Organic Bug Artist Spotlight: Josh Jakus- Founder of FUZ

A new year brings more new artists and designs to the Organic Bug family.  We were thrilled to add FUZ; an innovative line of modern home accessories to our sustainable collection.  Designer Josh Jakus of Berkeley, California is the artist behind these smart and elegant pieces for the home.   His work is inspired by the connection between form and function.

Josh embraces what he calls a “strict material sensibility~using materials in their simplest form so intrinsic qualities show through~and a rigorous design efficiency that strives to get the most impact out of the fewest moves.”

We are not surprised to learn that Josh is an architect by training with an M.Arch from UC Berkeley. Studying architecture was a way to continue his lifelong interest in the nature of structure, space and materials. With his understanding of the built environment and how it is inhabited, coupled with his innate curiosity and passion for pushing the envelope, Josh founded his design practice in 2005.  He began by designing pressed wool felt UM Handbags made from industrial factory excess and went on to experiment with other post-industrial waste materials.  Some of his current products the Josh Jakus FUZ Winepocket made from recycled grey wool from factory excess (featured on our homepage)  and (I love this one!) the 6-Pack Set of Coasters made from recycled rubber from tires and other factory excess.

All of the Josh Jakus collections are made in the USA. By producing small batches to meet customer demand, the company not only stays lean and local, they can better oversee quality and offer reasonable pricing that remains competitive. This labor of love keeps Josh in the driver’s seat and I, for one, am happy to ride along and enjoy the scenery.

Happiest making things that are meant to be used, he hopes his functional designs will attempt to foster a more intuitive understanding of all objects in the people who use them.

Green Living Online Resource Review: Focus Organic

We strive to make Feed Your Eco a valuable resource for anyone searching for ideas and information on healthy and eco-friendly living; but we also want to acknowledge the many voices on the blogosphere that contribute to this movement. There are numerous online resources and blogs that making a real change by inspiring their readers to make simple and necessary changes that will have a lasting and positive impact on the environment.

This month, I came across Focus Organic, an open blogging community that is ideal for green living advocates who wish to share their ideas- but do not necessarily have the time to start and maintain their own blog. I love that the site encourages their readers share their knowledge and perspectives by submitting their blog entries (all posts are reviewed)- and the result is a wonderful range of ideas and tips that is not limited to just 1-2 authors.

The primary intent of this blog is to help educate people on the facts about organic products…but the site also covers a range of topics that promote a more sustainable lifestyle. I like how they categorize posts according to our daily routine: cleaning, food, money, transportation, well being, fashion, etc. They also help by reviewing and recommending innovative products and suggest best practices to help incorporate “green living” into your day to day routine.

When you visit the site, be sure to check out their link page- I have bookmarked this page myself as a wonderful list of many online eco resources that are broken into helpful categories. The list they have compiled in an excellent place to start when researching on how to incorporate green living your life.  Be sure to check them out and let us know what you think (tell them Organic Bug sent ya!).

Want to Start a Grassroots Campaign?

Here are a few pointers of how to start a grassroots campaign. If you’re passionate about it, just like anything else, itwill be a success.

1. If you have an issue that you want to gain attention to, you must first know what it is that you want to change or accomplish before you start your campaign.

2. What’s the mission? Just like a business or non-profit, you need to have a mission for the campaign and a pitch that goes along with it. Within the mission, you must be able to articulate the goal(s). If you cannot do this, you either need to do some researching and brainstorming, or it might not be time to start your campaign. You must have a clear and focused plan.

3. Promote it – once you’re clear on what you want to accomplish and what you stand for, create promo items like flyers, signs, brochures, a website, social media accounts, etc., to help spread the word about your campaign. Make sure all the info you need people to know is on every piece of materials, you want it to be as easy as possible for them to join you and support the cause.

4. Who’s the spokesperson? This might be you, but make sure whoever it is, they are articulate, believe in your cause, and can handle the media. They are going to be the face for this cause and need to be able to represent it appropriately.

