DER SOMMER IST DA! GRASS ROUTES präsentiert AUF IN’S GRÜNE und lädt ein DESIGNER, LABELS, GLEICHGESINNTE

CRADLE TO CRADLE^{® #}Vortrag mit Mona Ohlendorf# 28.06.2010 20 UHR
Common Works, Pflügerstraße 18, 12047 Berlin

„ Cradle to Cradle^® kennt – wie die Natur – keinen Abfall, keinen Verzicht und keine Einschränkungen. Über biologische und technische Nährstoffkreisläufe werden die richtigen Materialien zum richtigen Zeitpunkt am richtigen Ort eingesetzt. Am Ende steht immer eine bessere Qualität. “ ( EPEA)

Durch den Vortrag leitet Mona Ohlendorf, die nicht nur in der Theorie des Cradle to Cradle^® Konzeptes zuhause ist, aber bereits auch aus eigenen praktischen Erfahrungen schöpfen kann.
In diesem Jahr lancierte sie erstmals ihre Kollektion aus Cradle to Cradle® optimierter Baumwolle und steht in enger Zusammenarbeit mit dem Forschungsinstitut EPEA, dessen Gründer Prof. Dr. Michael Braungart gleichzeitig auch Erfinder des Cradle to Cradle^®-Konzeptes („von der Wiege zur Wiege“) ist.

Im Anschluss bleiben Zeit für Fragen, Diskussionen und Austausch.
Da wie nur eine begrenzte Anzahl von Plätzen für diese Veranstaltung zur Verfügung haben, bitten wir euch im Vorab Bescheid zu geben,  ob ihr an der Veranstaltung teilnehmen möchtet.

BESCHAFFUNG IN GRÜN
Diskussionsplattform mit Marte Hentschel# CommonWorks; Lebenskleidung und Maren Bartz , Siebenblau#05.07.2010 #20 UHR
Common Works, Pflügerstraße 18,12047 Berlin

Die Frage auf welche Weise es auch kleineren Designern und Labels ermöglicht werden kann ökologische und fair gehandelte Stoffe problemlos einzukaufen und welche Hindernisse sich ihnen momentan bei der Beschaffung stellen, ist Hauptfokus der Diskussionsplattform. Beleuchtet wird die Thematik von Marte Hentschel, ein Teil von Common Works, der Modeagentur für umweltfreundliche und sozialverträgliche Modeproduktion; Lebenskleidung, die sich dem Vertrieb ökologisch und sozial produzierten Textilien und textilen Produkten aus Indien widmen und Maren Bartz, die in Ihrem Laden in Berlin-Pankow und in ihrem Online Shop öko- faire Stoffe verkauft. Diese Plattform schafft Raum bereits existierende Lösungsmodelle weiter zu entwickeln und Kooperationen zu bilden, die den Weg bereiten um bestehende Hindernisse gemeinsam zu nehmen.

LOKAL UND NACHHALTIG! MODEPRODUKTION IN BERLIN! #mit Akteuren aus der Berliner Textilproduktion# 12.07.2010#20 UHR
Kunstfabrik am Flutgraben, Flutgraben 3, 12435 Berlin

Das Forum bietet den verschiedenen Akteuren aus der Berliner Textilproduktion die Möglichkeit sich und ihre Vision einer nachhaltigen, lokalen Produktion vorzustellen und mit anderen Akteuren und Köpfen aus der Mode- und Textilszene zu teilen.
Der gemeinsame Wunsch; den Erhalt der lokalen Textilproduktion und deren Bedeutung für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung herauszustellen, steht im Vordergrund.

Das Forum bietet den Platz für Austausch zwischen Designern und Produzenten, zwischen Produzenten und Produzenten, Gleichgesinnten, Interessierten, Kreativen und Grünen Köpfen um gemeinsam einen nachhaltige, lokale Entwicklung voranzutreiben und zu neuen fruchtbaren Kooperationen zu inspirieren.

