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30 May, 2011

Sustainable Cosmetics Summit 2011 NYC

Press Release

May 20, 2011 London – Provide more authenticity and efficacy were the key messages from the fourth edition of the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit, which took place in New York City on 12-14 May 2011. The summit brought together over 180 executives from various sections of the beauty industry to discuss critical issues relating to natural & organic cosmetics and sustainability. 

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Organized by Organic Monitor, the summit covered a diverse range of sustainability topics including environmental impacts, social footprints, sustainable supply chains, ethical marketing & distribution, natural & organic cosmetic standards and green formulations.  

Various speakers and delegates called for greater authenticity from brand owners, in response to the high level of consumer confusion about natural claims and green marketing. Although many brand owners have taken the certification route to authenticate their products, the major agreement was that certification should be no substitute for product efficacy. A number of summit participants stated the challenges of adopting natural & organic standards, with product performance sometimes sacrificed for certification logos and symbols.  

William McDonough, co-founder of MBDC, addressed the summit with his opening keynote. He showed how the Cradle-to-Cradle (C2C) design approach can be used to create positive impacts on the environment and social communities. Examples were given on how C2C can utilize waste materials when a product reaches the end of its lifecycle. 

According to McDonough, ‘a global population of 9 billion is not a problem, but an opportunity for the beauty industry’ since it creates additional demand. He states the problem is managing this growth by designing beauty products that do not have just zero impacts, but positive impacts.  

Aveda, a sustainability pioneer in the beauty industry, highlighted the ecological and social footprints of cosmetic products. Charles J. Bennett stated that growing public concern means the beauty industry needs to engage more with consumers. The importance of a mission-based corporate ethos was emphasized, as this is guiding Aveda in all its sustainability actions. The company uses renewable energy to power its operations, recycles over 75% of its waste, and 90% of its botanical ingredients are from organic agricultural sources.  Procter & Gamble shared its systematic approach to sustainability, and how it uses lifecycle assessment to implement sustainability programs. It has set ambitious 10 year goals for raw material sourcing, packaging reduction, renewable energy and waste reduction. The consumer goods multinational stated it has already reduced over 20% of plastic packaging of some brands by eco-design and using biopolymers.  

Also in the pioneering sustainability initiatives session, another multinational shared its vision of reducing its ecological footprint by a third by 2030. To meet this target, Henkel is focusing on eco-innovation and sustainable partnerships with its stake-holders. Pete He raised the question of undertaking the lifecycle analysis of a natural personal care product. How does it compare with a conventional product? The company is looking at algae-based biopolymers so that it does not divert agricultural land from food production. 

The opening session closed with a panel discussion on sustainability metrics. The difficulty in obtaining external metrics led some speakers to suggest that ‘intentions are more practical than checklists’ when considering sustainability.  

Building sustainable supply chains was the theme of the second session. Beraca stated how sustainable sourcing can contribute to biodiversity and social communities in the Amazon. Shea butter was used as an example by Dr. Peter Lovett on how ingredient sourcing can create positive social impacts in African countries. Social impacts by fair trade were explored by Maya Spaull from Fair Trade USA. The growing popularity of fair trade has led to over 320 beauty products to carry the Fairtrade mark in the US. 

One of the main highlights of the 3-day summit was the CEO roundtable. CEOs of leading natural personal care companies formed a roundtable to discuss key industry challenges. On the question of standards, the general consensus was that certification was secondary to product efficacy. As one speaker stated, ‘a poor certified product lets everyone down, as we have to try twice as hard to convince consumers to try an organic product again’. Another CEO stressed the importance of positive marketing, ‘it is better to accentuate the positive elements’, rather than undertaking fear-based marketing that focus on paraben-free, SLS-free, etc. Another CEOs re-affirmed the major challenge for natural & organic brands was providing greater authenticity to consumers, especially with so much confusion about what is natural.  

Day two of the summit opened with a key note from Stacy Malkan, author and cofounder of Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. According to Malkan, demand for green cosmetics was stemming from consumers becoming more information savvy. In a later paper, she highlighted the dangers caused by environmental chemicals to human health and the need for public education.  

