu’s Chocolate.

I discovered this organic, raw, vegan, handcrafted raw chocolate at Lightning in a Bottle, when I stopped by the Lulu’s Chocolate booth (below). Inside, visitors were invited to sit on cushions, sampling bites of the chocolates along with free tea.

After tasting the Chocolate Maca Chunk, I had to buy it. The bar brings together the best parts of two other Lulu’s Chocolate bars — The Maca Love Bar with its sweet maca taste and the Aztec Crunch with its high chocolate content and crunchy cacao nibs. Combined, they make the Chocolate Maca Chunk — a dreamy, melt-in-your-mouth raw treat made with 13 percent maca and 62 percent cacao, sweetened with Coconut Secret coconut crystals, and flavored with organic mesquite, vanilla bean, and sea salt.

The bars are smaller than most chocolate bars — which I think “right-sizes” the snack to prevent overindulging — though after finishing a bar, I immediately wanted more! Each 1-ounce bar has 142 calories. And all that yumminess comes wrapped in compostable natureflex with a recycled paper sleeve.

I regretted not buying more bars while at Lightning in a Bottle, but luckily found the bars again after I got home — this time at Erewhon, a popular natural foods store in Los Angeles! You can also find the bars at Euphoria Loves Rawvolution in Santa Monica — or buy them at Lulu’s Chocolate’s online store for $4.44 each.

Earlier:
>> Nicobella Munch: Get your organic, vegan, fair trade chocolate snack fix
>> Try new superfoods — or enjoy Raw Maqui Fudge Truffles

I’ve always loved everything coconutty — so I’m lucky that pretty much everything coconuts happens to be in favor with eco-foodies and nutritionists alike right now, which means lots of delicious coconut products are popping up on store shelves. Even coconut oil, much maligned in the past due to the over-processed, hydrogenated stuff that appeared as trans fats in cheap processed foods, has been resurrected as a healthier oil — if enjoyed in its delicious, unrefined form.

My favorite brand for coconut oil right now? Kelapo virgin coconut oil. It’s been my go-to oil since the company sent me a sample to try a while back. Kelapo’s coconut oil’s not only pure and unrefined but also certified organic and fair trade — and packaged in glass jars, unlike most of the plastic-wrapped coconut oils you’ll find in stores.

I know a lot of health foodies like to cook and bake with coconut oil, since it has a higher burning point than more common cooking oils like canola or olive oil. But I actually like to just eat coconut oil raw — in my morning green smoothies. The mellow nutty and creamy flavor makes the entire drink more decadent and delicious.

I’m not sure whether it’s due to the glass container or the oil itself, but Kelapo virgin coconut oil seems to have a lower melting point than other coconut oil brands I’ve tried. Now that the weather’s warm, my jar of coconut oil’s often an almost clear liquid! This actually makes smoothifying the oil better for me, since the liquid oil blends easier than solid chunks of coconut oil, which sometimes don’t always blend smooth if you’re using a regular blender (versus a Vitamix or other high-speed blender).

Here’s my favorite recipe for coconut oil, which I came up with to stay healthy and cool with this summer:

Cool Tropical Green Smoothie
1/2 – 1 c. coconut water, to taste
1 – 2 c. pineapple chunks (I like the fair trade ones from Whole Foods)
4 or so romaine lettuce leaves
1/2 to 1 cucumber, depending on size
2 tsp. coconut oil

Put all ingredients in a high-speed blender. Blend and enjoy! Okay — The photo of my smoothie looks kind of boring, but the green drink actually is packed with tropical flavor. Use more coconut water for a juicier drink, more fruits and veggies for a more filling smoothie.

The one downside of Kelapo virgin coconut oil? The stuff isn’t in a lot of stores yet (closest to L.A. is Pacific Ranch Market in Orange). But you can get the oil online — or try your chance at winning a Kelapo prize pack by sharing your best kitchen klutz story on the company’s blog today!

World Fair Trade Day rolls around again on May 14 — and this international celebration makes for a great time to stock up on fair trade goodies! Yes, fair trade products can be pricier than their conventional counterparts — but the producers get a fairer deal for their work, while you get high quality products that don’t make you worry about major labor abuses.

