Source: Nature Conservancy

1.  Coral Reef Protection - Gifts that protect our earth's ecosystems will only become more popular as the need persists. Topping the list of meaningful gifts our family received this Christmas was a certificate from The Nature Conservancy stating that "A generous gift was made to protect the coral reefs of Palau on behalf of your family."  According to the giver (my sister), a $100 donation helps protect 1 acre of this precious ocean habitat.  Learn more about giving this gift at The Nature Conservancy.

2.  Celestial Clothing - A personal favorite gift that I received is a most versital polar fleece vest on a website called the Celestial Shop.   It's the most lively turquoise color which goes surprisingly well with everything I own.  My closet is so full of earth tones that a piece of color cheers it right up. The clothing is designed by a Spiritual Master who uses the proceeds from their sale to fund her associations humanitarian relief efforts worldwide.  I learned about their efforts on a free-to-air satellite channel called Supreme Master TV. As a social bonus, all of their gear is made in Taiwan.

3.  Flowering Tea - What better way to treat yourself to a moment of peace than with a fragrant jasmine flowering tea?  I put some in my own stocking on the advice that "Taking care of mom is taking care of everyone."

4.  Acorn Sox - Another shameless self-stocking-stuffer, I enjoyed wearing my Acorn Sox while also giving them to almost everyone as gifts.  Made from recyled materials,  these vegan fleece wonders are just the right amount of cush and keep you feet warm yet totally breathable.  Polyester fleece used to on my naughty list, but thanks to Acorn Sox and a little research, we have a new understanding. 

 5.  OregaSpray - North American Herb and Spice Co.'s OregaSpray is a true necessity for winter and all year round.  Oregano Oil is a natural anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-viral... it does it all.  As a mother of small children, I keep mine on hand at all times.  I've been known to douse elevator buttons, public train tables, tiny hands and even my own throat if necessary (it's totally edible.)  As a bonus, it leaves that nice pizza smell temporarily wafting in your wake.  Get yours here.

Now, if you shop for kids clothes at American Apparel online (or in store if you live on the west coast) you might think you are buying big, only to realize when you receive your gear that they look small already without even being washed yet!  American Apparel runs almost 2 sizes small on some of their cuts, especially after washing.  I just bought my 4 year old, who wears a size 4 in most clothing, an AP size 6 that looks really small to me.   I discovered American Apparel on my recent week long research project to find out where our clothing is made and by whom and do they enjoy basic human rights?  As for American Apparel, their garments are made in downtown Los Angeles, by mostly Guatemalan immigrants, and yes.

Having to buy clothing for the kids is new to me as we've enjoyed immaculate hand-me-downs for the past 4 years.  I learned something valuable from this experience too, kids are messy!  The clothing I received was all well cared for and stain free.  My girlfriend told me that these clothes had been through at least two children already, some of them many more and yet they were all still very clean.  Because of this, I developed an erroneous observation, and very bad habit:  I never bothered to put a bib on my first child!  Now many of those shirts and pants are dotted with avocado bits, speckled with blueberry juice and mushed with banana mash.  Now, the next child to inherit them will always look like he's already had his breakfast.  Luckily the next mom can't complain because she's me, and the next baby is my second son. 

My second son is now the fourth and sometimes the sixth child to wear this round of hand-me-downs and I'm getting better at taking care of the clothing that I inherit as well as the clothing that I buy new.  Trust me, once you've spent a week researching the ethics of a company, waiting for calls back from their P.R. rep, explaining to your husband why they cost so much more, checking ebay and craigslist for used versions and finally deciding on sizes and colors before ordering online... you begin to take better care of your "investments."

Children's clothing is transient.  Your baby may wear a garment for about 3 months, then it will be "new" again to a succession of other children until it has become unwearable by someone's standards and gets thrown out.  This could literally be 10 or more kids!  This past year I passed on my baby's very elaborate newborn organic layette, it's already finding it's third home and in excellent condition. 

So, I'll tell you my secret: enzyme cleaner.  I use Kleen-Free Enzyme cleaner in a spray bottle on every spill and spot they get.  This stuff is a must in any house with kids or pets.  It comes in various size bottles but the gallon is the most economical as it is highly concentrated.  It takes me almost 9 months to get through a gallon using it for everyday cleaning and laundry.  It's an enzyme the "eats" protein.  They sell it for lice, bedbugs and other tiny-crawly things, but we use it for food stains and all household cleaning.  The gallon is about $70 with shipping and worth every penny. 