Grass Routes presents the Green City Tour

Thanks to perfect sunshine and a great mix of people from all over the world we could finally enjoy the first Green City Tour that took place last friday. Excited about what would wait for me I met everybody at the starting point, in front of the 2nd hand store right at Frankfurter Tor. Even though I followed the preparation for the Green City Tour as a project of Grass Routes , I did not exactly know where the Green City Tour would lead us exactly.

I got  very surprised by initiatives and projects that I had  never heard about before and I again felt Berlin’s routes as a city for many creative sustainable spirits.

The right place to have a Green City Tour like this.

We cycled along places in Friedrichshain, Kreuzberg and Prenzlauer Berg and next to exploring the diversity of sustainable places in Berlin, we also went pass historical sights watching them like many Berliner’s do on bikes.

To me the tour was a great inspiration and motivation on how there is always a way to improve things moving towards a more sustainable society and that all we need is creativity that is alive in each of us.

One of my favourites stops was Prinzessinnengarten, a concept of urban mobile agriculture. I got really inspired by the social business that has the vision of a future where every available space in big cities is used to let new green spaces bloom.

And soon neigbors might wonder about the radish embellishing my windows and .. I will be happy  to share it with them ,… !

Explore sustainable Berlin and join one of the next Green City Tours.

Become a friend on facebook !

Grass Routes Presents: The THEKEY.TO ACADEMY

THEKEY.TO and Grass Routes proudly present the THEKEY.TO ACADEMY, offering an in-depth, six day training program in sustainable fashion during Berlin Fashion Week. Key experts and opinion leaders in sustainable fashion will share their experience and provide profound knowledge and inspiration to keep up with and contribute to the momentum of green and sustainable fashion.

The advance training for industry professionals covers the topics of sourcing, production, certifications, CSR, branding, design, retail and social business. The ACADEMY is directed specifically at designers working independently, product managers, supply chain and CSR managers, marketing and communication teams and newcomers to the green fashion business. The 6-day program will be held in English language and has a focus on facilitating discussion and exchange between expert speakers and participants in small international groups.

Running alongside of THEKEY.TO, the international event for green fashion, sustainable lifestyle and culture, the ACADEMY is an opportunity for networking and grants access to the trade fair venue and its exciting side program.

Speakers include Peter Ingwersen [Noir, Denmark], Ulrike Möslinger [Galeries Lafayette, Germany], Dr. Otto von Bush [Göteborg University, Sweden], Ulrike Wollenschläger [Textil Wirtschaft, Germany], Rolf Heimann [Hessnatur, Germany], Simone Seisl [MADE-BY, Germany], Jens Soth [Helvetas, Switzerland], Jana Kern [Kernkommunikation, Germany], Tony Tonnaer [former CEO of Kuyichi, Netherlands], Claudia Helming [Dawanda, Germany], Satish Chukkapalli [Zameen, India], Bernd Hausmann [Glore, Germany], Noel Klein-Reesink [Karmakonsum, Germany], Kirsten Brodde [Author, Germany].

Limited places available. Apply now HERE to reserve your place!

How To Turn Waste Into Something Beautiful

According to the British Department for Environment (Defra) 2 million tonnes of textiles are consumed in the UK each year with approximately 50% destined for landfill. Of this over 1 million tonnes is clothing and 0.5 million tonnes is collected for reuse or recycling. Similar figures are true for Germany; the German organisation FairWertung estimates that German households dispose of approximately 1.5 million tonnes of textiles and clothing each year. This is a huge amount and doesn’t even include pre consumer waste, off-cuts and damaged fabrics that go to waste even before the new collections hit the stores.

Go Green Bag by Ecoist

But there is an increasing number of brands out there who utilise exactly this problem as the starting point for their collections. They give new life to unwanted clothing, disposed plastics and production leftovers. Among them are recycling pioneers From Somewhere and Junky Styling but also younger brands like Dirtball who make eco-friendly apparel for action sports, claiming that for every 100,000 pieces they produce they keep 700,000 water bottles out of landfills. English Retreads repurposes inner tubes collected from local truck stopps and turns them into eco-chic handbags and accessories. Ecoist works with major companies, such as Coca-Cola and Disney, and fashion and industrial designers to make handbags and other products from post-industrial waste, thereby preventing millions of candy wrappers from ending up in landfills. Mia fuses recycled second-hand clothing, that is imported from Europe and the US to be sold on Malawian street markets, with traditional Malawian textiles.

