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The Uncommon Life

The Uncommon Life

Why WindowDry? #Giveaway

October 6, 2010

For the sake of Janice Jacoby’s house guests, we’re giving her the first WindowDry rack in our giveaway:

“I line dry as much as possible but here in Florida we have so many unexpected thunderstorms it is hard to do for much of the year. I actually have a line stretched across my porch that has almost strangled unsuspecting visitors! I sure would love this and so would my company.”

Stay tuned— we’ll be giving away two more WindowDry racks later this week with some more info about how to join the line-drying movement with our friends at Project Laundry List.

Made just outside of Seattle, the WindowDry rack is a great solution for urban line-dryers or clothesline aficionados caught in rainy weather. The rack folds up easily when not in use, and can be hung in a shower, on a window, or on tile walls.

How did the WindowDry rack come about?

Laura Bridenbeck says, “We live in Seattle where the climate is wet, so our drying happens mostly indoors. Brent developed the Windowdry rack out of necessity because the large, bulky rack I was using was continually being knocked down by our 90 pound golden retriever and 4-year-old daughter. He decided to build a rack that could be mounted up and out of the way yet be near or on a window.”

But does one small rack hold a full load of laundry?

“One of the first questions people ask after seeing this rack is how much weight does it support using suction cups? It supports over 25 pounds (average load of wet laundry weighs 11 lbs)and we have even tested it with our 36 pound daughter!”

Today we’re giving away one WindowDry rack to a lucky reader who’s ready to make the switch to line drying. Just leave a comment below, and let us know why you want to be a line-dryer. Winner announced at 6 pm ET today.

The Uncommon Life

Buyer’s Dilemma

October 5, 2010

Right now we’re making our final picks for the catalog we’ll send to you in January. Remember the sari scarf? We carry these beautiful handmade scarves in turquoise and cinnamon.

Our buyer Erin is in the middle of deciding what new colors to bring in. She just sent me this email:

“Saris are by nature brightly colored and full of prints, so I’ve got a lot of color options to choose from. Since the patchwork look is such a big trend right now, it made sense to make a scarf of different contrasting colors that also complement each other. I’ve got the photographs of the sari scarf samples and they all look so fantastic, I need help deciding which scarf to feature in our catalog.”


Blue and Purple

Red and Cream

Orange, Green and Yellow

Purple and Pink

Well I’m turning it over to you. Help Erin decide, by leaving a comment for your favorite color combo. Thanks for your help!

The Uncommon Life

Get Your Green: In The News This Week

October 4, 2010

Want to make a difference? Line-drying your clothes is an easy and effective way to reduce your carbon footprint. This week we’re celebrating 10/10/10 with our friends at Project Laundry List. Stay tuned to theGoods for a chance to win a WindowDry rack and join the line-drying movement.

Break out your overalls: Painting your roof white could help combat global warming. “Cool roofs are one of the quickest and lowest-cost ways we can reduce or global carbon emissions and begin the hard work of slowing climate change,” says Energy Secretary Steven Chu.  [CNBC]

Roofs strike again: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed a new blue-and-green colored roofing system for catching and storing rainwater, meant to reduce sewer overflows and lower costs by $2.4 billion over the next 20 years.  [Reuters]

More than a drop in the bucket: The 2010 Sustaining Colorado Watersheds conference kicks off in Vail tomorrow through Thursday, October 7. Speakers like Jon Waterman will be pipping up on how to maintain and protect our waterways.  [Colorado Watershed Assembly]

In the meantime, we’ll be doing out part to reduce water usage in Brooklyn with a cool, patent-pending product that’s just hit the U.S.: the water pebble. This brilliant device tracks your running water and helps quicken showers by incrementally shortening recommended stop times. We’re particularly excited to be its exclusive U.S. retailer. Check it out here. [UncommonGoods via Water Pebble]

Efficiency standards might get more mileage: Fuel efficiency standards for the next generation of cars and trucks are looking up–literally. Regulators of near-future vehicle production are said to be raising standards from anywhere between 47 to 62 miles per gallon by 2025. [CNBC]

Oceana’s latest energy report is a win-wind: Offshore wind “outperforms” oil and gas by producing 30% more electricity, costing $36 billion less than fossil fuel production and creating “about three times as many jobs per dollar invested.” Read all about it here. [Eco Friendly Mag via Wind Energy Update via Oceana]

Join the countdown to global campaign 10/10/10! It’s a high-energy movement for reducing global emissions in 2010 by 10%, and it’s gearing up this Sunday. We’ve been biking to work these days–how will you chop your emissions this year? For details on 10/10/10, click here. [10/10/10]

The Uncommon Life

Get Your Green: Serving You Sustainable News

September 28, 2010

Eco Salon finds a mod, green home worth dreaming about: meet the itHouse. [Eco Salon]

Dutch designers are having an eco-friendly moment: Architects, graphic designers, fashion designers and jewelers developed a collection of sustainable work for new exhibition reTHINK at the Textiel Museum in the Netherlands. Passing through Tilburg? Send us pictures of the solar-powered textile robot. [Eco Fashion World via The Textiel Museum]

