On the Lighter (and Fabulous) Side of Green With Eco-Chick

Despite our reputation for being overearnest buzzkillers, greens just want to have fun, too. So this evening I ventured out to the Lower East Side, to a book party for my friend and colleague Starre Vartan, the founder of the Eco-Chick blog and author of the new book The Eco Chick Guide to Life: How to be fabulously green (St. Martin's Griffin).

What does an eco-hip party in NYC look like these days? Green fashion boutique Kaight was packed with well-wishers, who chowed down on delicious vegan cupcakes and slurped up drinks made with organic vodka . Two comfort foods that never go out of style, especially in troubled times. And it was fun to run into a few fellow NYC-based environmental journalists and bloggers: Ben Jervey -- author of The Big Green Apple -- Brian Clark Howard from The Daily Green, and Jill Fehrenbacher of Inhabitat (where blogger Adrienne Jeffries described the guide as a " roadmap to greener living for the modern girl.")

Starre has cleverly hidden a real guide to living sustainably in an upbeat, chatty book that never sounds overbearing or holier-than-thou.   She covers diverse topics, from why it might matter to spluge now and then on organic clothing (think avoiding pesticide laden cottons and toxic fabric dyes), to fixing up the clothing you've already got, to picking energy-efficient refrigerators, to finding eco-safe pet supplies, to taking a shot at growing some of your own food.

(Granted, I'm not objective about a friend's book. So I hope you'll seek out a copy at your  local bookstore and decide for yourself.)

This isn't overtly hardcore eco-wonkery -- those already convinced about the need to cut energy use, tax carbon, plant trees, or upcycle outmoded clothing into newly chic threads instead of buying new, might find it too basic.  But they also might find a few tips they didn't know before, like mixing vegan cocktails, or (real section heading) "How to talk to your friends and family about being an eco chick without freaking them out."

If that doesn't grab you, think about it this way: the advent of eco-fashion has helped push environmentalism out of its hemp-tunic-and-Birkenstocks edge of society, and into the mainstream, broadening public support for conservation, saving energy, curbing global warming, and other good green policies.

If you've got a teenage or twenty-something daughter, niece, or female friend who both likes her fashionable clothing (thank-you-very-much), and wants to "save the planet" but doesn't know quite where to begin, The Eco-Chick Guide to Life might be a welcome holiday gift.