Sustainability meets consumerism with WeBuyItGreen.com

WeBuyItGreen.com has put together a great online directory of Green goods and we wanted to say two thumbs up but someone beat us to it.

Here is a fitting article by Joshua Adam Hicks reprinted with his permission.



Sustainability meets consumerism with WeBuyItGreen.com
By JOSHUA ADAM HICKS
Bellevue Reporter Staff Writer May 11 2009

Jay Kilby has found a way to mix bargain shopping with sustainability.

The Interlake High School social-studies teacher created
WeBuyItGreen.com, an online directory of environmentally and socially responsible goods that includes everything from makeup to pets.

The site isn't about consumerism alone. It also has multiple informational elements.

Kilby researches each of the available products to make sure they're worth the green tag, but his site offers a review function that allows consumers to ask questions of merchants in case they're still skeptical.

For those who don't know what makes a product sustainable, there's an article on green certification, as well as an eco-library that helps buyers make informed choices.


The latest element Kilby has added to his site is a "green neighborhood center" that allows communities to organize all variety of initiatives – whether its ride sharing, boycotting, or setting up grocery deliveries from organic farmers.

Kilby said his involvement with sustainability efforts have grown since he started teaching a section on global warming for his contemporary world affairs class.

"I just became interested as I dug into this, and it sort of became an obsession," he said.

Kilby's colleagues say his enthusiasm is rubbing off on students.

"He's really great with getting them excited about the possibilities of neighborhoods and communities going green together," said fellow teacher Ryan Rahlfs. "He speaks passionately about that, and the kids respond."

Bellevue Reporter Staff Writer Joshua Adam Hicks can be reached at

jhicks@bellevuereporter.com or 425-453-4290.

http://www.brandofthefree.net/ Better Apparel for a Better World! www.twitter.com/brandofthefree

Uncork the Fun

Has it really been over a month since I’ve blogged? Things have been extra exciting here at Brand of the Free. Area wine festivals are in full bloom, and we participated in our very first Vintage Virginia’s 28th Annual Wine Festival in Manassas, Virginia this last weekend. It was totally a blast! What an impressive festival, featuring 50 wineries, arts and crafts exhibitors, and incredible food and music!

It was a party, complete with exceptional Virginia wines, fabulous music and delectable food. We took a few minutes to grab some amazing crab cake sandwiches from Sherri’s Crab Cakes. All I can say is YUM! Joe got a chance to sneak away from our booth to sample some wonderful Belle Mount wines. Ray and Catherine Petrie are the proprietors and were very warm and down to earth. We definitely plan to visit their vineyard for a weekend getaway!

In the midst of all the festivities lies the true essence of the Wine Festival Experience…the wonderful people we met! So many friendly people stopped by our display, and it was a pleasure getting to know them a bit. We are honored and appreciative for all the support we received at the festival and every day. Thank you!

Our next weekend destination is Great Grapes in Cockeysville, MD on June 13-14. We have been hearing that it is one of the most “happening” festivals around! C’mon and join us…and stop by our booth. We look forward to meeting you!

http://www.brandofthefree.net/ Better Apparel for a Better World!www.twitter.com/brandofthefree

Five Simple Steps toward Greener Living

In honor of Earth Day, I thought I would talk about some simple ways to green up your world! Hopefully, some of the ideas that I’ve found will be helpful.

Because of my quest for knowledge, and the desire to make positive changes in my daily life, I come upon many green websites and blogs. Although I applaud any person or business that is taking a stand for the environment and sustainability, I am seeing a trend that troubles me. It seems that no matter how hard someone tries to do the “green” thing, there is always someone else accusing them of not doing enough. Sometimes it almost makes you feel like “what’s the use”. Well, I believe that any positive change is a step in the right direction, and I applaud your interest in looking for ways where you can make a difference.

For those of you who are seeking a greener lifestyle, I found five easy ways to get started. The funny thing is, as you learn to make positive choices, your concepts change. You start to look at the world differently and realize that your choices affect the people and the earth around you. Don’t be overwhelmed-just commit to making a few changes at a time. Collectively, we can all accomplish great things when we all take responsibility as individuals.

• Carry reusable totes to use instead of plastic or paper at the checkout line. In my opinion, American made and organic cotton is the best. However, any reusable bags you already have will work fine! For my weekly grocery shopping, I use 5-6 carry totes. This saves about 20 plastic bags per week, and over 1000 per year just for my family!
  
• Save on electricity in any way possible. This may mean doing some wash cycles in cold water, line drying clothes, using a toaster oven instead of the big oven, unplugging appliances when not in use, or turning off lights when not needed. Also, compact fluorescents use about 75% less electricity than incandescent bulbs. Now that’s a great reason to switch!
  
• Find ways to save on gas. Some tips: drive at the speed limit, keep tires properly inflated, schedule regular tune ups, combine errands so you make less trips, carpool.
  