All of these brands convincingly demonstate that something that most of us would just regard as useless waste can actually be turned into something beautiful. Waste can reveal a huge potential and economic value if we rethink the way we deal with it. This is also the opinion of a research programme called The Waste of the World that examines how rethinking waste impinges on some of the core concerns of contemporary social science.

Every Leather Boot kills an Amazon Tree

Leather just a waste product? An interesting report by Greenpeace shuffles up the discussions on Leather. Even among sustainability experts, leather is often regarded as a waste product of the meat industry, and so sustainable shoe designers often work with vegetable tanned leather.

Greenpeace directly attacks the fashion industry, and makes them co-responsible for the immense destruction of Amazon forests for the meat and leather industry. Also, and especially, those that are “Made in Italy”.

In a recent blog post, shoe company Terra Plana states, that “it’s the fashion industry, rather than the meat one, that is driving an increase in cattle farming”. For Terra Plana, known to have a progressive sustainable policy, this is a reason to focus more and more on non-leather alternatives. An interesting standing point that provokes other sustainable footwear companies to take standing as well.

There are some organic leather projects, but most “sustainable leather” isn’t organic, it’s just about the tanning. So, if this is all true, what should be the alternative? Vegan shoes? Salmon leather? Barefoot? Cradle to cradle shoes? Just some less rainforest for your next fashion item?

Ethical Fashion – what does the future hold?

I met Frans on his recent trip to London, when he visited the Ethical Fashion Forum, that I currently support as a volunteer. And this is my first contribution to the grass routes blog, hope you enjoy it.

Yesterday I went to the Ethical Fashion Forum’s monthly social networking event, which this time focused on ‘Ethical Fashion: What does the future hold?’. It was hosted by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) in their lovely ethical fashion pop up shop on Carnaby Street. A perfect location to talk about green fashion surrounded by green fashion!

Almost 80 people – quite an increase from only 12 in January – joined in for this event, which started off with three inspiring presentations. EJF held a passionate speech about their latest campaign on climate refugees. Think Act Vote inspired us to think positively about our future and the votes we cast, and invited everybody to participate in their campaign by telling them what future you choose. And Forum for the Future introduced us to their Fashion Futures 2025 report.

I had already read the Fashion Futures report a month ago, but was again impressed with its thought-provoking scenarios of the world in 2025 and the role of the fashion industry within it. A world where resource shortages, climate change and population increase will challenge companies and consumers to explore new paths. I’d encourage everybody to have a look at the report or watch the animations as they are really inspiring and beautifully-designed.

After that much food for thought, most people treated themselves to a glass of organic wine, which also helped to encourage them to style themselves in ethical fashion and have their picture taken as part of an Ethical Fashion Photo Shoot. A lot of attention was drawn by Goodone’s beautifully designed dresses and tops, made from recycled garments mixed with end of line virgin cloth. I was tempted to buy one of the dresses myself, first because it really looked georgeous, second because I like Goodone’s approach of collaborating with retailers and big brands to create solutions for reusing or minimising their waste by turning it into beautiful clothes.

Whoever plans a trip to London is very welcome to join us at one of the next networking events every last Thursday each month!

Green Aid: Guerrilla Gardening for Everyone

You’ve just got this irresistible feeling to do some guerrilla gardening but forgot to bring your seed balls? No worries! The green aid project have started to sell them via candy machines so you can easily green up your neighbourhood with a simple grab-and-go.. The life of an gardening guerrilla have never been so easy!

Via Farmblogger

Empowering a New Spirit in Business

Karmakonsum, the german blog and agency for sustainable lifestyle and business, is organizing it’s next Karmakonsum Konferenz, a business conference and networking event in Frankfurt am Main on the 25th of June 2010.

Next to a conference, the event hosts a green camp and an exhibition of sustainable businesses. The event will also present the winners of the Karmakonsum Start-Up Award, for which one can still apply untill the 24th of April.

