Feature

Luna's Mandala is excited to announce a new Feature. The Feature page will provide detailed information and a series of pictoral examples that will be periodically updated every three months.

These beautiful examples are available at the shop for purchase. Or email luna@lunasmandala.com if you are interested in anything.

Our current feature:

Going Green! What does that mean????

When I think of going green many things come to mind: That being said though I could write a book about the wonderous things there are out there on this subject, but my real passion is bringing these things to YOU, my customers!

I recently have been finding the coolest items that are considered GREEN ~ not only are these items helping out the planet, they are beautiful, creative and useful! My favorite expansion in Luna’s is my organic Clothing line!

Global Girlfriend ™ - this amazing new line goes from 100% Organic Clothing to recycled items ~ and they are all fair-trade! Global Girlfriend works “with over 20 women’s non-profit organizations globally to design products that not only fit your unique style but really make a difference!”

My other new line is Earth’s Creations ™ - this amazing line uses nothing but natural materials (100% organic cotton, hemp and bamboo), is clay dyed (WOW!), AND made right here in the U.S.!!!

Luna’s is also carrying a fun variety of re-purposed items that are really cool, funky AND as a bonus they are keeping stuff out of landfills!!!

Examples of items:
~ Recycled tire-tube women’s wallets & purses

~ Recycled seat belt wallets and cosmetic bags
~ Recycled cement bag key chains and cosmetic bags
~ Recycled paper purses, photo holders, jewelry, & art

~ Left over clay pottery & necklaces
~ Recycled silverware jewelry
~ Recycled Burka, flour bag, banner and silk purses
~ Recycled Scrabble tile jewelry

The items just keep getting better so be sure and check them out at the shop!

Now you ask – what is all this about recycled, fair-trade, organic cotton, hemp & bamboo????

RECYCLED:
These are items that some brilliant person saw and thought of a way to make something repurposed to keep them out of the land fills! Anything (as you can see from the list above…) is game! Now why recycle…well, why not?! Even if you are not on board that we are destroying the earth, why do we have to have so much waste? When we can make use of items or help them find their way to recycling centers we are doing our own little part of having pride in the footprints we are leaving for future generations!

More info on recycling:

Mother Earth Recycling (285 Corridor) : www.motherearthrecycling.org

EDS Waste Solutions www.edswaste.com

Evergreen Recycling: (303)399-6351 ext. 160; Located behind the King Soopers in Bergen Park and are open Friday – Sunday 8 a.m. til 4 p.m. and on Mondays from 11 a.m. til 7 p.m.

---

FAIR-TRADE
If we are able to make sure that global workers are able to get fair wages for their labor (and to ensure that children are not being exploited)…all the better ~ right?! Try to buy fair trade when you can…the whole world is better off for it….

About Fair Trade

To make the fair trade system work, relationships must be established between low-income farmers and artisans in developing countries and marketers in regions like Western Europe and North America where their products are consumed. Those involved in the business of buying and selling fair trade products accept a number of basic principles, including:

• producers must receive a stable minimum price for their products;
• producers must be democratically organized;
• forced or child labor is not to be used in the production of any product;
• producers get financial and technical advice as needed;
• there is support for social and economic development projects in the given community; and
• production methods are environmentally friendly.

Source: http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/123086/1/

---

ORGANIC COTTON
“Of all organic fibers, organic cotton is one of the most popular. Here are some facts about the growing organic cotton industry.

What is "organic cotton?"

Organic cotton is grown using methods and materials that have a low impact on the environment. Organic production systems replenish and maintain soil fertility, reduce the use of toxic and persistent pesticides and fertilizers, and build biologically diverse agriculture. Organic cotton is grown without the use of toxic and persistent pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. In addition, federal regulations prohibit the use of genetically engineered seed for organic farming.

Organic cotton was grown in 22 countries worldwide with the Top Ten producer countries led by India and including (in order of rank) Turkey, Syria, Tanzania, China, United States, Uganda, Peru, Egypt and Burkina Faso. Approximately 220,000 farmers grew the fiber.

