icons: scene’s green report “People weren’t too interested when organic cotton looked like oatmeal and felt like a burlap sack.” —Zem Joaquin
Old painted beams were stripped with beeswax, wallto-wall carpeting was replaced with recycled wine-cork flooring and solar panels were added to the roof. But finding sustainable products, and stylish ones at that, wasn’t easy. “I realized there was this enormous gap,” she says. “There were no resources for eco-design and people interested in design.” It was her husband who handed her a copy of “Cradle to Cradle,” the environmental manifesto of architect William McDonough, whom James Joaquin had heard speak at the 2004 TED conference for technology, entertainment and design in Monterey. “This is what you’ve been talking about,” he said at the time to his wife, “what you’ve been spiraling in towards.” She was so enthralled by the book, which professes ecologically intelligent design, that she invited McDonough to lunch with “some of my friends that I think can change the world.” The guest list included her husband’s good friend, eBay founder Pierre Omidyar; Segway inventor Dean Kamen, whom she had met at a dinner party; and inventor, entrepreneur and Disney “imagineer” Danny Hillis. This time, it was McDonough’s turn to be impressed. He invited her to attend his annual eco-summit in Iceland the following year with some 20 “thought leaders” and activists. Unlike some in the environmental movement who preach doom and gloom, he says, Joaquin takes a positive approach. “It’s a big dark world out there, and we need brightness,” he says in a phone interview from Abu Dhabi where he was talking to real estate developers about green design. “Zem is a sparkle.” And she knows how to throw a party. Over the past several years, she has raised nearly $1 million dollars for Global Green, an L.A.-based nonprofit that activates its Hollywood base to bring attention to green issues,
1 2 Saving H20: Zem’s top picks Just on the subject of water conservation alone, Joaquin has ID’ed her favorite things for both home and personal style. 1. Cascade Lancashire Chandelier by artist Michelle Brand – plastic bottles turned into strands of flowers, $12,000; www.lisafontanarosa.com 2. Recycled silver water necklace by designer Linda Loudermilk – proceeds go to water conservation, $149; www.lindaloudermilk.com 3. FRESH fabric made of recycled plastic water and soda bottles; www.valleyforge.com 4. Bio-Glass countertops made of 100 percent recycled glass; http://coveringsetc.com 5. At-home carbonating system for making sparkling water – $90-$200; www.sodastreamusa. com 6. Non-toxic dishwashing tabs to avoid chemical run-off to streams – $6.50; www.methodhome.org 7. Pedal-operated, hands-free faucet that saves water – $350; http://pedalvalve.com
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