• Shop your local Farmer’s Market. By supporting local farmers, you can save gas by shopping closer to home, use your dollars to help keep farmers in business, and the added benefit is fresh, delicious and nutritious food for you and your family! And while I’m on the subject of food, make sure that you eat all that food instead of letting it sit and go bad! You can freeze leftovers for soups or casseroles, or have a weekly “leftover smorgasbord”.
  
• Use filtered tap water instead of bottled water in those pesky plastic containers! Invest in a reusable bottle to refill. I love to refill in glass bottles, however that is not always appropriate, especially for children.

Hopefully, you found a few things to get started on. Please share your ideas-I would love to hear them! Happy Earth Day!

Please go to http://www.thedailygreen.com/going-green/latest/going-green-5-first-steps for more info.

http://www.brandofthefree.net/ Better Apparel for a Better World!
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Emeco — Aluminum American Made Chairs

Our friends at American Pride, American Products have written great article on the American company Emeco.

Emeco has been around for quite some time and claimed their place in history when they won a contract during WWII to manufacture long lasting aluminum chairs for the Navy. Check out the article here and follow some of the many links to get the full story of this pride of Pennsylvania.

For more news on the many products Made in Pennsylvania go to http://pennportal.wordpress.com/



Brand of the Free - Better Apparel for a Better World

Brand of the Free Displays at Go Green America Expo

Brand of the Free ended March on a high note by participating in the Go Green America Expo last weekend, displaying their American made organic graphic tees. The event was held at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds on March 28th & 29th, and was located in Gaithersburg, MD. This inaugural event featured about 200 eco-friendly businesses from around the region, drawing thousands of eco-conscious attendees. The Go Green event also featured speakers and workshops ranging from energy to organic cooking and foods.

“This year has already been pivotal for our growth and we are very excited to have participated in the Go Green America Expo. This is the second of many such events we will support in 2009” said Brand of the Free President (and my husband!) Joe Maluso. The interest and excitement from all the vendor businesses and attendees continues to prove that we are moving toward a positive change. Change in how we conduct business and how we live our lives by making little things count. Change in our responsibility that means leaving our environment a little better than when we found it one step at a time.”

“We look forward to working with many of our new friends and continuing to spread the message to buy American made goods and organically grown products.”

To learn more about the 2009 Go Green America Expo visit http://www.gogreenamericaexpo.com/

Buy Made in America and keep it Green.
Brand of the Free - Better Apparel for a Better World

The Journey to Organic and Greener Living

Each journey is sparked by an initial idea or chain of events. I would like to take this blog in a different direction today, and share the events that led to my personal quest and interest in organic apparel. My journey toward a greener and more organic lifestyle began with a trip to the hospital.

Since I was a teenager, I experienced some really painful and sometimes debilitating symptoms, including excruciating migraines, chest pains, heart flutters, stomach pains and muscular aches and pains. It would happen off and on and when it became unbearable, I would go to my doctor. And each time, after many uncomfortable tests, I was told there is nothing physically wrong with me. I felt like my family, friends and doctors looked at me and saw “hypochondriac” and that it was “all in my head”. I tried to stay positive about life and just tried to ignore the symptoms.

A few years ago, I had chest pains and a stifling heaviness and pressure in my chest. My doctor insisted that I go straight to the hospital. I was admitted, and while there, I had many tests, and again I was told that my heart was fine. That’s when I got curious. Something made me think about the Chinese food I had eaten for dinner the night before and also for lunch, right before the symptoms started. I kind of remembered something being said by a friend about something called msg….

I did some research and found a site about monosodium glutamate (msg). After reading some of the posts, I realized that the stories were just like mine. After years of living with the same symptoms I had, the posters cut msg out of their diet, and most of the symptoms went away. A light bulb went off in my head (fluorescent light of course!) and I immediately started reading all the information I could find on the subject. After much research, I started a quest to eliminate msg, aspartame, sulfites and caffeine from my diet. I started focusing on fresh real food, including meats, dairy, fruits, and vegetables. Little by little, one step at a time, I stopped eating fast food, most restaurant food, msg laden snack foods, soda pop, and frozen or canned processed foods. No more boxed or canned soups, store marinated meats, gravies or quick meal mixes. Guess what? My symptoms all went away, and I feel so much better now! Every once in awhile I will eat something by mistake and suffer the consequences. However, I now know that I am in control of how my body feels. When you fuel your body with fresh, pure, and organic foods as much as possible, you will reap the rewards with a new vitality. And a little inside info for you-when you cut out the msg, you develop your natural tasting abilities again, and truly enjoy natural flavors. The chemical taste of fast food and processed food is no longer pleasant.



The next logical step for me was to realize that our skin absorbs chemicals from everything we put on it: lotions, cosmetics, hair care, and also pesticides, chemicals and toxic dyes and inks used on our clothes. I started to look for organic cotton clothes for myself and my family, and that lead to our support of organic farming and organic apparel. I developed a new respect for the care of my own body, and also the earth that I was blessed with. That led me to make small, greener choices. We started Brand of the Free.net as a company that offered American made apparel, and then branched out to offer organic products because it was important to us to offer the best quality to our customers. I believe we can all make small changes to increase the quality of our lives and the world around us.

