AzSustainability.com » Local Business

Time to Green your Hair Routine

Tracy Perkins — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:37:22 +0000

You’ve switched out your light bulbs to make your home more efficient, you’re using “green” cleaning products around your house, you’re buying locally grown organic produce to reduce your environmental impact. But what about your own body? You know what you put into your body is important but what you put on it can be just as important! There are many ingredients used in skin and haircare products that are just downright bad for you and for the environment. The best thing you can do is read the labels of the products you’re using and do a bit of research to see what is in them. The Cosmetics Database from the Environmental Working Group is a great resource to check ingredients or specific product types and their level of safety. Ok.. so once you check out your product and see that most conventional products are not safe for you, your family, or the Earth you will need something new. It can be hard to find great products.. you could go the DIY route and make some of your own, the Vegan Beauty Review has some excellent suggestions, or if you want the two birds with one stone route you can bring your old yucky products to be recycled and get a discount on new, environmentally and body-friendly products from Green with Envy Organic Hair Studio on April 22nd.

I love the concept (and the people) at Green with Envy Organic Hair Studio! Their non-toxic approach is refreshing and a model that more salons need to follow. On top of their day to day wonderful lack of harsh chemical products, LEED certified building, and fabulous staff they are having a cool event for Earth Day so I thought you should know. Whether you need a new look or just a trim, I can’t recommend them highly enough and it looks like Earth Day, April 22nd is the day to check them out! Also, they have a referral program so tell your friends and for each one that drops your name you get 20% off your next service, how cool is that?

Come Celebrate Earth Day in Style!

The entire month of April is dedicated to being eco-conscious, and on Earth Day, April 22nd, Green with Envy will help you do your part!

Bring in your old hair care products (especially those aerosol hairsprays) and we will recycle them and give you 25% off new, eco-friendly, organic products!

Also, join us for a “green” fashion show starting at 10:30pm to promote Green with Envy’s grand opening and our contribution to keeping the world beautiful.

Green With Envy Organic Hair Studio

Tracy Perkins — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:10:46 +0000

Green with Envy Organic Hair Studio
Optima Camel View Village, Suite 107, (Highland Ave & Scottsdale Rd)
7147 E. Rancho Vista Drive, #107
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
Phone: 480.553.7235

When most people think of environmentally friendly they think of crunchy hippies.. well.. less so these days but there is still that stigma that green and glamorous cannot go hand in hand. Green With Envy, a new hair salon in Scottsdale, blows this myth out of the water. With everything from their LEED certified building with denim insullation, water and energy efficient gadgets, toxin-free products all the way down to recycling the hair clippings they produce to make mats that help in the remediation of oil spills! Ok, so we know they have the Green part down but how is their service?

They have an introductory deal this month offering haircuts for $35 so you don’t have to take my word, you can’t afford to not go take them up on this deal. My friend, Abby (photo at the end of this post), turned me on to this place and I couldn’t pass it up. After hearing about all of thier great environmental aspirations I just had to try them. She got her hair cut first, loved it, and the next day it was my turn. The building itself is gorgeous with panels of sandstone all over the place, lush vegetation and water features, not the type of place you would associate with stringent environmental adherance but these LEED engineers know what they’re doing and efficiency is #1. There is no skimping in visual appeal, the Green With Envy salon is funky and clean with modern decor and a cheerful, restorative vibe.

Maggie Fink, the owner of Green with envy, is extremely friendly and dedicated to a great salon that does no harm to the planet. She was right up front when I came in and offered me some tea (which was fantastic, by the way). The entire staff was relaxed, fast, and friendly, not to mention terrifically talented! I could have fallen right to sleep when they washed my hair and massaged my scalp with quality shampoo that was scented with pure essential oils rather than the barage of chemical fragrance found in most salons. My stylist was Eric, I brought in a picture of what I was looking for and he did exactly what I was hoping for with the cut. A few more organic yummy products, some blow drying and I was out the door, looking great and feeling even better knowing that the locally owned Green with Envy Organic Hair Studio shares some of my values about the environment and is shaping their business around that.

