Okay ladies and gentlemen, in this easy to follow video, Emily Main of National Geographic’s The Green Guide takes you through an array of romantic, organic, and ethically-made gifts to shower your mate with on Valentine’s Day. Emily has covered the V-Day basics with guilt-free luxuries like a super cute lingerie set from PI Organic (note to guys out there: I received this from my man recently and I was very impressed with his sexy, eco-conscious choice), fresh cut roses from Organic Bouquet, ethically made in the USA jewelry by Moonrise, delectable Theo Chocolates (the Coconut Curry is amazing!), and organic boxed wine from French Rabbit, which to be honest, ain’t gonna go over really well with most ladies as a Valentine’s gift. But, for all those diehard boxed wine lovers out there, Emily does suggest sneaking it into a romantic movie, which is actually kind of hot.

Whatever you decide guys (and girls), make it happen quick! Your window to shop is quickly coming to a close. If you’re stuck for a last minute gift that will make your Mother Earth-minded princess squeal with delight, get her a gift certificate from the best eco online store there is…we’ll let you guess who we’d suggest.

Your favorite ladies deserve to be treated like queens on Valentine’s Day, and that includes Mother Earth. At least one, if not all, of these eco-friendly Valentine’s Day gifts will make your wife, Mom, best friend, sister, boss, girlfriend, or weekend fling extremely happy. And if you must get something for all of them, it’s really not hard to do with these extremely affordable options.

Crown Your Eco Queen

Still chilly in your neck of the woods? Crown your favorite queen with the chic cashmere cap by legendary eco couture designer Deborah Lindquist. This adorable, super soft hat is made in the USA from 100% recycled cashmere sweaters to keep those regal ladies in your life super toasty. And you know what’s even better than a cute couture hat that’s sustainably made? The fact that it’s majorly on sale. Happy lady, happy wallet, Happy Valentine’s Day! $55 (Down from $110)

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Regift

Who knew regifting for Valentine’s Day could be so cool? Art meets eco meets technology with these beautiful crimson and orange hearts by Heart Is Hot. Made in the US from 100% recycled glass, each HIH piece is etched with its own individual number, the epic flower of life symbol, and the Heart Is Hot web address. What makes these so cool is that everyone who gives or receives this heart logs on to HeartIsHot.com and tells their story of how it came into their life and what inspired them to pass it on to the next person. The physical journey of each traveling heart is tracked at HeartIsHot.com, using a custom Google map, and each piece has an archive of “heart stories“  associated with it that anyone can go to the site and read. These make the perfect gift for those people in your life who are huge romantics, big supporters of conscious commerce, need a deeply heartfelt gift, or just really love a good story. As Heart Is Hot founder Sahara Damore says, “Heart Is Hot represents re-gifting at its finest.” $24.99 ($2 of which is donated to the Unstoppable Giving Foundation…this gift really keeps on giving!)

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So, okay, let’s be real. It’s December 22nd and you still haven’t finished your Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa (a.k.a. Kwanuzimas) shopping. There’s no time left to ship from the internet and you want gifts that aren’t going to somehow implicate you in the razing of rainforests, child labor, or poisoning our precious planet. You need a quick fix. Here’s In The Loop’s Top 5 Last Minute Eco Gifts for Holiday 2008…

1 Stylephile

A gift certificate to the ultimate eco fashion e-tailer is a style maven’s dream come true and best of all, you don’t have to worry about getting the perfect color or size. Whether male or female, your recipient can choose from the hottest new organic, sustainable, Fair Trade, locally-made denim, t-shirts, jackets, shoes, resusable shopping bags, stainless steel water bottles, hats, wallets, and more. An email gift certificate will arrive for them in 1-2 business days, so get your order in by the 23rd. Even if your friend or loved one has not yet been hit by the green bug yet, eco fashion could easily be their gateway drug to conscious commerce!

2 Junk Mail Hater

Adults in the US receive an average of 41 pounds per year in junk mail; 560 or so of these pieces of junk mail remain completely unopened and unread before heading straight to the landfill. The process to get someone off of the numerous direct mail lists is both tedious and somewhat daunting; helping a friend put an end to this wasteful cycle can be very much like performing a Christmas miracle. Let companies like GreenDimes and 41pounds.org do the work for you for just $20-$41. This makes an excellent holiday gift for your family and for forests everywhere!

3 Animal Lover

Snow leopards and tigers and polar bears, oh my! If you have a friend who is wild about animals, then help them adopt one of these furry creatures through World Wildlife Fund. Your friend will receive an email gift certificate on the date you choose, or purchase by the 23rd to print out a WWF gift card. With either method, your loved one can go online and choose which animal they’d like to adopt. At the $25 level, they’ll also receive a certificate of adoption and a photo. At the $50 level, they’ll get an adorable 12′ plushie of the animal they choose. This beautiful gift preserves wildlife habitat in some of the most precious and delicate ecosystems in the world.

4 Yoga Master

As we witness the yoga craze reaching every corner of the country with extreme fervor, it’s easy to see there are very few types of people who do not benefit from yoga. It’s an excellent gift for athletes, people looking to lose weight, older folks, office workers, and people suffering from depression. Many studios offer two weeks of unlimited class for first timers for $20-$50. Just look up a yoga studio in your giftee’s local area and arrange for a a gift certificate to be emailed to them. This gift has super low negative impact on the environment and super high positive impact on your friend.

5 Treehugger

For the über nature lovers in your life, there’s nothing like gifting trees or land conservation. The Nature Conservancy will plant trees in the endangered Atlantic Forest of Brazil at a rate of $1 per tree, or for $25-$50, will Adopt an Acre® of Las Californias grassland right here in the U.S. An email announcing the gift can be set to go out any day of your choice; information on all the exclusive member benefits of The Nature Conservancy, plus some fun gifts, will arrive in their mailbox soon after.