This month, lots of fair trade companies are offering discounts in celebration of World Fair Trade Day — so take advantage of them to get fair trade products at less than the price of conventional ones. Here are five deals to try:

1. Win $50 worth of fair trade chocolate. Enter the Fair Trade Week Giveaway @purecitizen for a chance to win an assortment of 12+ bars of fair trade chocolate from Equal Exchange, Divine, and Theo. Get your entry in by May 14.

2. Shop fair trade at CAFAM Global Bazaar. L.A.’s Craft and Folk Arts Museum’s going to turn its courtyard into a marketplace featuring handmade fair trade goods from around the globe. You’ll get to shop, talk with local artists, and learn about Fair Trade Los Angeles. That happens Sat., May 14 from 10 am to 5 pm at CAFAM, 5814 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.

3. Get free fair trade tweeting help. Ben & Jerry’s has put together a cute little tweeting app called FairTweets — that’ll automatically fill in whatever of the 140 characters remain in your tweet with a fair trade message.

4. Nibble on free fair trade treats in Pasadena by joining C.I.C.L.E.’s A Taste of Fair Trade Ride. First, you’ll learn bicycle shopping tips — then take off on a tour of Pasadena businesses that sell fair trade food and products. During the event, you’ll be treated to bananas, sweets, coffee, raffle prizes, and more. Meet up at 345 S. Lake Ave., Pasadena on Sat., May 21 at 10 am.

5. Nab a coupon for Divine Chocolate. Like fair trade company Divine Chocolate’s Facebook page for a coupon that will give you 10 to 20 percent off its web store.

6. Get 30% off fair trade organic lip balm. Eco Lips ONE WORLD lip balms — made with fair trade certified cocoa butter and organic ingredients — even come packaged in tubes made with 40 percent recycled material. Use the code FAIRTRADE2011 for your discount.

7. Win fair trade goodies by putting a “Wake Up the World” fair trade friendly sign (downloadable here) on your mug or banana, taking a photo of yourself, and sending it to socialmedia@fairtradeusa.org with your name, city and state. You’ll then be entered into a drawing to win Fair Trade goodies from Fair Trade USA.

8. Enjoy free fair trade treats at a fair trade event near you. Don’t live in the L.A. area? Search Fair Trade Resource Network’s list of many events happening throughout this month to find out what’s happening near you. Many feature delicious treats, giveaways, and raffle prizes — all fair trade, of course.

Image via Fair Trade Resource Network

Would you strip down to your undies — for a chance to run around in cleaner air? Young environmenalists are doing it. The eco-conscious underwear company PACT‘s latest pair of designs are called Beyond Coal and Kick Ash, so named to support Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign, which seeks to shut down dirty coal power plants. And those undies have become skimpy uniforms for the environmental cause!

So far, Miami University of Ohio and University of North Texas students have donned these undies — and close to nothing else — to get their administrations to get their schools off coal. Apparently, the pantless protests are making an impression. According to PACT, “Miami University of Ohio announced it would immediately begin reducing the amount of coal burned on campus and eventually eliminate it altogether” — less than a week after the almost-naked displays of environmentalism.

It’s too bad the UCLA undie run no longer exists, because the event could actually have some progressive meaning if it got some cute green underwear. The LA Beyond Coal campaign — which aims to get L.A. coal-free by 2020 as Villaraigosa promised (but the LA DWP isn’t totally on board with) — is in full swing. At CicLAvia earlier this month, there was even a Ride Against Coal bike parade (above at City Hall, before rolling down the streets) — though the costumes, I admit, were far tamer than the PACT-clad events. Here’s me right before the ride, getting sunburned in my new organic cotton Greenpeace T-shirt with Greenpeace organizer Jenny Binstock, in a difficult-to-understand but decidedly-against-coal pirate costume.

Want to do an undie run against coal yourself — whether publicly at the beach or in the privacy of your own bedroom? Get the organic cotton skivvies — designed by Yves Behar of FuseProject — for $18-$24 at PACT. A full 10 percent of what you spend will go towards Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign, so you can be proudly shake your money maker for a good cause.