I was so pleased with the results and would highly recommend this salon to anyone looking for a more eco-friendly way to stay beautiful without hurting the planet and support local business.

From their website, http://greenwithenvyhair.com:

WHAT MAKES US GREEN?

Designed by a LEED certified architect
First salon in the valley to exclusively use EcoColors (a non toxic color line) and carry and use only organic products
We donate the hair clippings to a non profit organization that uses them to create mats that clean up oil spills
Our sign and front desk were made using Kirei board, an eco-friendly substitute for wood, manufactured from reclaimed sorghum straw.
Soy-based concrete sealer
Dual-flush toilets
Recycled denim insulation
No VOC paint
Recycling Tank-less water heater
No aerosols
Recycled and reused fixtures for furniture and décor
Hybrid computers that use 70% less electricity than the average desktop.

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Local Fashion of Compassion

Tracy Perkins — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 23:53:50 +0000

A big part of sustainability is building community and that includes getting out there to support local business and local services. The fashion industry is not often equated with much of anything nice other than looking good. It is particularly not known for being sustainable, but here is your chance to look great, support locally owned businesses, and contribute to a life saving cause. Paradise Valley Community College is holding an upcoming event to provide you that opportunity. They have put together an event called Fashion of Compassion, showcasing fashions from local boutiques with the proceeds going to the Phoenix Children’s Hospital.

It can be tough to find local clothing stores and the allure of convenience of big names and mega malls can be too much to resist when you don’t know where else to go. This is your chance to get informed on who is out there locally. Just browsing through their websites (links below) there’s a lot to look forward to. A worthy cause, supporting local business, with loads of fun fashion, sounds good to me! Be sure to tell your friends, the more people who attend, the more donations to the hospital and the more publicity for these local boutiques!

[Visit LocalFirstAZ.com to view more local boutiques]

PVCC Fashion of Compassion Evening Sept. 17

Alpha Omicron Chi, Paradise Valley Community College’s chapter of the international honor society Phi Theta Kappa, presents The Fashion of Compassion event from 5 to 9 p.m., Wenesday, Sept. 17 in the Center for Performing Arts on the PVCC Campus at Union Hills Boulevard and 32nd Street. Proceeds benefit Phoenix Children’s Hospital.

Following the opening reception, Alexis Vance of Fox 10 News will emcee the fashion show from 6 to 7 p.m. Students and staff will model clothing from shops participating in the on-site bazaar including Roka Boutique, Spoken Boutique, Estilo Boutique, Red Haute Boutique, Rowdy Boutique, Wink Boutique, Strawberry Mondays, Prima Divaz, Grandma’s Lullaby Loft plus Bella and Gracie’s.

Laurie Bachand, PVCC President of Alpha Omicron Chi, says that in addition to the fashion show and clothing bazaar, there will be a silent auction for packages such as Dinner at Earl’s and a Harkins movie; horseback riding in Sedona with Red Rock Western Jeep Tours; gift certificates from Tesori Jewelers, Electric Lady Land, Divaz Boutique, T’s Accessories and Brass Heart; and hair styling with products from Carolyn’s Hair Salon.

Also, please bring your gently used CDs and DVDs to donate to the hospital’s play rooms. Keep in mind they are for youths up to age 17.

Tickets for the fashion show are $10 each, available at the door and include light refreshments from 5 to 6 p.m. provided by Bruce Brown Catering. Tickets are also available on campus in the Kranitz Student Center and by calling the CPA box office at 602-787-7738.

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“green” essence bakery gets it right!

Tracy Perkins — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:00:28 +0000

Essence Cafe on Hardy and University in Tempe, AZ

Essence Bakery and Cafe resides on Hardy and University, just a few blocks from Arizona State University in Tempe. It is in the same building that one of my favorite restaurants of all time, Sabuddy, used to be in. While Sabuddy just moved to Scottsdale it is a further drive from my local stomping grounds so I don’t get to go there much these days and while it is entirely irrational some how I held this against Essence and did not go there for ages. I finally bit the bullet and couldn’t resist their charming outdoor seating any longer. I stopped in for tea to go and it was great. Then this past weekend we decided to give it a real chance.. the true test. Brunch.

