Tees for Change was recently started here in Boulder, Colorado. We asked Andreea, the founder to share a little bit about her company and how she is making a difference through conscious capitalism.

~ Mark

What is Tees for Change?

Tees For Change is a yoga-inspired apparel company dedicated to the power of positive thinking. Adorned with phrases such as ‘choose happiness,’ ‘seek balance,’ ‘practice kindness’ and ‘today matters,’ our organic cotton and bamboo shirts remind you to live life to the fullest.
Why did you start Tees for Change?
I started Tees For Change because I wanted to remind myself to think positively. I wanted to combine my love for organic and eco friendly living with my experience in marketing and with my love for positive thinking.

I noticed that you said you plan to change the world. How do you see that happening with Tee shirts?
I hope the tees will bring about change at many levels:

• the person wearing the shirt – their mind shifts when they think about ‘today matters,’ for example. What does it mean to them?

• the people who see someone wear our shirts – what does ‘seek balance’ mean to them? I hope it gets them to think about what the words on the shirts mean. There’s often an inner conversation that subconsciously happens when you see a tee with our messages

• the people manufacturing the shirts – by supporting organic farming, we help protect the people who grow and harvest our cotton and bamboo. They don’t breathe in all the nasty chemicals and pesticides that conventional cotton uses.

• the environment – by using sustainable materials we help protect our environment and we also plant a tree for every tee we sell

What inspires you to live the change everyday?

I am inspired by people who do good things and people who want to make a difference. I am inspired when someone who buys our shirts writes a thank you note and tells me how the tees have made a change in his/her life. I am inspired by the people I come in contact with through Tees For Change. My family and friends inspire me.

Where can I buy Tees for Change?
You can check out our list of retailers at www.teesforchange.com and also on our website. We’re currently in almost 50 yoga studios and boutiques across the country.

What are your most popular Tees?
Anything with ‘choose happiness’, ‘practice kindness’ and ‘live mindfully’.

What are your Tees made from?
Our tees are made from 100% organic cotton or 70% bamboo/30% organic cotton mix. They are also dyed with low impact dyes and screen-printed with water-based inks.

What’s the Global Releaf cause that Tees for Change is involved with?
We’ve partnered with Global Releaf to plant a tree for every shirt we sell through our website. For each tee we sell we donate $1 and Global Releaf uses our donation to plant tree across the United States and the globe.

Thanks Andreea! We look forward to seeing your Tees all over Boulder.

Tees for Change

If you know of other conscious businesses, community non-profits, projects, events and local community supporters around Boulder that would be interested in sharing their stories please send us an e-mail or share it yourself in our discussion areas.

Honda is going to make its cars stand out from its other Honda models.  This is good for the hybrid market.  I drive a Prius and I absolutely love it.  I didn’t even get to the Honda dealer when I was looking because driving the Prius was just that good of an experience.  Honda is going to have a challenging time creating a better experience than driving the Prius.  It was an obvious buy for our family as I now have a 30 minute commute to work.

Our Prius is a beautiful ocean pearl color.  We chose this color as a reminder of the ocean that was so a part of our life on Kauai.  We are closing in on it’s first 1000 miles and I’m not one for a lot of driving yet every  time I drive it it feels fun.  It’s light and nimble, accelerates quickly and stops quickly.

If any of you have driven a Prius we would love to hear about your experiences.

1. Compact fluorescent lightbulbs

These energy-efficient bulbs cost less than $4 and are produced by major corporations like GE. If every household in America switched five regular light bulbs for five fluorescent bulbs, it would be the equivalent of taking 1 million cars off the highways for a full year.

2. Outdoor solar lighting

These yard or patio lights cost less than $20, and they don’t burn any electricity or produce any CO2.

3. Programmable thermostats

Though these thermostats cost from $50 to $100, they can actually cut your heating and cooling costs. Set the setting so it’s a little bit cooler in the winter and warmer in the summer when you’re not in the house. A difference of 2 degrees can reduce a home’s CO2 emissions by up to 9 percent over the course of a year.

4. Air filters

Changing the air filters in your heating and cooling systems regularly can knock 2 percent off of your CO2 output each year.