For those of us out there who are struggling with shabby coats from days gone by and are looking to invest in a coat that will be with you for many winters to come, this Top 5 is for you!

Grace & Cello’s “Lucia” recycled wool coat cuts a sophisticated line for women headed to the office or a mid-week cocktail party. Where does recycled wool come from, you may wonder. According to Grace & Cello’s Gerri Brightwell, “The wool in our coats is created by using roll ends, scraps and other pieces of fabric that normally fall to the cutting floor and are wasted. These scraps are reconstituted into the fabric that we use for our coats.” Made in Montreal, not only are these stunning pieces sustainably made, they are also 100% sweatshop-free. So feel good about Grace & Cello’s pattern makers, cutters, and sewers- Maryse, Angelo, Leo, Tony, Mrs. Anna and Cheng hope you like their clothing, too.

The City of Angels has turned out the most coveted coat of the season: The Battalion’s “Ali Cape.” Any woman of high style and sophistication would be hard pressed not to scrounge together the necessary funds for this de rigeur coat, even amidst the current economic downturn. (I could be projecting here.) A draped hood and scarf attaches to this dramatic and colorful cloak, creating layers of fabulosity to this cloak inspired by Ali McGraw’s classic look in the 70’s. This bank account bandit by the Wong sisters is made from bamboo and organic cotton, certified by Oeko-Tex. Even if you can’t feel good about the Ali Cape’s effect on your finances, you can feel great about supporting sustainable manufacturing and farming practices. I’m going to consider it a worthy investment…for your wardrobe and the world. (Okay, that’s pushing it, I realize. I just had to purchase a ticket on the justify train with this one.)

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Portland Fashion Week held a cadre of green runways last week with designers from Samunderneath to Nike. While the PFW shows ran on Friday night at 14 Square, an alternative show appropriately dubbed “Runaway” was held down the street at the swank art mecca, Someday Lounge. New looks for Spring/Summer 09 sauntered across the stage by Reif, Moth Love by Gretchen Jones, Dust by Julia Blackburn, Paige of Paradox, sword + fern, and our favorite PDX designer-Emily Katz.

Emily featured fresh white frocks with accessible retro cuts. Katz’s style is always very wearable and very chic; she gives you well-constructed classics you can hold onto for years. This Spring/Summer collection gave us the perfect dress for a real date or a style-heavy social hour. Depending on how rigorous your social life is, you may want to get yourself more than one.

Portland Fashion Week is here once again, and we at Greenloop are of course, quite excited about our hometown’s big green fashion event. Last year, we saw heavyhitters of eco fashion, like Anna Cohen, Stewart + Brown, Del Forte, and NatureVsFuture strut their stuff on the emerald catwalk. In 2008, Nike Considered returns as a sponsor and designer at the event. Another PDX native, Sameunderneath, is returning with their sustainable ready to wear line and egalitarian message, along with IDOM and Alula. Tons of fresh faces are hitting the 2008 runways along with the PFW veterans, like Collier, Salvationware, Revival Clothing, In Harmony, and Strung Out by Peniche. All will be showing their Spring/Summer collections for 2009, and all will be vying for the attention of buyers and press alike.

Portland Fashion Week is the only fashion week in the US completely devoted to sustainable designers; sustainable fashion means sourcing, manufacturing, packaging, and/or shipping in ways that are the most considerate of the ecologies and communities they effect in the process. PFW focuses mostly on the talent of indie designers, and aims to give these emerging business owners a leg up in the fashion world by making the show very affordable to participate in. PFW also seeks to draw national attention to this gorgeous city itself, and it’s unique blend of art, commerce, and sustainability. Portland is indeed a lush, green metropolis devoted to artisanship and strong community, making PFW the ideal scene for Portland’s design mavens to show the world what they got. The event runs from October 8th-12th at the Portland Design Center in the 14 Square building of Portland’s posh Pearl District.

There was a time back in the early 90’s when I thought a midriff length shirt was hot…really hot. I used to rock baggy jeans and sneakers with just a sports bra, like I was in TLC or something. I have noticed over the years, that many of the fashions I chose to wear as a teenager are the exact opposite now (thank goodness), including my shirts. I love them long. It’s not that I’m embarassed of my stomach, it thankfully hasn’t changed a bit. I just don’t want to share my bellybutton with my bank clerk or my landlord…unless I’m trying to get some sort of deal or something. Just kidding!

I used to have to search high and low for tops that didn’t expose my little four-pack, but to no avail. During the big low rise craze, shorter shirts were all you could find and women were completely unable to mask their crack problems (and I don’t mean cocaine.) In Fall 2008, fashion is following function once again. The lengthened tee is a welcome trend that has been trickling forth for the last few years and has finally caught fire. Now you can relax tummy muscles and save your hot body for only the people that really deserve to see it-like Gael Garcia-Bernal or Johnny Depp or Angelina Jolie or Taye Diggs or…you get me.

Hey guys, Point Blank Progressive has got you covered for election gear in a totally groovy way this fall.

Even though this funky t-shirt looks like it could be the hottest thing for Election ‘80, it’s actually so you can Barack-it-out in ‘08. This 100% organic cotton tee is made right here in the USA, so you can feel like a true patriot in more ways than one when you don this T.

Point Blank also has organic retro styles for the neutral “Proud Voter,” and even ones for the man still hanging on to the woman he once loved, Hillary. If you’re the kind of guy who wants to get behind a GOP kind of lady, the 100% organic McCain-Rice 2008 tee over at Cult Classic T’s is perfect for you…weirdo.