The decor was really cute, they redid everything with Earth-friendly paint and replaced countertops with recycled glass and old cabinets with bamboo. Their remodeling has really paid off as the atmosphere is welcoming and the colors are really lovely and warm. We eyed the pastry case while we waited, filled with fluffy cream puffs and boxes of adorable miniature cakes and sweet treats. This would be the ideal place to pick up something special to celebrate. James seemed to enjoy their fresh coffee as much as I enjoyed their tasty iced tea while we waited for our food. The menu is fantastic for anyone (vegetarians to foodies to locavores or even carnivores). They use “cage-free” eggs (though I have issues with that terminology, at least they are trying) and buy local and organic produce as often as they can.

I ordered the Mediterranean Roasted Vegetable sandwich from the lunch menu without the cheesy pesto (though it sounded delicious). They even went so far as to cut the cheese sprinkled on top of the focaccia bread off for me! Now that is service. The sandwich was amazing, bursting with flavor from sweet roasted red repper, zucchini, eggplant done just right and organic greens. The side salad was fabulous with nutritious and delicious dark green leafies abound and a light refreshing vinaigrette. I could not have been happier!

James had “The Big Breakfast” without the sausage. It came with 2 fried eggs, a golden mashed potato cake, sautéed mushrooms and toast from freshly baked multigrain bread with jam. He fell head over heels for these mashed potato cakes, it looked amazing, fluffy golden mashed potatoes inside with a crisp top. Everything looked great and he was smitten. He declared it his favorite breakfast in town! That is a big deal as there are some pretty serious contenders up there so I was impressed. I tried some of his jam… it was like the jam from the inside of the best jelly donut you’ve ever tasted, jam you could only dream of! You think I’m kidding.. well.. a little bit I am but seriously, it is unbelievable jam. Get it!

I think we were both seriously impressed with Essence Bakery and would be fools to miss going there as often as we can. With an incredibly friendly and accomodating staff, beautiful pastries, delicious and wide ranging menus, and an eye for eco-friendly, Essence has really gotten it right.

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AzSustainability’s own on Good Morning Arizona!

James Towner — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 14:57:41 +0000

Our own Tracy Perkins was on a segment of Good Morning Arizona this past Friday! She was doing a soap making demo and promoting her eco-friendly, vegan bath and body products company Strawberry Hedgehog.

Friday morning we packed up all her soap making gear and headed down to 3TV’s studio. Once we arrived we had to wait a few mintues for a commercial break so that they could sneak us in the studio to setup. It was weird setting up all her stuff while the anchors were chatting and reporting the news just a few feet away. I was afraid we’d drop something big and interrupt them while they were on the air. We also couldn’t figure out how to get the stove on and none of the anchor’s or producers knew either! Luckily we finally found someone that knew how it worked and we got the stove on and the soap started. Everyone there was extremely friendly and made our trip down there fun. Dan Davis was great and made Tracy feel very comfortable on the air. Believe it or not they just wing the segment, no scripts or really any planning on how it will go. Sounds stressful to me but they seem to like it.

Tracy did great on her first TV appearance! Follow this link to her get her version of the story on her blog over at blog.strawberryhedgehog.com. Check out the video and below to see her in action, and be sure to visit StrawberryHedgehog.com for all your eco-friendly, cruelty free bath and body needs.

A million thanks to Jessie from Jessiebell Designs for making the awesome hand dyed and screened, 100% organic cotton apron that Tracy wore on air. It turned out amazing!

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More of our favorite local businesses!

James Towner — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:52:07 +0000

So now that we’ve covered our favorite local places to eat and drink, here’s a list of our other local favorite businesses in no particular order.