Hopefully my story will spark some curiosity and you will research what msg truly is, and how it affects you and your children. You will be amazed at how our food supply has been invaded. Please email me @ bmaluso@brandofthefree.net with any questions you may have, or leave a comment to share feedback and/or personal experiences.

MSG Info:
http://www.msgmyth.com/
http://www.msgtruth.org/
www.twitter.com/WholeFoods Great place to shop! Remember to read all labels. Msg is listed under many different names. Organic does not necessarily mean msg free.

Brandofthefree.net Better Apparel for a Better World
www.twitter.com/blmaluso

How to Find American Made Products

Today is a beautiful, warm day in Northern Virginia! The rays of sunshine fill my spirit with faith and hope, leading me to think of all the good people that we are fortunate enough to have in our lives. One of those people is Todd Lipscomb. He is the President and Founder of MadeinUSAForever.com which provides an easy and fun way to buy products made in the USA. We would like to thank Todd, a true patriot, for his hard work and dedication. He invests many hours in researching American made products, and promotes them on his site, to give us the opportunity to find a variety of products in one place.

Please enjoy reading the following newsletter from Todd Lipscomb, and be sure to visit his site, MadeinUSAForever.com.

Team, I am going to make a special point of trying to find good news in the future, as it seems only bad lately. There has been 4 million jobs lost in the last 14 months, housing prices are looking like the Titanic in much of the country and the economy is spiraling downward, etc.

I would like say something to cheer us up like "it is always darkest before the dawn" but honestly we are not there yet.

Last week something happened that I did not expect for another year or so. As our biggest creditor, China's Premier publically expressed concern about the USA's surging federal debt (it's rocketing from $500 billion in 2008 to $2 trillion this year, which is another $8000 per American citizen) which is forcing Washington into a very embarrassing defense of spending way beyond one's means. This kind of conversation has probably been happening a lot in private lately. To see us being publically berated in front of the world is very humiliating. We need to turn this situation around soon! This is a very important moment in history. China is not just another Super Power, because as they win politically through economics they are becoming THE Super Power. You can read more as this unfolds in my blog.

Washington and some people in the media want to tell us (to support their own actions) that the budget deficit and trade deficit are two separate, unrelated issues. The simple fact is they are very much intertwined. For example, as economic activity drops here a lot of Americans are just standing by and watching all the good jobs get shipped to other countries. Since there are fewer people working here it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that the tax revenues will drop! The more we buy our own Made In USA goods, the more local, state, and federal tax revenue is collected. Alternatively, and more likely lately, the more we end production here and buy cheap stuff from abroad, the more tax revenue collapses.

As usual, the simple truths or the "old math" are what really adds up. I hope it does not sound like for a moment I am giving up on the USA, because you can be sure that it will never happen. Also I would like to thank all of you that are buying "Made In USA" products from this website. We ARE all making a difference.Patriot SaleI try to put something I hope you find interesting and timely on sale every week. This week is "Flags & Patriotic Stuff" week. You might find a cheaper flag made in China, but this is a darn good price on real ones made right here. Check it out. The sale ends Sunday night. Link to Sale on Flags & Patriotic Items

Double GiveawayWe have two different cool products that I want to give to three lucky winners for each product. First is a really neat new medical product for anyone, like me, with pain in the joints, hands, etc. The first one is the Topical pain reliever Ibunex by Core Products. The second one is a really neat video called "The Spirit of America" on DVD.

As usual, just take a quick peek at each one and tell me about it in one very brief sentence. You can reply to this email with your response. Yes, you can sign up for all of the items in one e-mail. I will pick three winners for each product randomly and also pay the shipping, so it is completely free for you.

Links are on the photo's at left. New Products: What could be more American than baseball? We are proud to add some really super Baseball Bats from a true expert on the subject. This excellent company is Akadema. Yes, the wood is from the USA, not to mention the skill, craftsmanship and passion that all come together to make the ultimate homerun tool.

Check out these beautiful cribs by "Cute Cribs". She (yes, this master wood worker is a "she") builds them one at a time in Georgia. These are not only an impressively artistic Crib, but they are also a very high quality product that is absolutely safe and will last for generations.

Core Products builds a number of really neat health related products here in the USA. They are the flagship our new Health Related Products Section.The products we have in stock now are:

• Excellent Orthopedic pillows of various shapes and sizes to help reduce neck and head pain.
  


• Several electronic massagers made right here in the USA.
  


• The topical pain reliever Ibunex and joint maintenance product Gluconex.
  


• And a lot of hot and cold packs that can either be used frozen or heated for pain relief all over the body.

Sincerely,

ToddTodd Lipscomb Founder MadeinUSAForever.com

Thank you Todd!

Brandofthefree.net Always Made in the USA and 100% Organic