And while you wait for those panties to arrive in the mail — Find out why exactly we want coal out of L.A. — by watching “Coal Coughman,” a.k.a. actor Michael Cornacchia, try to sell his great benefits in a recent visit to SoCal.

Top photo by Siel; bottom photo courtesy of Jenny Binstock

Green business conferences and expos seem to happen almost every weekend these days, but for fair trade advocates, there’s still just one major get together — the Fair Trade Federation Conference.

And this year’s event should be a fascinating one for anyone interested in the debates surrounding fair trade. An announcement by TransFair USA — a certifying organization for fair trade products in the U.S. — to change its name to Fair Trade USA sparked an outcry from some fair trade businesses and groups, who argue one organization can’t claim the phrase “fair trade” for itself. That debate has reignited a larger, long-running debate over the standards required for fair trade certification — and especially the use of fair trade certification logo by big corporations that critics say “fairwash” their entire brands by using only a token amount fair trade ingredients in a few products.

TransFair USA has indeed changed its name to Fair Trade USA — and engaged in the ongoing, sometimes-contentious, sometimes-friendlier debate. “At Fair Trade USA our definition [of fair trade] is simple,” the organization noted in an announcement about its name change. “For a product to bear our Fair Trade Certified label, all the ingredients in that product that can be certified Fair Trade will be.”

To its credit, the now Fair Trade USA has gotten some big corporations to make quite significant commitments to fair trade. From getting the Coca-Cola owned Honest Tea to go 100% fair trade for its 28 tea flavors, the Unilever-owned Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to go all fair trade by 2013, and the Kraft-owned Green & Blacks to go 100% fair trade — Fair Trade USA’s record in 2010 was marked with big victories.

That said, most of Coca-Cola, Unilever, and Kraft’s products are about as un-fair trade as you can get.

All the complicated fair trade debates will happen IRL at the Fair Trade Federation Conference, whose schedule includes not just the usual speakers and panels, but also debates (“Is the Fair Trade Movement hampered in its growth? Why or why not?” is one topic) and working groups (“Should we abandon the term “Fair” Trade?” is one question that’ll be discussed).

Put together by the Fair Trade Federation, a trade association for North American businesses fully committed to fair trade, the annual conference returns for 2011 from May 6 to 8 in Milwaukee. The three-day event will bring together fair trade entrepreneurs and businesses with advocates, students, and anyone curious about fair trade to network, discuss fair trade issues, and learn about the business of fair trade.

In addition to the schedule of events, the conference will feature a marketplace with more than 50 fair trade vendors. Conference fees range from $125 for students to $400 for the general public.

Freeze-dried fruit lovers: I’ve got an eco-ethical chocolate bar for you. Divine Chocolate’s 70% Dark Chocolate with Raspberries!

This rich dark chocolate bar’s studded with bright pink freeze dried raspberry granules that gives each square a sweetly tart fruity punch. Unlike the moist fresh fruitiness in Coco Zen’s truffles or the thick chewiness of most dried fruits, the freeze dried raspberry granules are little light airy morsels that seem to disappear in a little burst of tart flavor. The surprising effect had one dinner guest — we shared the chocolate bar for dessert — calling the chocolate bar astronaut food!

Astronauts would be lucky to have this decadent chocolate in their spaceship. As with all Divine Chocolate’s delicacies, the Dark Chocolate with Raspberries is made with fair trade cocoa, grown and harvested by a co-op of farmers in Ghana. In fact, the cocoa butter, sugar, and vanilla used in this chocolate bar is fair trade too — making the bar 96 percent fair trade certified.

Both berries and chocolate, as you know, are full of antioxidants — so if your New Year’s resolution is to enjoy more antioxidant rich foods, try your luck on winning a basketful of Divine Chocolate treats by letting the company know what your favorite Divine Chocolate is by Dec. 26. You can also stock up with a 3-pack of these bars for $10.79 from Divine’s web store, or buy the treats by the bar at Whole Foods, Nordstrom, and many other local stores.

Earlier:
>> nicobella vegan organic chocolate truffles: Decadence with antioxidants
>> TCHO: Pure dark chocolate made decadently flavorful
>> Taza Chocolate Mexicano Disc: Artisanal treat for sweet-toothed purists