Topics on the conference cover social banking, social web and sustainability, eco sex, slow food, and different spiritual and sustainability visions on leadership and business.

The conference is organized by Christoph Harrach and Noel Klein Reesink (see pic), two good friends from the LOHAS szene who will definately rock a good spirit for the event.

I’ll do my very best to be there, so let’s have some new spirit in business and see us in June!

Die Regenbogenfabrik

Last week I visited a great project in Kreuzberg : die Regenbogenfabrik, a center for children, culture and neighbourhood.

As in many berliner houses, you enter the portal and arrive in a courtyard. But this one is much nicer than any other one : in one blick, you see the colorful painted walls, the playground for children and you get immediately an idea of what you can find here, thanks to the inscriptions «carpenters workshop », «ceramic workshop », « guest rooms », « cimema », …

This old factory has been occupied since 1981 by the West-Berliners “Squatters for Redeveloping Movement” : they criticized the inhumane building-policy in Kreuzberg. Today, 35 people still live there, although the center has grown and is now much broader than the housing-community.

The whole site was entirely renovated by the people themselves and on voluntary base, with almost no public subsidies. They renovated the buildings, built new ones, constructed a playground, and, as the site was chemically polluted, cleaned it.

The ecological dimension is as present as possible : the inhabitants compost the organic wastes and order collectively organic food. Organic food is served in the canteen. And about energy, rainwater is collected and the center is equipped with a cogeneration, a system that produces combined heat and power.

The center has definitely a social and neighbour dimension, as this place is open to everyone, thanks to the childrens activities and the workshops. For instance, the carpenters workshop is a space where women or men can come, use the tools and make their own wooden objects. Same idea for the bicycle workshop. Here you don’t just give your bicycle for reparation : you repair it yourself, but you have all the means, and if necessary some help, at your disposal.

The Regenbogenfabrik is also a cultural center, as many concerts take place here. The center has its own cinema : beside a children-cinema, the programmation is non-commercial, based on themes and oriented to cinema-fans. The films are mainly in original version – which is often not the case in Berlin.

You really feel welcome in this Regenbogenfabrik. You even can stay there for a night as there are guestrooms. Or, if you just come along, have a drink in the cafe or go for a lunch in the canteen! This is a great « Rainbow-Factory  »!!!

London Recap

Friday night I spent with the Latvian-Japanese crew of London Trousers (picture), a young, high end jeans brand who run their office from the rooftop bar of the Hospital Club, a membership club for the creative industries. I like the art work around London Trousers a lot, and one wouldn’t guess in the first place that their jeans are produced with organic cotton.

On Saturday I payed short visits to the boutiques Equa and Ascension and later in the day came to the opening of the Pop Up Store of the Environmental Justice Foundation, a three floor store & event space in high street. Located at 57 Carnaby street, it will be still open in the coming six weeks for shopping and a row of events. There I met with Ben from Pants to Poverty, the world leading anti-poverty underwear brand…

In the afternoon I had a walk, and accidently met a group of about fifteen community gardeners, who where just building a garden at a channel side. I joined them for a while to help, and got invited for  a lovely lunch and tea on a boat house. With all the stress and speed of the city, it felt great to meet people who where so open and spent their day building a garden in public space.

Slow sweet slow.

One Day of Ethical Fashion in London

London can surely be named one of the key cities in the world when it comes to green or – the British way – ethical fashion. I’ve just arrived last night and as the speed in London is accelerated, so has been my day…

- Starting with a nice stay at the home base of Sven, founder of the shoe brand Po Zu, one of the most innovative sustainable shoe brands on this planet. Recently, the brand is getting forward pretty well and you’ll definitely hear more of them soon..

- This morning I visited the launch of the Considerate Design Project by Professor Sandy Black, author of The Fashion Paradox and Director of the Centre for Fashion Science of the London College of Fashion. The project is aimed to create a technical breakthrough for new ways of mass customization, and combines technical and online innovations to offer new forms of customized production and in that way supporting the production of products that fit the consumer as a real alternative to the excesses of mass production.