There is no way to get around the fact that organic cotton items are anywhere from 10 to 45 percent more expensive than conventional cotton products. But before you put back those stylish organic cotton jeans or absorbent organic cotton bath towels, remember what you are paying for: clean water, fresh air, healthy farmers, fair wages, global economic progression, sweatshop-free production and more.

With organic cotton, you are paying more initially, but that cost is passed not only to the retailer, but to the weavers, seamstresses, pickers and growers who made that item’s production possible. In turn, you are also investing in your own health with a garment that will not off-gas (yup, just like toxic paints) chemicals or dyes that can impact all of your body’s basic systems.”

Source: http://life.gaiam.com/article/how-eco-organic-cotton-facts-7-questions

---

HEMP
The products that can be made from hemp number over 25,000.

SCIENTIFIC FACTS

• While industrial hemp and marijuana may look somewhat alike to an untrained eye, an easily trained eye can easily distinguish the difference.
• Industrial hemp has a THC content of between 0.05 and 1%. Marijuana has a THC content of 3% to 20%. To receive a standard psychoactive dose would require a person to power-smoke 10-12 hemp cigarettes over an extremely short period of time. The large volume and high temperature of vapor, gas and smoke would be almost impossible for a person to withstand.
• Hemp fibers are longer, stronger, more absorbent and more mildew-resistant than cotton.
• Fabrics made of at least one-half hemp block the sun's UV rays more effectively than other fabrics.
• Hemp was grown commercially (with increasing governmental interference) in the United States until the 1950s.
• Over 30 industrialized democracies do distinguish hemp from marijuana. International treaties regarding marijuana make an exception for industrial hemp.
• Canada now again allows the growing of hemp.

ECOLOGY FACTS

• Hemp can be made into fine quality paper. The long fibers in hemp allow such paper to be recycled several times more than wood-based paper.
• Because of its low lignin content, hemp can be pulped using less chemicals than with wood. Its natural brightness can obviate the need to use chlorine bleach, which means no extremely toxic dioxin being dumped into streams. A kinder and gentler chemistry using hydrogen peroxide rather than chlorine dixoide is possible with hemp fibers.
• Hemp grows well in a variety of climates and soil types. It is naturally resistant to most pests, precluding the need for pesticides. It grows tightly spaced, out-competing any weeds, so herbicides are not necessary. It also leaves a weed-free field for a following crop.
• Hemp can displace cotton which is usually grown with massive amounts of chemicals harmful to people and the environment. 50% of all the world's pesticides are sprayed on cotton.
• Hemp can displace wood fiber and save forests for watershed, wildlife habitat, recreation and oxygen production, carbon sequestration (reduces global warming), and other values.
• Hemp can yield 3-8 dry tons of fiber per acre. This is four times what an average forest can yield.

HEALTH FACTS

• At a volume level of 81%, hemp oil is the richest known source of polyunsaturated essential fatty acids (the "good" fats). It's quite high in some essential amino acids, including gamma linoleic acid (GLA), a very rare nutrient also found in mother's milk.

Prepared by the North American Industrial Hemp Council, October 1997

Source: http://naihc.org/hemp_information/hemp_facts.html

---

BAMBOO
Better for you

• ‘Bamboo Dry’ – absorbs and evaporates sweat in a split second. It doesn’t stick to the skin. Its extraordinary natural breathability keeps you comfortable and dry for longer.
• 'Bamboo Thermo-control’ – bamboo fabric is highly breathable in hot weather and also keeps you significantly warmer in the cold than traditional fabrics. Keeping you more comfortable in all temperatures - ‘Air conditioned clothing’
• Bamboo clothing is anti static, so it sits very well next to your skin, not clinging to it. It's also UV protective (it cuts out 98% of harmful UV rays) and anti fungal, so it's just better, whether it's on you in the Alps or stuffed at the bottom of your bag for days on end
• For sensitive or allergy prone skin, bamboo is perfect, for several reasons listed more fully below.

