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Making lifestyle choices that won’t make Mother Earth weep (or lash out at us with hurricanes and tsunamis) is often not very glamorous.

Ecologically sound living still largely means recycling, Birkenstocks and all soy everything.

However, at fashion week events from Spain to Scandinavia this year, I found beaucoup evidence that the issue of sustainability in fashion and design will dictate ever more of our trends.

Word to Irene, this shift is long overdue. Here are 5 ways to please both Mother Earth and the style police all at once.

Ieishah Clelland
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The Bling’ed Out Bike

No gas, less traffic, and a source of exercise that also gets you where you need to be, the bike is the new smart car.

Here in Europe, women are hopping onto their pastel-colored ten speeds in perfect hair, lipstick, and high heeled shoes.

At Barcelona Fashion Week, sparkly Swarovski bikes took center stage. Lathered in crystals, this multicolored dream machine may not be in everyone’s price range, but the days of blend-in two wheelers are coming to an end.

In cities where bikes are fast becoming the favored mode of transportation, folks are tricking them out with bright colors, beaded baskets and the like. I do wonder what’s next … Schwinn rims?

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Shop Vintage

Let’s face it, in this economy, how many of us can really afford the must-have bags we drool over in Vogue? Without robbing our firstborns of a chance at higher education?

Vintage can be very expensive, but with a good eye and a bit of patience, you can find an old Marc Jacobs faves, for instance, for as little as 50 bucks. Reasonable prices aside, when it comes to vintage clothing, printed summer dresses and authentic rock T’s, per se, no one will be wearing what you are. Very rarely will you find two of the same thing in a vintage shop.

But by far the best thing about vintage is that some child worker somewhere in the world, has sacrificed his/her education and future to make the designer bags we crave and covet. An animal has already sacrificed his skin for it to be made. We recycle these items (reduce waste, and karmically honor those sacrifices) when buying vintage.

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Designer Reusables

The truth is that reusable, say, travel coffee mugs, or grocery bags honestly look better than plastic or paper joints. In Spain, many supermarkets charge you for bags (no joke!) so of course, I bring my own. Old ladies and other folks unconcerned cloth their image walk around with what look like rolling backpacks. From a style standpoint, no bueno. Enter companies like Lauren Bush’s FEED. The proceeds from FEED’s “Environmentally friendly and artisan-made” bags (and T-shirts) have already provided 102 million children in 87 countries with over 3.9 million tons of food. This is especially useful for those of us grocery shopping for 2 or fewer.

Also at Barcelona Fashion Week, I came across Custo Barcelona’s travel coffee cup, all purple top and girly, but it got me thinking about not just styling, but trash-proofing my coffee addiction. And there are more masculine versions available, like the line of traveler’s cups by Bodum that look sleek and sexy like Herve Leger creations, but can reduce your paper cup disposal by 100%.

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Eco-Vacations

Everyone should, once in their lives, lodge at a treehouse. Showers hiding among the rocks. Monkeys everywhere. The freshest, from-the-vine food you’ll ever taste. It can be rustic and luxe at the same time. These days, countries all over the world are fashioning their own versions of vacay spots that Mother Nature would approve of. One of the most interesting is Treehotel in Sweden, which began when the founders asked themselves this question: “Why not create a comfortable, well designed hotel which allows visitors to live in harmony with nature amongst the trees?” Each room sits, literally, among the branches of the Swedish woods, with names like “The UFO” and “The Bird’s Nest”. Each room, also, is decorated exactly as it’s name suggests.

Alternatively, if you prefer your holidays have a bit more of a tropical twist, look to South America. Earlier this year I predicted that the Guianas (French Guiana, Suriname, and Guyana), just at the mouth of the Amazon, would become major tourist destinations in the years to come.

Only months later the Surama Eco-Village, located in the Pakaraima Mountains of Guyana, was recognized by the Caribbean Tourism Organization for Excellence in Sustainable Tourism. Guyana lies just at the mouth of the Amazon, with millions of acres of rainforest to explore. Also, the tour guides speak English and the exchange rate means you can enjoy a high quality eco-vacation without breaking the bank. The indigenous communities in this region need our patronage almost as much as the earth itself needs our compassion.

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Walking Good

Jeffrey Campbell’s sky high platform shoes have raised the shoe game to almost phobia-inducing heights. And though I must say its exciting to see women going OTT (that’s “over the top”) from below the ankle, it isn’t as exciting as the Jeffrey Campbell’s new eco-Friendly Collection. His collaboration with Los Angeles boutique, Convert, features platforms and flats made from recyclable materials. Same hotness, higher vibration! Lucky for Cali chicks, these special editions will only be sold in Convert’s Berkeley area boutique starting September. I’d bet my non-eco-friendly Campbells that demand will bring them straight to the Internets in no time flat.

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In the meantime, check out Swedish HasBeens, a Scandinavian clog revival. The founders were cleaning out their mother’s attic a few years ago and found her old clogs. They decided to pay homage by creating a line of shoes that stays faithful to the 70’s originals in terms of design, but are made from recyclable materials, as well.

Swedish Hasbeens teamed up with H&M for the spring 2010 season, producing cheaper versions of their usual throwback foot-fare for the masses. They sold out so quickly, those of us not in the know blinked and missed it. The Lace- Up High boots in a candy color are my personal favorites for this fall/winter season–they were all over the runways at Copenhagen Fashion Week.