- Lunch with Judith Condor Vidal from Trading for Development, who I’ve met a few years ago in Kenya and who’s working to promote fair trade in fashion for many years and a great linkage between small, fair trade projects in the south and the European market, and sustainable think tank thinker and blogger Sarah Ditty.

- On my way I passed on of the pop up stores of the sustainable shoe brand Terra Plana and the Junky Styling boutique. Junky Styling has been a pioneer in upscale recycling fashion and they’re selling their unique pieces all over the world now.

- For tea time I moved to the headquarters of the Ethical Fashion Forum at Rich Mix, who share a cosy stuffed office space with underwear label Pants to Poverty and the shoe brand Worn Again.

- This evening I visited the Ethical Fashion Social. A networking evening regularly organized at the showroom of the Foundation Agency, the major distribution agency for ethical fashion in the UK, with brands like Kuyichi, Komodo and Article 23 on board. Next to mingling, the evening hosted the presentation of three interesting fair trade projects, The Big Swap, a successful consumer campaign in the UK, the presentation of fair trade certified jewelry brand Cred, and the interesting story of the fair trade Panama hat company Pachacuti.

After one day of meetings, I get the feeling there’s a lot going on and the issue is still pretty vibrant. And, in London, the ethical fashion community is more and more interconnected with the mainstream fashion business.

To be continued…

- image by Po Zu -

Green Fashion Event THEKEY.TO Shows Over 50 Designers at Berlin Fashion Week

Successfully launched in July 2009 in Berlin, the new International Event for Green Fashion and Sustainable Lifestyle THEKEY.TO arises now to its second edition: THEKEY.TO SHIFT, from January 20th to 23rd 2010. As part of the Berlin Fashion Week, THEKEY.TO is the first event of its kind in Germany, entirely and exclusively focused on stylish sustainable fashion. Half a year after it’s launch, it already counts as one of the largest green fashion events worldwide.

Over 50 exhibitors representing this new generation will come from all over the world to take part in the second edition (Germany, France, Denmark, Portugal, Switzerland, United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Sweden, Italy, Poland, Austria, Canada, USA). THEKEY.TO will gather a wide selection of the hippest and most contemporary upscale green brands alongside casual and street wear labels and a variety of innovative bags and footwear.

The Shift Sessions will feature a press conference and forum titled The Key to Shift and a series of diverse workshops focused on an active interchange of culture, information and visions among international experts, the press and the green community around the main topic of sustainability. The full program can found here: http://thekey.to/program/

As one of the Founders, I am glad that this Grass Routes initiated project is growing strong now, and look forward to the upcoming event. In February, the Grass Routes blog will be re-launched after a period of silence. We keep you updated!

Image: Van Markoviec

Grass Routes Presents: thekey.to, International Event for Green Fashion & Culture in Berlin

thekey.to is the new international fair for green fashion and sustainable lifestyle. Between 1st and 4th July 2009, a selection of sustainable fashion labels ranging from street-wear to high fashion will be on display in Berlin. The chosen brands are pioneers in fair and ecological production and will showcase innovative design combined with the very highest quality.

The fair itself shows a new direction: all display furniture will be made of impeccably sustainable materials. Thanks to its unique architecture concept, the event will be able to be nearly 100% recycled. And the fair will be about more than fashion. With slow-food gastronomy, sustainable design, organic beauty, cultural highlights, fashion shows, workshops and parties, thekey.to presents the entire progressive lifestyles spectrum.

This event is organized by Gereon Pilz von der Grinten and Rostislav Komitov (creative agency fairactivities) with Frans Prins (Grass Routes Foundation). To put it into Gereon’s words: “global trendsetters today want style with background and a committed attitude. This is exactly what is offered by thekey.to. We are presenting progressive and innovative designs, green avant-garde, which are set to bring about a fashion and lifestyle revolution for the future.”