5. Contact your local, state and federal representatives and don’t give up, because you most likely won’t reach them the first time. Keep calling, emailing, and maybe even Tweeting them till you contact someone that will listen and might be able to help.

6. Money, money, money, money…MONEY! You’ll need to do some fundraising for your campaign. Most grassroots campaigns can be fairly inexpensive, but unless you are wealthy, you might run into a time where you need outside capital. You can do this by asking, accepting donations online, selling personal items, or you might find people just want to help monetarily because they believe in the cause. However it gets to you, make sure you….

7. Hire a CPA. You need someone on your side that knows your books which may end up saving you money down the road. Unless you know the ins and outs about taxes, tax codes, etc., then I would get a professional to help you out.

GrassrootsCampaigns.com is a great resource to help you gain support, find a team of organizers, and learn how to get funding.

Blog Action Day, 2009

I’ve taken a little bit of a different approach to this year’s Blog Action Day than other bloggers I’ve read. They all have amazing points and I encourage you to read as many as you can! I wanted a very positive post and talk about something very simple, but often forgotten, love.

Loving our planet means many things to many people. It could be cleaning up trash in our oceans at a meet-up, clean-up group, it could be setting up recycling bins in your homes or offices, it could be educating students and consumers about alternative energy, or it could just be taking in a deep breath of fresh airwhile spending time with nature and appreciating every step, every tree, every smell, every feeling.

When you love something you want to give your all to it. If you’ve ever been in love with someone, you know the feeling I’m talking about. What if we started loving the planet as much as we love one another, and start proving our love? What if we walked a little more lightly, a little more consciously, a little more graciously, on our beautiful mother nature?

On Blog Action Day, I want to tell the world to open our hearts to the environment and look at ways we can show some love. There are many organizations to get involved with, petitions to sign, people to educate, laws to learn and know about, and probably many things that you could easily incorporate into your own life. Take that step, ask questions, research online, and try to do something nice for our environment.

Cheers to today and to our beautiful planet, the one I love and hope you will too!

Do You Have What it Takes To Live a “No Impact” Lifestyle?

Many of you have probably heard the buzz about “No Impact Man”- an green living experiment by New Yorker Colin Beavan and his family. The premise of this story is Beavan, along with his wife, 2 year old daughter and family dog- give up their luxurious Manhattan lifestyle and commit to a full year of eliminating their “carbon footprint” by eating vegetarian, buying only local food, no toxic cleaning products, no electricity, no material consumption, no garbage, no cars, buses, or airplanes.

Colin blogs about his experiences (the good and the bad) in his widely followed blog: No Impact Man.  The experiment was so fascinating it was turned into a documentary:

As you see- this family goes to extremes to change their lifestyle and eliminate their impact on the environment.

What about you?  Could you do this for one year?  Give up electricity?  Meat?  Television?  Eating out?  Cars?  Shopping? Producing garbage?

How about just one week?  I came across the No Impact Challenge for those of us who are curious to test our limits and see what we can live without.

The No Impact Experiment is a one-week carbon cleanse.  It is a chance for you to see what a difference no-impact living can have on your quality of life. It’s not about giving up creature comforts but an opportunity for you to test whether the modern “conveniences” you take for granted are actually making you happier or just eating away at your time and money.

How would giving up modern conveniences change your quality of life?  Is this kind of challenge something you and your family could benefit from?

When I look at my own family and our daily patterns, it bothers me  how much time we spend disconnected from each other watching TV, movies, surfing on the computer, talking and texting on our cell phones, etc.  I also see how wasteful we can be in the name of convenience and how much money we spend of things that we do not need?  How would our health change if we committed ourselves to buying just locally grown seasonal fruits and vegetables?  It is a lot to think about- and I am not saying we all have to go to the extreme measures the Beavan family did.  But it is an interesting question.  Do think you have what it takes?