Karen Behnke, founder of Juice Beauty, highlighted the challenges of taking an organic brand into mainstream channels. Behnke shared her experiences in taking her brand into Target retailers and the difficulties in competing with mass market brands. The potential of biodynamic cosmetics was discussed by Dr. Hauschka Skin Care. By taking a holistic view, it was shown how biodynamic products can have a healing effect on the skin. Other papers in the marketing & distribution session covered sustainable packaging, global distribution developments and ethical retailing of natural personal care products. In her paper on consumer insights, Kathy Sheehan from GfK Roper Consulting showed how USDA NOP had become the second most important eco-label in the US. She suggests beauty companies prepare for a future in which all brands will have an associated sustainability value. 

Green ingredients and standards were the theme of the final session on day two. Updates were given on natural & organic personal care standards in North America, including the new USDA bio-based standard. Many summit participants expressed concern that the eco-label can be applied to products containing GM ingredients, adding to the existing consumer confusion. Other papers in this session covered natural & organic fragrances, paraben-free preservative systems, and innovations in natural actives.  

The summit came to a successful close with 50 delegates attending the interactive workshop on day three. Judi Beerling, head of technical research at Organic Monitor, discussed the various options available to formulators when using green fragrances, emulsifiers and surfactants. The challenges of natural & organic ingredients, including efficacy, safety and stability were once again highlighted.  

The fourth edition of the executive summit raised many questions about sustainability in the beauty industry: What are the approaches to measure the environmental and social footprint of a cosmetic product? What about water stewardship? Are natural & organic beauty products always safer than conventional products? Are consumers really aware of what comprises a natural beauty product? How are organic brands tackling raw material issues? What makes an effective natural & organic cosmetic formulation? The next editions of the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit aim to address such questions. 


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22 May, 2011

Tree of Life Wins Cannes Palme d’Or

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A festival that started off slow but gained in momentum and drama drew to a satisfying conclusion tonight with “The Tree of Life”,Terrence Malick’s stunning meditation on memory and childhood, winning the Palme d’Or. 

Terence Malick's fifth film stars Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain, and Sean Penn. Original music score by Alexandre Desplat.

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21 May, 2011

Salon Naturally, Paris - In Time For La Fête des Mères

By Paige Donner

It's the weekend before Mother's Day in France and you're motivated to find Mom something in addition to a beautiful bouquet of flowers?

You are in luck! There is one more day left for the Salon Naturally, Paris going on right now at the Porte de Versailles Expo Center. 

You will find everything from natural perfumes, health remedies, organic wines, goji berries, Maca, dark chocolate bars with hemp...

Entrance is only 5 Euros and there are lots of flyers floating around that give you free entrance. There are hundreds of vendors with lots of great - organic and natural - products for Mom and YOU!

INFO here: Salon Naturally Paris Practical Info

Scenes from Salon Naturally, Paris

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Recyclable bio-plastic clothesline clips.

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Makeup and Baby Wipe Kits from Bamboo Cloths: Super Cute! and Very Eco: www.tendances-emma.fr

Watches made from Wood. www.madeinwood.eu

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Hemp oil press. And look out for their Dark Chocolate Hemp Bars! www.lchanvre.com

From Almond Milk (organic) to sausages to organic wine and olives...Salon Naturally has it all and it's all good for you : ).

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Which Comes First?

This cute commercial playing now for Samsung - a Korean Company - begs the question...which came first?  No, we don't mean the chicken or the egg... Rather War or the Imperative for Sustainable Life?

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Film Review: Scarred Lands and Wounded Lives

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By Gina Hall

[Guest Blogger Gina Hall has a Film Degree from USC. Her day job is with Global Green USA in Santa Monica]

The documentary Scarred Lands and Wounded Lives: The Environmental Footprint of War is a shocking revelation of the long-term environmental impact of America's wars over the past century and isn't for those with a weak stomach or who want to pretend we're always the good guys. From hundreds of sunken World War II ships slowly leaking oil, to Agent Orange, to land-mines and cluster bombs that still litter a landscape, the film highlights America's lasting legacy in the war zones we've left behind after declaring "mission accomplished."

