Is this garment good for your health? Did creating it use minimal resources and energy? Were the people that processed the fabric treated and compensated fairly? Are there synthetic chemicals or natural substances on it that will be absorbed by your skin? Is it organic, up-cycled, or second hand? Are the materials and stitchings high enough quality to endure for many years? Are your intentions in the best interest of the planet and your own vitality?

These are all vital questions that everyone should ask themselves before purchasing a garment. If your intentions are to wear something for many years, that was created leaving a minimal carbon footprint, with the best materials possible to actually improve your health, and support companies that treat their workers with respect - than you will be helping to heal yourself and the planet simultaneously - and will become a living example of how we are meant to dress in this age. With enough time, people, and conscious clothing, this school of thought will stretch far and wide, and inevitably be adopted on a much greater scale than we are seeing currently.

The re-birth of the hemp revolution in America is going to be a huge spark to help ignite this fire as well. Industrial hemp has recently been re-legalized on a federal level in the U.S., and is spawning a huge hemp industry in Oregon (where I reside), that is traditionally a timber state (but not for long), and medical cannabis state.

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Today I wanted to announce that a group of wonderful Steemians led by @SageScrub have put together a website where eco-conscious creators can sell, and even barter their natural products, without any fees or cost to the artists. This organization is called THE HOMESTEADER'S CO-OP.

This site is extremely professional, and its functionality has exceeded my expectations. One of the best parts about this site is that you have the ability to accept STEEM, SBD, and Paypal from your customers. All the settings and options are also extremely customizable.

I am so thrilled to finally have a space to distribute my conscious products online for free, and I could not imagine a more perfect platform for our products to exist on the web (taxation is theft ETSY - haha). I am so honored to be a part of this collective, that I even arranged new business cards to hand out with our products at #Anarchapulco, with a link to our new co-op online store.

Click here to go to my online store at the co-op: ELAmental Earth

Tonight is the GRAND OPENING of our ELAmental Earth store at the homesteaders co-op, and I have just listed our first two items for sale: Tribe Steem Up Unbleached, 100% Organic, Hand Herbal Dyed Fabric, Fair Trade Spirit Shirts, & 2018 OFFICIAL STEEM Silver Rounds – Community Designed & SOLD OUT FROM SOURCE.

The main reason for publishing this article tonight was to share our company description & mission statement we made for our store site, which goes as follows...

ELAmental Earth

Sharing Conscious Creations and Wisdom for Worldwide Symbiosis.
Harness Natural Energy, Reduce Waste, Heal, and be Happy.

We are dedicated to providing products that are created using the most eco-friendly processes available, are constantly seeking to develop new techniques that decreases the carbon-footprint of our projects event further, and improve the health and happiness of everyone who wears our garments and apparel. We value environmental efficiency over financial efficiency in the cost of our manufacturing, although we have found that more often than not, the two go hand in hand. A little more work goes a long way.

Think Not About how Much it Costs for Yourself, but Instead how Much it Costs the Earth.

We are huge proponents of using what we already have available to us, and avoiding using new products whenever possible. In doing so, we advocate the philosophy that being resourceful and thrifty should be of the highest priority if the goal is to restore the health of planet Earth. We do our best to promote this lifestyle choice to others, and help them understand how meaningful making such choices can be, and that the more people that do it, the more effective it will become. That is why everyone should also prioritize wearing used and up-cycled clothing.

- THERE IS A BALANCE -

About 50% of the clothing we personally wear is up-cycled or used garments, and 50% unbleached organic fabric from fair trade companies, that are either herbal dyed or low-impact tie dyed. We want to reduce our carbon footprint as much as possible with the clothing we select to wear, while also wearing the healthiest possible fabric on our skin (our biggest organ), since our skin is trans-dermal and we absorb what it touches to some degree. Unfortunately these two concepts only go hand in hand only when you find organic garments that are also used or up-cycled, which is rare in this world - but think about why that is...

It is because people value organic garments higher, and are much less likely to donate them, or treat them as disposable as part of a seasonal fashion trend, like how most people approach their clothing expenses. Spending a little more on a garment that is actually higher quality, forces most to treat the garment with more respect and care, which ultimately means the owner will use and wear (and love) it for many more years.

Herbal Plant Dyes vs. Low-Impact Dyes

Herbal-plant dyed garments on unbleached organic fabric is by far the healthiest option for any human to wear on their skin. Many of the companies that produce the actual dye-stuff concentrates from plants actually use way more water and fossil fuels producing those ingredients, to make the positives of herbal dyeing with these products outweigh the negatives in terms of environmental effects. Despite this, there are a few companies that use more ethical practices in this regard, but ideally YOU WANT TO COLLECT AND PROCESS THE PLANTS INTO DYE-STUFF PERSONALLY.

It is also important to note that when collecting your plant parts, to only selectively take from the plants in a manor that encourages better plant growth/production, instead of stripping them of too much, and potentially causing sickness or death of the plant. It is your responsibility to educate yourself about the nature of each plant you will harvest parts from for dyeing, so that you may help it by taking from it, instead of the opposite. This balance is what we call symbiosis, and how all humans are meant to live within nature. We strive to help more humans come to this realization, and implement it long term.

The high carbon footprint of some herbal dye-stuff production companies is also why low-impact dyeing is a viable option, even though it is technically a synthetic, it is the most environmentally friendly method of dyeing fabric, next to herbal dyeing using personally collected & processed plants. We typically reserve our low-impact dyeing for tie dyes, as we have not quite yet figured out how to effectively tie dye herbals with multiple color shades. We are however going to make some herbal tie dyes that are mono-colored in the near future.

Sharing Wisdom

Possibly the most important responsibility to fulfill as an eco-conscious practitioner is to pass on the knowledge and wisdom you discover onto others that are ready to listen and take head to the teachings. We will never withhold information about our practices or processes we use that benefit mankind and the environment - to do so would be a blasphemy against everything we believe in, and severely limit the Earth healing effects of our quest for a more beautiful world. Everything we know is free - all you have to do is ask. Always the student - Always the Teacher. I am sure there is much we all have to learn from each other. Prefer the profits of a better world over the profits of financial wealth, and you will be richer than any king.

If you are interested in herbal dyeing, and low environmental impact tie dyeing on unbleached organic fabric, using little to no synthetic chemicals (the most environmentally friendly/healthy practices available) - here are some links to our other eco-conscious dying articles, explaining more of the processes, materials, dying styles, and winning contest designs that have been, and will be printed on shirts:

Lets help heal our world a little more each day, with just a little bit of Steem, and a little bit of love.

Blessings everyone & stay tuned - into the right frequencies

Do not forget that my debut conscious Hip-Hop album is completely free for download on Bandcamp and Soundcloud (click the links to go to my music on those platforms), or CLICK HERE for download instructions.

PLEASE CLICK HERE to view my blog with all my recent articles on cannabis, silver, Steemit, contests, cryptos, underground conscious Hip-Hop, healthy living, festivals, my collections, and MY STEEMIT STORIES! & have a BLESSED DAY!!

Think Not About how Much it Costs for Yourself, but Instead how Much it Costs the Earth - GRAND OPENING OF THE ELAMENTAL EARTH STORE WITH THE HOMESTEADERS CO-OP