Here’s looking at you, Greenpoint. Newton Creek, the backyard waterway separating Brooklyn and Queens, gets a Superfund nod from the EPA, which promises a “thorough environmental cleanup for the long-neglected” waterway. [The New York Times]

Get creative, activists: Grassroots initiatives around Atlantic Rising, an educational organization focused on promoting shoreline erosion awareness, taped yellow “caution” tape around a Nantucket lighthouse. “The more of this, the better,” reports columnist Andrew Revkin. [Dot Earth, The New York Times]

Because all cool things start in a lab: Japanese scientist invents a machine that converts plastic into oil. A magic box that recycles and restores a precious resource! We want one in our kitchen. Scratch that: We want four. [You Tube via Eco Friendly Mag]

While we’re on oil: Researchers say the U.S. military needs to ween itself from the slick stuff by 2040 if it wants to stay strong (read: eliminate weak spots, like a 77% operational dependency on petroleum). [Tree Hugger via the Center For A New American Security]

Today’s electric slide: A study released Monday by the Baker Institute claims that if 30% of Americans drove electric cars, U.S. oil use would drop by 2.5 million barrels a day and reduce oil imports by 20%. [CNBC via the Baker Institue For Public Policy]

Speaking of green machines, the award for most concentrated electric car charging stations goes to …. Elk Horn, Iowa! Surprised? [Tree Hugger via The Wall Street Journal]

The Uncommon Life

UncommonGoods Goes to Washington

September 23, 2010

Yesterday, I was part of a panel discussion sponsored by at the Social Investment Forum in Washington DC to talk about sustainability and business.

Our panel was moderated by Paul Hilton, Director of Sustainable Investment Business Strategy at Calvert and included Andrew Kassoy, co-founder of B Lab, and New York State Senator Daniel Squadron.

We talked about the role of benefit corporations (a new legal form of company that has a social mission, as well as a goal of making money) and the impact public policy can have on these businesses. B Corporations, which include Method, Seventh Generation, King Arthur Flour and UncommonGoods, must receive a passing score on a rigorous, comprehensive list of sustainable practices. I spoke about how the B Corporation audit encouraged us to make changes, such as extending medical benefits to family members, implementing energy saving measures, investing more in learning opportunities for our team members, providing incentives to bicycle commuters, and formalizing our whistleblower and flexible work schedule policies.

Andrew discussed how his team succeeded in getting legislation passed establishing benefit corporations in Maryland and Vermont. He also discussed State Senator Squadron’s leadership in gaining 60-1 passage in the New York Senate, leaving it in the hands of the Assembly. Similar legislation will be introduced in a number of states in the coming months, including a number of states that tend to be more conservative, as this is an issue that should be truly bi-partisan – it merely provides owners with the choice of establishing their business under this type of legal framework.

If you want to see this happen in your state, reach out to Andrew Greenblatt at B Lab: agreenblatt(at)bcorporation(dot)net.

We’ll be keeping you posted on our progress.

– David Bolotsky

The Uncommon Life

Talking About Corporate Responsibility

September 22, 2010

Today our CEO, David Bolotsky, is joining Andrew Kassoy, founder of B Lab, and other business leaders on a panel discussion about sustainably-minded businesses and the laws that could make it easier for companies to become more ethical, sustainable and accountable to our customers.

Learn more about the panelists and the Social Investment Forum, happening today in Washington, DC.

And of course, part of our commitment to a sustainable business model means that we’re accountable to you. If you have any suggestions for how we can make our business better, leave a comment below!

The Uncommon Life

UncommonGoods Heads to the Farm

September 20, 2010

Last Friday, a group of UncommonGoods staffers headed out to Governor’s Island for a day of volunteering at the Added Value Farm.

(L to R) Mary Catherine, Marcus, Sara, Shammyann and Sarah are pulling up weeds from the okra, cabbage, collards and lettuce crops. The produce is donated and sold locally, and the farms offer educational programming and work opportunities for children and teens in South Brooklyn.

The Uncommon Life

Eat, Pray, Love, Wear

September 16, 2010

We wouldn’t want to imply that a fashion accessory can bring you the sort of answers that Julia Roberts seeks in her new film, Eat, Pray, Love, but we did want to point out the handmade, fair trade black floral belt that Julia Roberts wears as she explores Italy, India and Indonesia.

We just learned this morning from the belt’s designer, Jenny Krauss. Jenny works with artisans in Bolivia and Peru who handweave these belts from a curly wood thread.  She found meaning in her life by working to make sure these women had a market to sell their crafts. “It’s important to give and empower those less fortunate,” she says. “Most people don’t have a lot of opportunity to better their lives, so it feels good to be able to contribute something empowering and sustainable.”

You can support these fair trade artisans, get started on your own personal journey, and pick out your own belt at UncommonGoods.

From what I hear, Julia Roberts’ character eats a lot of pasta while she’s traveling through Italy. Luckily this black floral belt can be let out a few notches as needed.