Filmmakers Alice and Lincoln Day feature several expert talking-heads who guide the narrative matter-of-factly through our various assaults on the lands in which we wage war. It's not an entertaining documentary, it doesn't use animation or clever editing to engage. It has facts and visual evidence on its side. And if the melted faces of children affected by Agent Orange or the landmine-mangled foot of an elephant doesn't viscerally affect you, then you have a harder heart than mine.

A statistic the film cites is that prior to the past hundred years 90 percent of war victims were combatants and 10 percent were civilians. Now it is the reverse, with 90 percent of victims being civilians to 10 percent actual combatants. The total body counts may be lower, but the documentary makes clear the human costs of spreading "freedom." In addition there's the toll on our coral reefs, water supply, soil, air and just about everything else we need to sustain life on Earth. There's a cringe-worthy moment of footage of a U.S. armed forces official selling the natives around Bikini Atoll on their important contribution to humanity in allowing nuclear bomb tests near their homes.

It becomes clear that people in these conflict areas don't hate us, as Bush said, because of our freedom, they hate us because we're assholes. We seem to have a bad habit of bombing, consuming resources, salting the earth and moving on. The film doesn't look to place blame on our men and women in the armed services, but does shine a light on economic policies that put them there. With documentaries like this, it's getting harder and harder for our government to sell war as the humanitarian act of liberation.  If you have to see the proof for yourself, the images are here and they're not easy to look at.

The film is being aired locally around the country, is available for screenings and on DVD. For more information visit www.scarredlandsfilm.org

Photo Credit: Scarred Lands and Wounded Lives
 

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14 May, 2011

Caudalie Spa

By Paige Donner

Paige Donner is a Luxury Writer

There is one spa that was voted The Best Spa In The World by Condé Nast readers in 2010. That spa is in France's Bordeaux region and sits serenely in the middle of a vast and prestigious AOC Graves vineyard. The spa? It is Caudalie Vinothérapie Spa.

Caudalie Spa, Bordeaux, France - Greening Beauty c. Paige Donner

Photo by Paige Donner c. 2011

On her parents' vineyard and just next to her sister's Small Luxury Hotel, Les Sources de Caudalie, in Bordeaux, Mathilde Thomas discovered a naturally occurring hot springs 540 feet below ground. This is the site on which she and her husband, Bertrand, built the signature Caudalie Spa based on the anti-oxidant, ant-aging properties they have patented from the seeds and skins of grapes.

Caudalie Vinotherapie beauty products are used exclusively at this idyllic spa in the Bordeaux countryside, in a vast wooden structure planted next to a pond with swans and indoor-outdoor swimming pools. Treatment rooms are both upstairs and downstairs and it is possible to walk from your hotel room in your robe to your spa treatment in the Caudalie Vinotherapie Spa with only a few feet of exposure to the outside air.

Caudalie Spa, Bordeaux, Greening Beauty c. Paige Donner

Caudalie Spa, Bordeaux, Greening Beauty c. Paige Donner

Famous among their treatments are the Barrel Bath, the Honey and Wine Wrap, thePulp Friction Massage with fresh grapes and the Crushed Cabernet Scrub. At each of the relaxation stations are small dishes of fresh grapes alongside pitchers of fresh water. Portishead and other "lounge" music is piped in overhead from the sound system, unless you request classical or another genre.

Caudalie Spa Greening Beauty c. Paige Donner

You can also go for a simple Caudalie Grand Facial Treatment. This includes a full facial massage, gentle buffing cream made from a base of crushed grape seeds, a moisturizing (or purifying, as needed) mask and anti-ageing serum for eyes and lips. You also have the choice of a hand or foot massage. Afterwards you are welcome to linger downstairs in the lounge chairs that overlook the vineyards and dip into the pool that has strategic water jets fitted at just the perfect height to pulsate relaxing water onto your neck and shoulders.

