The Green

This week on THE GREEN, we are dressing up people who like organic clothes and we are looking behind the manikin of fashion companies that care about the environment. Clothing is a very important product to consider in the sustainable limelight because it's simply everywhere. Clothing is also central to one's identity. Often what you wear to the 'big' interview can have as much impact as what you say during it. What is the difference between an office with a formal dress code and one with casual clothes? For that matter, should school and athletic uniforms be required to be green?

The ethical implications of clothing production come into play here as well; everyone has heard about the sweatshop and even slave-labor conditions of some clothing manufacturers. There are simply no incidences of this conduct in the sustainable clothing market, as the people who make said clothing simply will not stoop to these draconian business practices.

As we find out on THE GREEN, organic and sustainable clothing is not only produced in harmony with nature, but is also created free of chemicals that can be harmful when wearing clothing. There are good reasons that all undergarments are made from natural products like cotton or silk. Without further preamble, here are some useful links to illuminate this week's content on THE GREEN.

As always, if you find some lacking depth or just plain disagree, login to Sundance Channel and take those notions into our green discussion area. [www.sundancechannel.com]

BIG IDEAS FOR A SMALL PLANET: WEAR

Before describing to you in flowery terms as to why you should love this episode, please check out the following BIG IDEAS webisode that has some exclusive clips you can only get on the Sundance Channel website.



Now that you are once again in love with Robert Downey Jr. and are itching to find Linda Loudermilk clothing [www.lindaloudermilk.com], you should know that tonight, may 8th, on THE GREEN, you will get to learn a lot more about Linda Loudermilk and her inspirational clothing line.

BIG IDEAS FOR A SMALL PLANET also covers some other major areas of the clothing industry. You have clothing production as seen through Patagonia's [www.patagonia.com] recent environmentally-friendly line. It's pretty amazing that a hard plastic bottle I drink from can be recycled into a soft-fabric fleece jacket that can keep someone warm through the winter.

Next up on the BIG IDEAS agenda is clothing reusing, as seen through the inventive Swap-O-Rama-Rama [www.swaporamarama.org] events. This is a creative event where you drop off your old clothing and if you want to, you can actually learn to sew and make your own clothing by combining other people's old clothing into something new.

There is so much in a BIG IDEAS FOR A SMALL PLANET episode, it's simply shocking. I cannot even fit it all into one blog post, so pull out a pillow for your chair and check out our eco-videos [www.sundancechannel.com] so you can see for yourself how much hope there still is for this world.

We encourage all of you to come back soon and get more amazing blog, I know it can be too stimulating for your senses but it's also good for your soul.