Frans explains that “thekey.to is the first event to present the whole spectrum of this visionary consumer movement. Designers and buyers in this developing market will gain from the fair an early vision of the latest developments, as well as a place to network and develop ideas. With this event we revolutionize our culture itself. We no longer need lifestyles that destroy our nature and neglect our social values, we need lifestyles based on real sustainability and a sense of quality. thekey.to will be a forum for sustainability. Berlin’s creative climate makes it the ideal city for this fair. Together with Berlin Fashion Week and Bread&Butter, thekey.to will strengthen Berlin as a key fashion spot.”

Between 1st and 3rd July, the fair is reserved for accredited fair professionals and press. 4th July is public day, where visitors can get informed and buy products. The location will be kept a secret from the public up until two weeks before the opening: “we want to increase the excitement, to provoke people in a positive way and to realise an exclusive event”, explains Gereon, “thekey.to is the key to an open door.”

Picture: thekey.to founders Frans Prins, Gereon Pilz van der Grinten and Rostislav Komitov.

Earth Hour: Largest Climate Action Ever

This Saturday the largest global climate change action ever will take place. 2,140 cities, towns and municipalities in 82 countries have already committed to VOTE EARTH for Earth Hour 2009, “as part of the worlds first global election between Earth and global warming.”

For the first time in history, people of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote – Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global warming. WWF are urging the world to VOTE EARTH and reach the target of 1 billion votes, which will be presented to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009.

Let’s see how far we can bring it… 1 billion people joining one action is quite LARGE…

How: switch off your lights for one hour

When: Saturday 28th of March, 8:30PM local time, wherever you live on planet earth. Saturday 28 March 2009

via: Sustainablog

World Water Day: Is Blue The New Green?

Today it’s World Water Day. We all know how important water is for life. Still, the process of privatization of water resources and exploitation of precious water areas for commercial use are ongoing. Who owns and has access to water is predicted to be one of the major topics for this century.

How much water is used to produce your T-shirt? The amount of water used to irrigate cotton is greater than that of all the households worldwide.

Some people say “Blue is the new Green”. This might be true, and the water issue is extremely important to ecology, but it can also become just the new toy for marketing gurus to play with. As green has gone mainstream, blue is just the next thing. Therefore I liked the statement of Nick Rosen who recently told Ode Magazine, that the environmental movement should choose brown as their new color, because the color and the word brown are harder to make sexy.

According to Rosen, green was a word that stood for an era of less materialism and zero growth. “It took us a long time to establish the word, but now it has been hijacked by the people we were trying to distinguish ourselves from. Manufacturers, advertisers, marketeers: They pretend we can live on with our lives the way we did, as long as we check the label. They have made ‘green’ into a fashion item. Now everything is green.” So, brown is the new green . Wait a minute, how many colors are there in the rainbow?

I think the answer is different. Look at the earth, what do you see? Blue. Green. White. Black. Brown. We don’t need a simple color to advertise sustainability. We need awareness and action. And we need to build this movement together, manufacturer, marketeer or old school eco hippy, those distinctions are from yesterday. What counts is what responsibility you take and how you live it.

Also see:

Worldwaterday in Berlin

Blue Planet Project

Do You Design “Open” Already?

Over the last years, Open Source Software has developed from a playground for hackers towards something defining for the mainstream market. But as there’s more areas where copyrights play an important role, there’s more work to do…

Nowadays music, culture, science, agriculture are all frontlines for heavy patent and copyright battles, a struggle between corporations interests and those of smaller organizations, farmers, musicians, and consumers. Often here it’s really about life or death, if medicins are available or not, if one single company can own the copyright of a species or of human DNA.

A lot of young people have grown up witha free availability of information, and apply this towards everything non-material. The future lies in open source and free access, because it’s in the mindset of the youth.

Now, here in Berlin there’s an active open source scene of webdevelopers and people from the cultural scene exchanging their vision and work in this field. Their mission is to create platforms for open collaboration.

Next Thursday in the Newthinking Store there’s a workshop on OPEN DESIGN, organized by Creative Commons and Open Everything, and as their aim is creative collaboration, there might follow a lot of interesting projects.

One of the first collaborations form the designer corner was the cooperation of Open Source Fashion Label Pamoyo and the theatre company Gutestun, with the Open Source Theatre Performance Copy Me (video), which had a premiere in Bordeaux and recently showed in Berlin.