There is also now a Caudalie Spa in NYC. Read More on Greening Beauty.

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03 May, 2011

Hyères Festival: Céline Méteil Wins

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Sunday,1 May Hyères, France  The jury, presided over by Raf Simons, unveils the winners: French designer Céline Méteil has won the Première Vision Prize, one of two prizes attributed in the Fashion Competition of the prestigious Hyères International Festival of Fashion and Photography.

Selected from among ten finalists, Céline Méteil created a collection of airy and structured origami dresses made from jaconas. This stiff and transparent cotton plainweave is ordinarily employed to create a three dimensional muslin prototype of a garment. Her highly architectural clothing entertains a dialogue with the body, building on layers of transparency and lace and shaped in subtle balance with fluid knits.

Baptised "Plié Backstage", the collection was produced with the support of Sophie Hallette, Mario boselli Yarns & Jersey and TESJ, all PremièreVision exhibitors, and Close to Clothes, a Mod Amont exhibitor.

Céline Méteil, 32,also won the"Prix du Public",and has worked with John Galliano, Nicolas Ghesquière (at Balenciaga) and Felipe Oliveira Baptista. At thispoint she is aspiring to launchher own brand. This is the first year that PremièreVision, the World's Premier Fabric Show, has partnered withthe Hyères festival and sponsored one of its prizes, in the amount of 10,000 euros. But the Première Vision Prize goes beyond the awarding of the prize money to the winning young designer.

Première Vision, whose vocation is to further contacts between professionals in this most creativeof fields, is fully committed to this programme to support young design talents, and to building a longterm relationship.

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02 May, 2011

THIRD ANNUAL 'PRODUCED BY CONFERENCE' TO BE HELD AT THE WALT DISNEY STUDIOS JUNE 3-5, 2011

THIRD ANNUAL ‘PRODUCED BY CONFERENCE’ TO BE HELD AT

THE WALT DISNEY STUDIOS JUNE 3-5, 2011

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Weekend-long program to feature top producers and

industry leaders including Harvey Weinstein, Simon Lythgoe,

Mark Gordon, Mark Johnson, Hawk Koch, Gale Anne Hurd,

Sean Bailey, Marshall Herskovitz, MARC CHERRY, DAMON LINDELOF, JOHN SLOSS and Lauren Shuler DonNer, among many otherS

LOS ANGELES, CA (March 29, 2011)The Producers Guild of America (PGA) and the Association of Film Commissioners International (AFCI) announced today the first slate of speakers confirmed to participate in the 2011 Produced By Conference (PBC) which includes some of entertainment’s most sought-after producers and industry leaders. It was also announced that The Walt Disney Studios along with the ABC Entertainment Group will host the 2011 event in conjunction with AFCI’s Locations Show June 3-5, 2011.

“We’re excited to announce the initial speaker line up for this year’s conference to be held at the Walt Disney Studios,” said Producers Guild President Emeritus and co-chair of PBC, Marshall Herskovitz. “We’re extremely grateful to everyone at The Walt Disney Studios for agreeing to host the third annual conference. The Disney lot provides an amazing backdrop for the producing community to gather for an exciting weekend of learning and networking.”

“The Produced By Conference continues to exceed my expectations. I’m thrilled to be a part of this exciting program, and throughout all of the PBC programming, we hope to continue to advance the theme that the role of

the producer is a crucial one,” said Gale Anne Hurd, PBC event co-chair.

The list of featured speakers for 2011 PBC includes some of the entertainment industry’s most renowned producers and executives including, in alphabetical order:

