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Turning Your Skin Green

By Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan It happened with milk, produce and clothing. Now the debate about organics is hitting cosmetics, too. Some of the biggest names in skin-care are jumping into the organic market, which until recently was a niche product for specialty stores. Estee Lauder, for instance, has nine products in its new Origins Organics line. L’Occitane en Provence and fashion designer Stella McCartney are also expanding into organics. But such products are already raising some questions. One is whether organic cosmetics provide health or beauty benefits compared to nonorganic products. And for consumers who decide they want to go green, shopping can be confusing since the labeling isn’t consistent. Whole Foods Market and some environmental groups have formed a task force and are now pushing the U.S. Department of Agriculture to adopt standards for organic skin care. Skin-care products calling themselves organic are now one of the fastest-growing categories in the U.S. beauty industry. Last year, sales of organic personal-care products rose almost 20% to $318 million — about eight times the rate of increase in overall sales of cosmetics and toiletries, according to Euromonitor International. As sales take off, the debate over labeling, standards and health benefits that […]

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Building Green

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Solar Power Captures Imagination, Not Money

By Andrew C. Revkin and Matthew L. Wald The trade association for the nuclear power industry recently asked 1,000 Americans what energy source they thought would be used most for generating electricity in 15 years. The top choice? Not nuclear plants, or coal or natural gas. The winner was the sun, cited by 27 percent of those polled. It is no wonder solar power has captured the public imagination. Panels that convert sunlight to electricity are winning supporters around the world – from Europe, where gleaming arrays cloak skyscrapers and farmers’ fields, to Wall Street, where stock offerings for panel makers have had a great ride, to California, where Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Million Solar Roofs” initiative is promoted as building a homegrown industry and fighting global warming. But for all the enthusiasm about harvesting sunlight, some of the most ardent experts and investors say that moving this energy source from niche to mainstream – last year it provided less than 0.01 percent of the country’s electricity supply – is unlikely without significant technological breakthroughs. And given the current scale of research in private and government laboratories, that is not expected to happen anytime soon. Even a quarter century from now, […]

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