Eco Chic - Jo Alcorn

I am so excited to bring you this new feature on Verdigris Vie called Eco Chic.  I like to think that I know a fair bit when it comes to eco - furniture and earth friendly practices, but the truth is, there is still so much to learn. So I decided to consult a very talented designer, blogger, teacher, and friend Jo Alcorn; the brains behind Whitewash and Co.  She has regular features on the Steven and Chris Show, writes her own eco-friendly blog, teaches design at a local college, and she has agreed to guide us on the path to Eco Chic.

What does Eco-friendly or GREEN even mean? With today’s market saturated with words like GREEN, eco, environmentally friendly, and healthy to the environment, consumers are overwhelmed with Marketing and Advertising campaigns that leave them even more confused than when they started. So how do we know something is really GREEN? Green washing has become the norm with this new eco movement and retail stores and manufactures are quick with making sure they use the GREEN word.

Now to be completely honest with you, GREEN in general is such a controversial topic. So every month we are going to break down products and services who say they are GREEN and expose the truth and the controversy behind it. We'll make shopping for those environmentally friendly products easier once and for all. We'll make sure that there is one stable destination of truth in this movement and one place that you know for sure will be asking the right questions.

So until next time I want to leave you with some important questions that you should be asking yourself and the product before you purchase. 1.Where is it produced? Controversy; anything shipped overseas has a higher carbon foot print so how is it really helping our environment? Make sure to weigh out the pros and cons before you hand over the cash for a product shipped from overseas, even if does say GREEN on it. 2. What glues are used within the product? Controversy; any glue that contains Formaldehyde within it has a high content of VOC’s that are constantly being released in to our air. Think of the effect it has on the air we breathe. Make sure you ask for water base solutions. And finally 3. How much does the Sales person really know?  Don’t take their word for it. Sales people in general are not necessarily the most reliable source of information, unfortunately. Make sure you do your own research on a product and the contents within before it is enters your home.

I am looking forward to taking this GREEN journey with you and to finally getting to the bottom of GREEN products and the controversy behind them.

Until next time,

eco-jo

Photos from Canvas, and Microsoft