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  • Sean Bailey (President, Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production, TRON: LEGACY)
  • Joe Berlinger (Crude, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster)
  • Jason Blum (Paranormal Activity 1-2, Insidious)
  • Ian Bryce (Transformers 1-3, Spiderman, Saving Private Ryan)
  • Adam Chapnick (CEO, Distribber.com)
  • Albert Cheng (EVP, Digital Media, Disney/ABC Television Group)
  • Marc Cherry (“Desperate Housewives”)
  • Joseph Chianese (SVP, Tax & Production Planning, Entertainment Partners)
  • Charlie Corwin (HALF NELSON, THE SQUID AND THE WHALE, “LA Ink”)
  • Kris Eber (Disney’s “Movie Surfers,” “Muppet’s Bohemian Rhapsody”)
  • Jon Fougner (Principal, Product Marketing Monetization, Facebook)
  • Nolan Gallagher (Founder & CEO, Gravitas Ventures)
  • Tim Gibbons (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”)
  • Mark Gordon (Source Code, Saving Private Ryan, “Grey’s Anatomy”)
  • John Hadity (Master Harold and the Boys, Burning Blue)
  • Dana Harris (Editor-in-Chief, IndieWIRE)
  • Marshall Herskovitz (Love and Other Drugs, Blood Diamond, “thirtysomething”)
  • Gale Anne Hurd (“The Walking Dead,” The Incredible Hulk, the terminator Trilogy)
  • Mark Johnson (The Chronicles of Narnia, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, “Breaking Bad”)
  • Barry Jossen (Executive Vice President, Creative & Production, ABC Studios)
  • Hawk Koch (Source Code, Primal Fear, Wayne’s World)
  • Paul Kontonis (VP & Group Director, Brand Content, The Third Act, Digitas)
  • Damon Lindelof (“Lost”)
  • Simon Lythgoe (CMT’s “Next Superstar,” Former Producer, “America Idol,” “So You Think You Can Dance”)
  • Andrew Marlowe (“Castle”)
  • Lori McCreary (INVICTUS, “Through the Wormhole”)
  • Keri Putnam (Executive Director, Sundance Institute)
  • Lauren Shuler Donner (X-men Franchise, Free Willy 1-3, The Secret Life of Bees)
  • John Sloss (Exit Through the Gift Shop, The Kids are All Right)
  • Ricky Strauss (Waiting for “Superman,” Fair Game, The Beaver)
  • William Stuart (The Rock, Eddie and the Cruisers, Holy Matrimony)
  • Larry Tanz (President, Vuguru LLC)
  • Chris Thomes (Executive Director, Digital Production & Programming, Saban Brands LLC)
  • David Tochterman (Head of Digital Media, Innovative Artists)
  • Hayma “Screech” Washington (“The Amazing Race”)
  • Harvey Weinstein (THE KING’S SPEECH, BLUE VALENTINE, MIRAL)

“The slate of panels, sessions and roundtables that are shaping up for this year’s event are extremely unique and exciting—offering attendees the chance for unprecedented access to some of the industry’s leading producers, providing both education and inspiration,” said Rachel Klein, PBC event co-chair.

The 2011 PBC will feature over 20 conference sessions, panel discussions, mentoring roundtables, networking opportunities, social events and workshops designed to provide producers with important career tools and insights necessary to compete in today’s competitive marketplace. Among the many topics to be discussed are new media, global finance, producer/director collaboration, distribution, independent film, scripted television, reality television, digital content, brand identity and much more. Over 150 exhibitors are already on board to participate in the 2011 event. Sponsors for the event to-date include General Motors (the official automotive sponsor of the PGA), Entertainment Partners, Raleigh Studios, Cast & Crew Entertainment Services, Baseline, Avid, PRG, LA 411, Westfield Malls, Kodak and Coca-Cola. This year’s unique collaboration of the Produced By Conference along with the AFCI Locations will bring together the producing field alongside more than 300 film commissions from around the world. These commissions collectively represent over 2 billion dollars in financing and incentives available to filmmakers. Last year’s sold out conference connected more than 1,100 producing professionals. Interested individuals can register online at www.producedbyconference.com.

 

Reaching across film, television and new media industries, PBC is an educational forum that involves acclaimed producers, including countless Academy Award®-winning filmmakers and Emmy Award® winners, as well as the next generation of creative entrepreneurs. The PBC event is chaired by Marshall Herskovitz, Gale Anne Hurd and Rachel Klein. For more information on the Produced By Conference, visit www.producedbyconference.com.


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