This special paper comes in a variety of colors.

Every Monday, our resident gurus identify groundbreaking, trendy, hip products that elevate your life from bourgeois to brilliant.

Last Christmas, the American Greeting Card Association reports that Americans bought approximately two billion greeting cards. “Giving a greeting card creates a lasting impression,” states the association. An impression on the earth, its forests and its waterways, for sure. It’s time you gave a sh** about greeting cards. Quite literally.

Enter the Mr. Ellie Pooh paper company, which specializes in seasonal and blank greeting cards. The company’s whimsical name hints at something unusual about its products. Each handmade card is made from elephant dung. Yes, you read that right: Dumbo’s poo.

Using a local workforce in Sri Lanka, the company collects elephant excrement and washes the dung to leave behind raw cellulose fibers. These fibers are then sterilized and combined with post-consumer paper pulp and turned into homemade paper.

Benefits are many, including helping local Sri Lankans to see elephants as economically valuable rather than as hunted prey, and reducing the greenhouse emissions necessary to make the paper.

(Available online at Mr. Ellie Pooh)

The cleansing products from So…Soap don’t just break down dirt and oil in your pores, but also break down the barriers to employment that many poor women in Hong Kong face. While there are a lot sustainable products out there that meet one or two social, political or environmental concerns (e.g., PETA-endorsed Method), this is the first soap I’ve seen that takes nearly everything into account. And I mean everything!

1. Communities: The manufacturer uses a community-based production scheme that recruits local women. The women are given a way to provide for their families while working flexible hours close to home. When you buy a bottle of So…Soap, your individual label will tell you what specific community helped to produce your product!
2. Ingredients: Every product is hand-made from completely natural, vegan  ingredients. You won’t find sodium laurel sulfate or any of the other common ingredients typically found in most hair and skin products.
3. Packaging: Each So…Soap product comes in a cute bottle. What consumers may not know is that the manufacturer paired up with two local organic soy milk producers to obtain used soy milk containers that are disinfected and reused as soap containers.

Discover more at SoSoap.com.