Don’t Miss

• Oprah.com: What your family can do today to go green
• Oprah.com: Al Gore delivers the green truth
• Oprah.com: Explore Earth like never before

5. Electric water heater blanket

Water heaters use a lot of energy and generate a lot of CO2. A blanket costs less than $18 and can cut your home’s CO2 emissions by almost 4½ percent.

Keep green in mind!

Children in Gudda stand on rooftops near a solar panel. Solar power first arrived two years ago.

“When the lanterns first arrived, the villagers asked, ‘What is this?’ ” says Hanuman Ram, the local solar engineer. “I explained to them how it worked. Then slowly, as people saw it, they said, ‘Wow, what a thing this is!’ ”

There are no real roads that lead to the tiny village in the state of Rajasthan in northwestern India, home to about 100 families. There are only thin strips of tar dotted with massive potholes that force vehicles into thick brush. Other times, cars have to maneuver over just dirt.

There is no electricity — power lines don’t extend out here. Water is scarce, too. At the village well, women balance jugs of water on their heads, deftly evading the livestock that saunters along. Visit the sites of Gudda with CNN’s Arwa Damon »

It’s a simple lifestyle of farming, tending to goats, caring for children and carrying out household chores — a daily routine that hasn’t changed much over the centuries.

That’s why light transformed Gudda. Villagers could play music at night. Children could study well past sundown. Watch villagers smile as they light their solar lamps »

As Yamouna Groomis kneads dough for her family’s evening meal, she blows through a pipe every once in a while to keep a flame burning in an outdoor clay pit. Her days used to end when the sun went down. She smiles as she proudly flicks on a solar lamp.

About Gudda

• Location: Gudda is about 300 miles southwest of Delhi
• Population: About 500 people live in the village
• Work: Most residents are farmers and sheep breeders
• Main crop: Millet
• Other facts: Water is scarce and there is no power except for solar electricity

“When I saw this light coming on for the first time, I was very happy,” she says.

The light is powered by a solar panel on her roof that charges a battery. Panels can be seen on almost every rooftop in Gudda. See where Gudda is located »

Ram, the man credited with the transformation, doesn’t have a high school degree. But he did attend an institution about an hour away called Barefoot College, established 35 years ago with an emphasis on helping India’s rural population find solutions for their problems among themselves.

The college, in part funded by the Indian government, trains villagers all over India who have little or no education, giving them a range of skills to change their lives. The entire campus, which has amenities such as a library, meeting halls, open-air theater and labs, uses solar power.

On a recent visit to the main college campus, a group of village women were hard at work making solar cookers, which can boil a liter of water in eight minutes. They are part of the “Women Barefoot Solar Cooker Engineers Society” — six women who came together and started their own business.

Barefoot College serves an outlying community of 125,000 people. In a nearby village, women flock to a water desalinization and purification plant set up by the college and maintained by Barefoot graduates. The station, powered by solar panels, provides the area with a rare commodity: clean drinking water.

Don’t Miss

• In Depth: Planet in Peril
• Barefoot College

At the local store in Gudda, owner Ram Swarup puts his solar panels to maximum use. He says the solar lights have allowed him to increase his business by a third. The panels also have powered up the only DVD player and television in the village.

Partly paralyzed by polio, Swarup never dreamed that he would have so much in life. He says it took courage — and light. The villagers say that they now feel empowered — less reliant on a far-off government.

Even the village’s engineer is amazed. At Ram’s house, the solar lamps flicker to life. He smiles as he says that before, he didn’t even know what artificial light was, and now, he’s a solar power expert.

“I never saw light before,” he says. “How could I think that I could bring light here?”

Like most of the Barefoot graduates, he was selected to attend the college by his village elders. Now, every night when the lights flicker on, he says, he feels great.

With the extra earnings he’s made as a solar engineer, he’s made another of his childhood dreams come true. He purchased his favorite instrument, a harmonium, and now the family can gather around every night and listen to his music.

He says he hopes his daughter, now 14 years old, will follow in his footsteps and become a solar engineer. Ram’s 80-year-old mother, meanwhile, beams with pride about her son’s accomplishments: “I just wanted him to do something good for the village.”