Bamboo is incredibly soft

That's just the way it is, naturally. Wearing a bamboo T-shirt for example, is like wearing cashmere, but for next to the skin.

Bamboo is smooth and luxuriously comfortable

At a microscopic level, bamboo fibre has a round surface. Because of this, it’s very smooth and sits perfectly next to the skin. Petrol based synthetic fibres can sometimes irritate the skin and they also start to smell really quickly!

‘Bamboo Dry’

Wicks away moisture keeping you comfortable and dry.

Bamboo is the fastest growing plant in the world, mainly because it has extraordinary water absorbency which helps it to grow fast. In fabric form it retains this unique, remarkable property. It’s 3-4 times more absorbent than cotton. It 'wicks' away moisture from the body which then evaporates, keeping you - naturally - drier and more comfortable. When combined with 'Bamboo Thermo-control' qualities, you have an incredibly flexible addition to your wardrobe.

‘Thermo-control’

Bamboo is remarkably breathable. In the heat, bamboo is naturally cool to the touch and this property is maintained in its fabric form. The cross-section of the bamboo fiber is filled with various micro-gaps and micro-holes. It has much better moisture absorption and ventilation. It's also very warm in cold weather, because of the same micro structure; as a base layer, warm air gets trapped next to the skin.

Bamboo clothing is strong and durable.

Repeated tests show this, and also that bamboo fibre has a high abrasion-proof capacity and also tenacity. The same bamboo used for scaffolding to build skyscrapers in Hong Kong was always going to be strong!

For sensitive or allergy prone skin, bamboo is perfect
-Lack of harsh chemical treatments which can irritate skin
-Fibre is smooth and round, so is a non-irritant
-Bam garments achieved a score of 50 on the UPF scale (Ultraviolet Protection Scale), which amounts to a 98% reduction in UV activity reaching your skin.

Better for the environment

• Bamboo is 100% naturally grown, without assistance from man. Our bamboo is 100% sustainable
• Bamboo thrives naturally without using any pesticides or fertilizers
• Bamboo fibre is 100% biodegradable
• As the fastest growing plant in the world, bamboo grows to its maximum height in about 3 months and reaches maturity in 3-4 years. It spreads rapidly across large areas. Because of this, bamboo is known to improve soil quality in degraded and eroded areas of land.

As a grass, bamboo is cut, not uprooted, also helping soil stability. Bamboo also can grow on hill slopes where nothing else is viable.

The yield (i.e. the amount of product) you get from an acre of bamboo is 10 times greater than the yield you get from cotton. In an age where land use is under enormous pressure this is huge.

The water requirement for bamboo is minute, mainly just from what falls. As opposed to cotton, whose water requirement per shirt's-worth is huge.

If clothing made from bamboo becomes popular, it means more bamboo plantations, which means more photosynthesis and less greenhouse gas. “The greatest challenge facing mankind” would get just a little easier.

In contrast.....

• Synthetic performance fabrics are made from petrochemicals, a non-renewable fossil fuel. They go to make clothes which get smelly really quickly.
• Clothing made from bamboo is nature's answer to our needs for everyday fabric, in an environmentally sustainable form. It's just our luck that it's so much better as well!

Now just one more thing about going Green:
Please recycle what you can when you can…every little bit helps, and remember:

“Nobody made a greater mistake
Than he who did nothing
Because he could only do alittle”
~Edmund Burk

To view past FEATURES, click below:

Fluorite (Archive 1)
Selenite (Archive 2)
Animal Carvings (Archive 3)
Fossils (Archive 4)
Mandala (Archive 5)
Calcite (Archive 6)
Obsidian (Archive 7)
Going Green (Archive 8)
Quartz (Archive 9)
Kyanite (Archive 10)
Our New Space (Archive 11)

Return to Homepage