My eco-tip for the day is: Take good care of your children's clothing as these garments will have a long and adventerous life with many children in many homes when your little ones have outgrown them.  After all, re-use is one of the 3 R's!

Child labor, sweatshops and other human rights issues has always been in the back of my mind when shopping for clothing especially, however I felt uneducated on the subject and not confident enough to make that promise to my husband.   So, I began searching websites and calling companies to find out what policies they inforce to protect their workers basic human rights and how closely they monitor the factories where their garments are made.  

This will be an extensive and ongoing post, but I'm happy to provide compassionate shoppers with the information I've gathered in my quest for an acessable, affordable, fairly traded wardrobe.

Clothing and goods that are truly "Fair Trade" are becoming more widely available in eco-friendly shops and online.  My goal, however was to find out as much as possible about the brands that we are all familiar with and that can be easily bought at a local store.  By contacting major brand companies and voicing my concerns for their garment factory workers, I also hoped to raise the awareness that their customers do care and that the demand for fairly traded goods to become the norm is on the rise. 

My first stop was at Gap Inc. (the parent company of Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy and Piper Lime.)  I chose to begin my search here because Gap Inc. was the poster-child for child labor and sweatshop practices after media reports exposed them to the public some years ago.  However, what I found out at GapInc.com is that the company currently has the most transparent factory monitering reports available to the public (on the internet) since 2004.  Does this mean that all of the Gap factories are compliant with the companies statement of ethics?  Well, it's a start.  As a blogger, I'd like give my summary of the company's 2006 social responsibility report. 

I learned that most clothing companies do not own the factories where their garments are made.  The actual factories are independant contractors and so who we think of as the clothing "manufacturer" is really just responsible for designing the garments, contracting out the construction of them, then distribution, sales and marketing, of course.  Some clothing companies, like Gap Inc., have a team of people responsible for monitering relationships with factories and enforcing (by threat of terminating the working relationship) basic human rights standards.  Some clothing companies just work with whatever factory will save them the most money and don't maintain relationships with the contractors at all. (Nike brand has been accused of such.)

  From what I have found, any company that is conscious enough to make attempts at enforcing basic human rights policies for the employees of their contracting facilities is going to have a public statement about it somewhere on their website.  I have foud this to be true for Columbia, Patogonia, Tommy Hilfiger,  MEC and others.  I have also found brands such as Carhardt who actually own some of their factories and also have what they call "union made" garments.  In this case it is the union overseeing the rights of the workers.  (More on this in future blogs.) 

Getting back to the Gap report, on page 30 there is a comprehensive list of a factory's potential violations as well as a chart revealing which countries have the highest rate of which occurences.   If using the Gap report as a snapshot of common factory practices in the country of occurence for all clothing companies, one can begin to make more educated shopping choices based on personal values.  For example: North Africa had the highest percentage of reported cases of workers proven to be under 14 years of age (a.k.a. child labor) although the actual percentage was fairly low, as in <10%. China was reported to have <1% of violations in this catagory. However, in the more vague catagory of "not in full compliance with local child labor laws" China, India, North Africa, South America and even Europe all recieved violations, but still relativly low at <10%.   The highest percentage of violations regarding the potential use of child labor was in the catagory of "poor age documentation" with China, India and Northeast Asia recieving the highest percentage of violations at up to <25%, and Africa, Europe and South America recieving violaions in this catagory on <10% of inspections.

Gap Inc. reported that no instances of violaitons concerning child labor were found in any of their factories in Mexico, Central America, the Carribean, Persian Gulf, the United States or Canada (per thier 2006 social responsibilty report.)

Based on this report and in attempts to keep my agreement with my husband about not supporting child labor,  I have been reading the labels on each piece of clothing I buy to check the country of origin.  I now feel more comfotable buying clothing "made in Guatamala" as opposed to the more common "made in China" option.  I've also discovered clothing brands made in the USA (American Apparel for instance.)  More on domestically made fashion in my next blog!

Gap Inc.'s 2006 social responsibility report can be found here: http://www.gapinc.com/public/documents/CSR_Report_05_06.pdf