Organic and Sustainable Cotton growing in India. This video highlights Gaiam’s source for organic cotton.
Check out more Eco-Living at Gaiam

To meet the voter mandate of reducing greenhouse gases by 80 percent by 2050, Berkeley officials propose:
Bus passes for apartment dwellers and eventually for everyone. Landlords would be allowed a small rent increase (equal to $7 per month in today’s costs) to pay for tenants’ passes; funding of passes for all residents has not been identified.
Increased incentives to install solar panels, especially for water heaters.
Mandatory green building requirements, such as using recycled materials, even for small residential projects.
Strict energy efficiency requirements for all new buildings, resold homes and renovations requiring permits. Older appliances would be have to be replaced, insulation upgraded and added to walls, windows upgraded and garages equipped with outlets for electric cars.

Link for more…

I pledge

1. To demand that my country join an international treaty within the next two years that cuts global warming pollution by 90 percent in developed countries and by more than half worldwide in time for the next generation to inherit a healthy earth;

2. To take personal action to help solve the climate crises by reducing my own C02 pollution as much as I can and offsetting the rest to become ”carbon neutral”;

3. To fight for a moratorium on the construction of any new generating facility that burns coal without the capacity to safely trap and store the C02;

4. To work for a dramatic increase in the energy efficiency of my home, workplace, school, place of worship, and means of transportation;

5. To fight for laws and policies that expand the use of renewable energy sources and reduce dependence on oil and coal;

6. To plant new trees and to join with others in preserving and protecting forests; and,

7. To buy from businesses and support leaders who share my commitment to solving the climate crises and building a sustainable, just and prosperous world for the 21st century.

Enjoy the beach in this great Anna Cohen Bikini from BTC Elements

Sassy teal triangle top string bikini from sustainable designer Anna Cohen. How is it earth friendly? The fabric is a ‘mill end,’ polyester and lycra blend, leftover from the making of Olympic speed skater uniforms. Features low rise, side tie bottoms. Neck and back ties. Less coverage. Quick drying and fade resistant. Unlined.

Created using surplus mill end fabric

Made in Portland, Oregon

Anna Cohen is a Portland based designer with a vision; cutting edge fashion married with sustainability. Cohen spent several years in New York City and Italy, where she studied and worked with Patrizia Pepe, MaxMara, and Guess. The Anna Cohen line is manufactured domestically and is created out of organic cotton, sustainable bamboo, and surplus mill-end fabrics. When she isn’t changing the world one sexy garment at a time, Cohen teaches apparel design to inner city youth, speaks fluent Italian, and salsa dances. What a woman.

Get yours at BTC Elements

BTC Elements is an on line store featuring sustainable products fashion destination featuring everything from clothing and accessories to housewares. BTC Elements has beautiful items available for your fashionably conscious sustainable lifestyle.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is expected to announce on Tuesday that he will order the city’s entire taxi fleet be converted to gas-electric hybrids by 2012, sources close to the mayor told CNN.

According to the sources, Bloomberg will instruct Matthew Daus, the commissioner of the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, to begin a cycle of replacement that will see 20 percent replaced each year until all of the city’s approximately 13,000 taxis are hybrids in 2012.

In the summer of 2005, the commission approved six models of hybrids for use on city streets. The vehicles include three SUVs — the Toyota Highlander, Lexus RX 400H and Ford Escape — and three four-door sedans — the Toyota Prius, Honda Accord and Honda Civic.

 Source

The worst effects of global warming can be blunted if average people make lifestyle changes that conserve energy and if the world’s nations show the political will to address the problem, a panel of international scientists said Friday.

Link to the article

What actions can we take now to slow global warming?

This is an awesome house! John Schaeffer is the founder of Real Goods, part of the Gaiam family of eco-conscious products
Eco-Living at Gaiam

Communities Uniting for Climate Action Now!

This April 14th, tens of thousands of Americans will gather all across the country at meaningful, iconic places to call for action on climate change. We will hike, bike, climb, walk, swim, kayak, canoe, or simply sit or stand with banners of our call to action.

Visit the Step It Up website for more…

Mandala in Sanskrit means circle. They are very meditative and creating mandalas is a journey to understanding the self. This mandala was created from a photograph of the Anahola River in a very ancient and sacred place on Kauai. This is one of the many mandalas I’ve created. For more check them out here.