Stinkweeds – Best indie record store in the Valley.

Souvia – Cute tea accessories

ASU Art Museum Shop – The best gifts you will find in the valley.

Desert Botanical Garden – One of the world’s finest collections of desert plants

Judy’s Body Waxing – Judy’s Body Waxing & Harmonic Healing Center

Dr. Warwick – Chiropractor

Elijah Aller – Designs and makes flameworked glass. Beautiful!

The Back Rub Company – The Valley’s Leader in On-Site Corporate Chair Massage.

JessieBell Designs – Artwork inspired by the natural environment around us. Organic t-shirt screening.

Beads Galore – All your beading needs.

aka Green – Green Building supplies. Head here instead of Home Depot or Lowes.

Favorite local non-profits:

Hero’s Quest 2008 – Raising money for the 100 Club. The mission of the 100 Club of Arizona is to provide financial assistance to families of public safety officers and firefighters who are seriously injured or killed in the line-of-duty, and to provide resources to enhance their safety and welfare.

Arizona Animal Welfare League – The largest and oldest no-kill shelter in Arizona

Rescue a Golden of Arizona – Awesome golden retriever rescue group. We’ve had three great dogs from this group.

Local First Arizona – Supporting Arizona’s local business.

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Support local business at Independents Week June 30 – July 6

James Towner — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 15:07:28 +0000

Independents week is this week and is a national event to promote local businesses across the country. Here in Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano is supporting this cause and has declared June 30 – July 6 as independents week! Support your local economy and its uniqueness by making an extra effort to shop locally this week.

Why support local business? Check out this list of reasons from Local First Arizona:

For every two jobs national retailers bring to a community, three jobs are lost as a result of local businesses closing down.

When you shop locally-owned businesses, your money is re-circulated over and over and creates up to 75% more tax revenue to our community and state.

Independent businesses raise the standard of living in your community because they take their profits and buy products and services from other local businesses, thus creating more and more tax revenues needed for the community to thrive.

Millions of dollars of tax revenue subsidies handed to chains by financially-starved local governments drain even more tax revenue from our community and state.

Blighted empty shopping areas are created in your community when chain stores re-locate to a more lucrative shopping center, or leave altogether. Literally hundreds of big stores are abandoned each year across the United States.

Independent businesses are unique enterprises that contribute to the character of our community by offering a more diverse selections of goods and services.

Independent businesses provide meaningful service with a personal touch. It matters to them that you are satisfied and will come back again.

Carefully planned predatory pricing practices have allowed national chains to establish virtual monopolies as they drive local competition out of business. And then they raise their prices.

Take the pledge to support local business this week and pick up your golden ticket to save 20% at participating locations. No matter where you are in the country this is a great week to support local business and help keep your money local and your neighborhood unique.

Look forward to my list of recommended local businesses coming later this week. Until then see what some other Arizonan’s favorite local spots are here.

Bashas’ supports local small business

Environmentally friendly computer repair. We visit PC911′s office in Phoenix.

James Towner — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 03:39:17 +0000

We previously wrote about PC911′s plans to expand to Arizona here and now that they are here we decided to pay them a visit. In many ways PC911 is a typical mobile computer repair company, they provide in home residential computer repair services, business services such as network installs, phone systems, maintenance plans, and surveillance systems. What sets them apart is their commitment to reducing their environmental impact. I’ve worked for a mobile computer repair company before and it involves A LOT of driving. In sprawling cities like Phoenix it is easy to drive 100 miles or more a day criss crossing around to different homes and businesses. This is the biggest environmental impact businesses like this have and is where PC911 works the hardest to reduce. They do this by buying used diesel ambulances and converting them to run on waste vegetable oil. Running a vehicle on veggie oil is cleaner than running running petroleum diesel, provides a local use for a waste product, and reduces demand for foreign oil. This also saves the business a lot of money in fuel costs. The $1200 install for the conversion is paid off after only 10 tanks of fuel. Another way PC911 works to reduce their impact is by recycling as much of their waste as possible. They have opted to pay for a recycling dumpster behind their office to accommodate this. The owner of PC911, Chad Stone, also runs his personal vehicles on waste veggie oil, he has a VW TDI and 1984 Mercedes.