I think there’s a lot of potential for this issue and we will hear more of this. But where’s the fashion scene hiding?

See also:

TAZ article on Copy Me

Nike and Creative Commons

Berlin Vista Social Bar

Wertvoll: New Eco Fashion Store in Berlin

Wertvoll is a new eco fashion store opening it’s doors in Berlin. They advertise with “an innovative and consequent fair trade concept”.

The store hosts a fine selection of eco brands for women, with designer fashion and Germany made knitwear but also brands like Kuyichi, Beyond Skin and the underwear label G98.

Wertvoll is founded by the two young Berliner fashion designers Judith Finsterbusch and Monika Lesinski.

For those interested, the opening of Wertvoll is at Friday 27. March from 2pm.

As also Glore is starting activities here in Berlin this summer, and some more surprises are foreseen, Berlin finally takes it’s steps towards the Berlin summer of love, peace & eco fashion.

The Future of Food

Just food for thought. Watch out: might be a bit radical for your mind. The rest of the film on you tube.

I am going out in the sunshine and play with my daugther… and get some earth and seeds…

via Sound of Sirens

Humana – People to Profit

“People to people” is their slogan. And considering the accusation of Humana being a cult, this slogan gets a slightly different sound. While you think you post your old clothes to charity when donating them to the Humana box, you might actually support a fraudulent cult that exploits both volunteers and people in development countries.

According to Tvind Alert, a Humana critical site, “it’s pyramidal structure, strict heirarchy, all-powerful leader, millennial goals, secretive nature and hostility to outsiders all match classic descriptions of a cult. Under the name ‘Tvind’ or ‘Humana’, it is listed as a cult by the French and Belgian governments and many cult watchdog groups around the world.” The organization also operates under the names “Planet Aid” and “Gaia”.

Peterson, founder of the organisation, has been disappeared for 22 years, and catched by the FBI while living in a Humana funded billionaire’s house near Miami. After courts in Denmark, he’s on the run again and since Jaunary 2009 on the list of Interpol.

The clothing collection is a profitable business. While the textiles are collected for free, the best pieces are sold in second hand stores, and the rest shipped to Africa to sell on the local markets. According to some specialists, the dumping of second hand clothing in developing countries has had a crushing effect on local economies. This is not a Humana problem alone, also more credible NGO’s have been involved in this process. Also, specialists don’t have one standing point there and some still state that sending clothing as aid works.

So, what to do with your next clothing dump? I suggest: organize a clothes swapping party. It’s much fun and you know where your clothes go. And with the rest? Also an NGO label on the container doesn’t give you any guarantee that your clothes are not gonna be sold on a profitable base. In Germany, the organization FairWertung informs about credible organizations and which containers to trust. In the future, I hope I can just bring my old clothes to the nearby climateneutral cradle-to-cradle machine and get fresh underwear out on demand. But yeah, until then we have to cradle to cradle with our bare hands…

also see: Kirstin Brodde, Korrekteklamotten, Sebastian Backhaus

Karmakonsum Goes Social Business

Where last years Karmakonsum Konferenz had a primary focus on LOHAS and marketing, this year the program has a stronger focus on social business, with speakers like Hans Reitz (Mohammed Yunus right-hand) and Peter Spiegel from the GENISIS, a Greencamp that also puts the topic of social entrepreneurship more into light.

Also a special “Sartup Awards” for startup green and social entrepreneurs celebrate their first edition with a Gala party. Startups can apply here until the 19th of April. The winner get’s a price worth 30.000 Euro in business coaching, advertising space and green office equipment.

It is interesting to see that the “LOHAS” topic itself is slightly moving out from the spotlights, and that Christoph and Noel have looked for topics that could be an answer to current economic events.

The Greencamp is organized in the tradition of a Barcamp; which is an open conference form where participants decide together over the program and where everyone can offer a workshop. While the conference has it’s price, the Greencamp and Awards Gala are are free of charge. What about really camping somewhere with the visitors of the camp?

Impressions from last years Karmakonsum conference: