Hi Everyone,

I hope you are all enjoying your summer and spending time with loved ones.  I wanted to tell you about a very important and vital organization called the Environmental Working Group.  They are a non-profit organization, and their mission is to protect the public health and the environment from dangerous products.  They are particularly focused on informing the public of products that may be dangerous for children, but of course this information would apply to people of all ages (your beloved pets too!).  Their latest report investigates home cleaning products, and exposes some of the most dangerous products…..some will surprise you.  I would highly recommend that you visit their website at www.ewg.org, and sign up for their e-mail updates.  This information can help to keep you, your family, your pets, and the environment safer.  There is an excellent report on sunscreens as well. This information allows you to support those companies that are doing good for the planet, and to choose not to spend your consumer dollars on those that are not.  The entire website is very rich with useful, actually critical information. Please send me your replies with your feedback.  Take good care, and remember, Dream Green!

Hey everyone,

I hope the  new year has begun in fabulous fashion for all of you!  I had a thought this morning (amazing, but  true!), of a way to start the day with fun, health and connecting to the ones you love ….. how about putting on 3 of your favorite dance tunes and dancing with your kids right after rising in the morning.  It is great fun, gets the kids and you energized for the day, brings smiles and happiness, and brings home the value of getting your body moving every day.  It is not a substitute for serious exercise later that day, but it is a great  way to start each day.  Healthy lifestyle, including laughter and feelings of happiness, are a great complement to a healthy home. Let me know what you think.

Some great new products are in the pipeline, so please stay tuned ( a great day to do this is to sign up for my Newsletter in the Home Page).

Cheers to all.

Laura

Holiday Sale on Organic Cotton Tablecloths and Shower Curtains

The Holidays are upon us again, and it is my favorite time of year!  I treasure the Holiday season because it means lots of gatherings of wonderful family and friends, and an extra special opportunity to be mindful of all the things we have to be grateful for, and to share with those who are less fortunate.
If you are looking for a lovely hostess gift, or a little something for yourself, please take a look at the Dream Green organic cotton tablecloths, they are all on sale through the month of November with savings of 18-36%.  This is the Chocolate Dahlias organic cotton tablecloth … imagine this with our elegant organic linen napkins, and a big bold red poinsettia on top for a great looking holiday table.

Chocolate Dahlias Organic Cotton tablecloth

In addition, all organic cotton shower curtains are on sale as well throughout November, just in case you want to add a fresh touch to your bath, with a savings of 18-27% off.

Ruby Garden Organic Cotton shower curtain

Take a look at this gem, our Ruby Garden Organic Cotton shower curtain, a great way to add a little holiday ‘red’ to a guest bath, or your own bath.
Bath mats (of course they are organic cotton too) are on sale as well!
Of course, free shipping on everything, no minimum!
Chris and I wish you and yours a fabulous start to the Holiday season, and please contact us if you are interested in any of our organic cotton fabrics which we now sell by the yard, or if you would like additional information about custom curtains.
…..and please remember, when you dream of beautifying your interior environment, always Dream Green.

Radical Transparency and Organic Cotton Chocolate Dahlias

Well, time certainly flies when one is busy….. much too long since the last blog post – I am really trying to educate myself on current issues and breakthroughs regarding our environment (interior and exterior), being environmentally responsible, our collective health, and an assortment of other topics.  I thought that for this blog post I would recap a great book I just finished.  The book is entitled Ecological Intelligence by Daniel Goleman.  Mr. Goleman was a science reporter for the NY Times, has authored a number of international bestselling books and was twice nominated for a Pulitzer Price.  His previous works were focused on ‘social and emotional intelligence’ topics, and in his current work he extends the ‘intelligence’ concept to the environment.

In Ecological Intelligence, Mr. Goleman provides an insightful and rich discussion on the unknown impacts from our world of consumerism, and the need for what he calls ‘radical transparency’.  Radical transparency is the concept of industry providing complete transparency about the ecological impacts of all aspects of their product….. from the chemical constituents included in their products, to the social impacts created by their manufacture and distribution.  Throughout the book he shares interviews and conversations with experts in various fields such as medicine, biology, chemistry and psychology, as well as executives from various companies.  He explores the evolution of innovative ideas and products, such as the GoodGuide, which is currently in development.  The GoodGuide is a mega database, to be expanded by various contributors,  and will provide customers with a product rating based upon the health and environmental impacts of that product.  If a consumer wishes to delve deeper into the details, the GoodGuide plans to include deep layers of information for those who wish to draw their own conclusions.  The bottom line is that if radical transparency becomes available to consumers, they will choose those products which do the least harm to their own bodies, the environment or to other social systems, and that this in turn would apply pressure to industry to continually lessen their negative impacts.  Dream Green Organics can’t wait to be included in the GoodGuide!!

We have added some new designs, like our Chocolate Dahlias products, so please check out the website for additional organic cotton duvet covers, bed skirts and companion products.

…..and please remember, when you dream of beautifying your interior environment, always Dream Green.

GOTS Certification: Gorgeous, Healthy, Sustainable Home Textiles

Greetings dear readers! This month Chris and I launched Dream Green Organics, and we could not be more enthusiastic and hopeful about the future of our little homegrown company. If you checked out the ‘About Us’ page, you know that we are a mother and son team whose mission is to provide really beautiful, stylish, affordable, healthy and environmentally responsible textiles to those in search of such goods. It has been a long road, learning many lessons along the way, but with the help of many, and sheer persistence, we finally made it to launch!

The goal of this blog is to provide more information about our eco-friendly products, as well as share helpful or interesting information on a variety of topics related to living a gorgeous, healthy and environmentally sustainable lifestyle. If you have any specific questions or ideas for topics, please don’t hesitate to let us know.

In this first blog post I want to thank Harmony Susalla, the creative genius behind the beautiful fabrics that our first product offerings are sewn from. Her eye for design and color are very apparent when you take a look at the gorgeous fabrics she has created. We were inspired by her joyful array of textiles which you can see in the beautiful Dream Green products such as the Lavender Peonies and The Meadow organic cotton duvet covers, as well as coordinating pillow shams, shower curtains and other items. We plan to offer products from Harmony’s future inspired textile collections as well.

All of the Harmony Art fabric collections conform to the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), the worldwide leader in certification of producers of organic fibers. GOTS certification is exceptional because it means the entire textile supply chain must meet strict criteria before a fabric can be certified, from the growing and harvesting of the raw materials, right up to the processing and manufacturing of the fabric. The GOTS certification not only ensures that the environmental standards are met, but that social standards are also met…. this is particularly important in countries where people may be exploited. For more information on GOTS you can visit their website at www.global-standard.org.

Other items that Dream Green Organics offers are certified organic cotton sheet sets, towels and bath mats. These items are 100% organic cotton products imported from India, and GOTS certified. They are colored with eco-friendly dyes, many of which are made from herbs or plants such as madder root for the reds, indigo for the blues, neem leaves for the greens, and turmeric for the golds.
Dream Green Organics is committed to providing quality products, produced from certified organic or other eco-friendly fabrics, so as to ensure that all of our products promote healthy home environments. Most of our product offerings are sewn in the United States, and in fact are sewn locally in the Northern California area where we have our Dream Green home office. In an effort to keep all aspects of our business as environmentally responsible as possible, one of our many ‘green’ company policies is to not ship products in any plastic, but instead wrap in a modest cloak of tissue paper secured with natural jute or twine.

Stay tuned for our next blog post, coming soon, but in the meantime please have a look at the Dream Green products on our website and see if you are inspired to enhance your bedroom, bathroom, tabletop or perhaps another area of your home with a healthy and environmentally responsible fresh new look. Perhaps you can donate the items you are replacing to a local shelter for women, children or the homeless…. the ‘pay it forward’ ethos.

Remember, when you dream of beautifying your interior environment, always Dream Green.