We contacted Chad about taking a tour of their office here in Phoenix and met up with him on a Monday morning. They have a very typical office except for the fact that their garage has 4 ambulances stuffed in it. Chad popped the hood of one of them and started telling us about the WVO systems they have. They use Lovecraft conversions which are single tank systems. Typically with these systems you have two tanks, one with diesel or biodiesel to start the vehicle and than another tank with the WVO to switch over to once the vehicle is warmed up. WVO needs to be warmed up to thin it out to a viscosity closer to diesel fuel so that it can be more easily injected into the engine. Lovecraft systems preheat the oil in the fuel filter and use a booster pump to get rid of the need for two tanks. Most of the people I’ve talked to recommend the two tank system, but Chad says they’ve never had any problems. Here’s a video of Chad cold starting one of their ambulances after it has sat unused over the weekend.

PC911 collects and filters the oil themselves. They first pre-screen the oil into a drum and then it is forced through a sock filter which I believe filters it down to 10 microns. Here’s a video of Chad filtering some used oil and then filling up a ambulance with it. At the time of our visit they hadn’t secured any sources of waste oil in Phoenix, but are working on that.

Basically that is it, these systems are pretty simple overall and easy to operate. Thinking of running waste veggie oil in your car? Sure it is a free source of fuel, but you should also know there can be downsides. Systems improperly installed, or bad oil, especially oil with water in it can cause catastrophic damage to your engine. Check out this horror story of one man’s journey with running his VW TDI on waste oil. Not to end with a downer, but be sure you know what you could be running into if you decided to go down this path.

If you need any computer services we’d highly recommend PC911 for their high quality computer work and their commitment to the environment. They are currently located in Las Vegas Nevada and Phoenix Arizona, perhaps one day in a city near you.

PC911
Las Vegas:
702-309-1911
PC911lv.com
Phoenix
602-353-0911
PC911az.com

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Sustainability Is About Making Money To Arizona Businesses.

James Towner — Sun, 11 May 2008 15:33:49 +0000

Being more efficient and less wasteful is great for saving money and with rising energy prices businesses are all in. This among other sustainability topics is what was discussed at the Arizona Chamber of Commerce Sustainability Summit at the Hyatt Regency in Phoenix on Friday.

“Sustainability is about making money,” said Ed Fox, vice president and chief sustainability officer for APS. “Sustainability is a business strategy.”

He encouraged business executives to “stop thinking about sustainability as a green movement,” because that “makes the finance guys think of additional costs.”

Instead, he said APS encourages employees to look for ways to save the company money, like the idea to shut down energy-wasting computer monitors when they’re not in use. The company borrowed the idea from a local school that was pinching pennies.

[Arizona Republic]

TEDxPhoenix to Feature Local Sustainability Expert

The Center Bistro – Highly Recommended!

Tracy Perkins — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 21:20:26 +0000

The Center Bistro is opening up again this August! I don’t know if this address is still current, but will be sure to update this information when I find out.

The Center Bistro
21 East 6th Street, Suite 114
Tempe, AZ 85281 • 480.491.5591
- Hours of Operation -
Sun-Thurs 11am-10pm
Fri-Sat 11am-Midnight

Increasingly in the downtown Tempe area surrounding the ASU campus the charm of small local restaurants and businesses is being wiped away for a more corporate, polished, and I would argue, cold and unwelcoming feel. I have walked past The Center many times with its great location near my preferred parking garage and Borders. I ignorantly dismissed it as another new kid on the block taking up space in the area that used to be home to some of my favorite little mom and pop places now replaced by chains. Don’t let its new brick exterior and chain store neighbors fool you, this place is locally owned, has all the charm of its local predecessors with some artsy-polish and serves Earth-friendly organic dishes.