Another way of learning about the Self is through the practice of yoga.
This yoga mat from Gaiam is a harmonious blend of mandalas to enjoy while practicing yoga.

Mandala Print Yoga Mat

Blossoming Lotus recently won an award for the best restaurant on Kauai. This is first time ever that a vegan restaurant has won this award among all the many great Kauai restaurants.

Episode Highlights:

• Mark shares his personal journey to becoming a vegan chef
• The beginnings of the Blossoming Lotus
• Conscious food and environmental sustainability
• Being true to yourself, living in harmony

This is part 1 of a 3 part interview. Subscribe to our RSS feed and visit our site often.

7 Minute Chef – New e-book available now.

Click Here to order your copy today!

 Blossoming Lotus Restaurant

Vegan World Fusion Cuisine an excellent cookbook and is available at Amazon by clicking on the book cover.

Vegan Fusion announces a new recipe contest!

Winner receives an all expense paid mystic journey
for 2 to the paradise Island of Kaua’i, Hawaii!!!

Including: Round trip airfare from any major airport in the U.S. 7 days and 6 nights hotel accommodation at an Oceanside resort Car rental Napali boat ride tour Healing massages Free meals at the Blossoming Lotus Restaurant and Lotus Root Juice Bar and more!

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Earth Pulse Nature Photography offers beautifully composed photos of nature. Photos are for sale and 10% of sales go to the nature conservatory.

How to live? What is the true meaning of community spirit? What does friendship mean? How to live in peace and love with each other? A space for looking at questions concerning our lives.

Basic India is a bunch of ordinary people, just fed up with the chaos and destruction around us. We’re looking for friends who will join us in exploring new ways to live with each other, in peace, in love and freedom.

Uma is the creator of the Basic India site. Uma’s Zaadz profile and blog is a great resource for consciousness inspiring reading and resources.

Her book Bombay to Eternity is available here.

Now is Christmas time, and now is, for many of us, a kind of shopping
rush to finish to buy all the presents we need for all the people around
us… (And I haven’t started yet!) For some, this whole period almost
feels like a maniac frenzy of pathological consumerism. (if you see
what I mean…) Quick, gotta find gifts for everybody!! And,
sometimes, we end up buying silly stuff that will only collect dust in
the home of the beloved ones….

So I have a suggestion of a good Christmas present that I think you will
find worthwhile: A “Gift that keeps on Giving”.

…..a gift that what???
That’s a gift that we buy to somebody near us (our dear one, or our boss
- to whom we want to ask a pay raise in January!), but that we actually
give to somebody else who needs it more.
For example: We buy a pair of crutches, a leg plaster cast, or calipers
for our mother, but we send it to somebody affected by polio in India,
so that he/she can walk again….

Imagine: To give as a Christmas present the possibility to walk again…!

It feels to me that there are few gifts I could buy that would be worth
that…

I have made, at the request of friends, a little program for their
website to allow to buy and send “Gifts that keeps on Giving”. The
person to whom you buy the gift receives a card explaining the gift you
bought him/her, and the gift is sent (really!) to somebody victim of
polio in BodhGaya, India.

All the funds collected by this (excepted for the small credit card
processing fees) are going to a small local charity who is giving
rehabilitation help and care to polio victims in Bihar, the poorest
state of India.
Polio (also called infantile paralysis), was a word full of terror and
nightmares for parents in our countries, only 50 years ago. It was
eradicated in the 50s or 60s and is no longer part of our worlds, but
that is not the case everywhere, like in countries which are not as
“developed” as us. Polio is a viral infection attacking the spinal cord
and causing paralysis of the limbs. The legs are most often affected
and, by the lack of movement, the joints get stiff and/or horrible
deformities develop.

The Gifts that keep on Giving are offered by the initiative of Sangha
Seva, a small non-profit organization founded by friends of mine, whom
organize retreats and events of help and service in India, England,
Israel and Europe.
“Sangha” means “friends” or “community”, and “Seva” means “service”.
It was with them I was, 2 months ago, in Israel and Palestine for a
peace work retreat.

The link to buy the Gifts that keeps on Giving, or to have more info is:

http://www.sanghaseva.org/e-cards.htm