We decided to go there on a whim, wanting to try something new and environmentally friendly. Not knowing what to expect and seeing their prices were moderately steep we got gussied up and headed to Tempe. Their menu is vegan/vegetarian friendly allowing for substitutions of tofu for any of the meat dishes. They specialize in beautiful salads and sandwiches, vegan desserts and some darn good smoothies! As we were seated we were each greeted with a shot of their strawberry-peach-mango smoothie, or ‘Karmic Colada.’ It was so great we ordered a full sized version along with the banana-blueberry-spirulina. The banana one was far sweeter and I liked knowing I was getting all of the nutrition from the spirulina but while it was really yummy I preferred the strawberry. I was so impressed with their smoothies I will make a point of returning just for them.

Even their drinks are organic! I had some organic iced green tea that was quite good while James had an organic pear cider. They had a small but good looking selection of teas I would like to try at some point, including a spiced chai (both green and black), mint, breakfast black, and a couple of good looking greens. They also had fresh lemonade, Mexican coffee, and a wide variety of organic beers and wines.

Our meal started with the baked organic coconut tofu and blackened organic tempeh tower. Not only was this sculpturesque creation beautiful, it was delicious, nutritious and environmentally sound! Reminiscent of Jamaican jerk-spices with a twist of grapefruit-yuzu, this kicked off our special occasion with style and taste. Next up was the main meal… after smoothies and protein packed appetizer we were pretty full but the incredible presentation and scent was more than enough to lure us into gluttony.

Their miso soup is vegan and fantastic. Not too “fishy” from the vitamin-packed sea weed but just right. The salad, with its fresh baby greens, artfully spiraled carrots and sprouts in an amazing ginger-soy dressing was too good to be true!

I ordered the organic wild mushrooms sandwich with spring lettuce, fresh dill, organic olive oil and garlic, vegan cream cheese and power green pesto. The dill made this baby something really special, subtle so it didn’t knock your socks off but it acted as the perfect unexpected flavor that made me think for just a moment – what is it that is so great about this?! Dill!!

James substituted tofu in place of beef on the free range organic roast beef sandwich with fresh organic beets, organic spring lettuce, house mayo, a drizzle of balsamic vinegar reduction, with Mainland Farms white cheddar. Who would think to put beets on a sandwich? It looked amazing and James was very pleased with his choice. Aron, James’ brother, ordered the salmon sandwich, wild salmon filet with organic heirloom tomatoes, daikon radish shreds and horseradish black sesame aioli. He was also quite pleased. 3 for 3!

As if we were not stuffed enough…. they have organic vegan cheesecake!! Now how often do you have this option? It would be a sin to deny such an amazing treat, right? It was, just as all of their dishes, beautifully presented and tasty as could be with a lighter texture than a conventional cheesecake. They also had other vegan dessert options so I will certainly be back for.

What makes The Center a green place to go? They are mostly organic, so what? When we eat organic foods not only are we avoiding ingesting the potentially harmful pesticides and herbicides that go into conventional crops, we are supporting sustainable agricultural practices. Organic farming promotes better treatment of the soils which means they will be healthy and supportive of tomorrow’s crops for our kids and theirs. It is also important that they have a focus on vegan options. The meat and dairy industries, particularly from the factory farming practices due to their highly concentrated population of critters, contribute a huge amount of methane (a green house gas) not to mention the requirement for huge amounts of water, land, and crops to feed them (and the water and land required for those crops!) and the fuel to truck them, living and dead, across the country. (Click here to read “Rethinking the Meat Guzler” from the NY Times for more info) There are controversies around soy at the moment regarding rain forest being cleared for lucrative soy crops, however, those are being resolved and the U.S. is the number one producer of soy.

I can’t say enough about the Center. The artwork was beautiful, the food was fantastic, and the service was amazing. I will be back soon and encourage anyone wanting to support a local green restaurant to head over there as soon as you have the chance!

[The Center Cafe/Bistro]

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