Earth angels

MARIANNE FAIRBANKS AND JANE PALMER
Job Fresh out of art school in late 2004, this dynamic duo started Noonsolar, an ecofriendly design company that makes solar-panel-covered bags, which carry your belongings and charge your cell phone and iPod. “One of our goals was to make our product fashionable,” Fairbanks says. “Solar panels are associated with a crunchy vibe. We wanted to incorporate them with the urban day-to-day.”
On the side Both are gardening enthusiasts. Palmer keeps an all-organic native garden while Fairbanks made a raised bed and aerates and reseeds her lawn.
Favorite green buys Center for Green Technology’s dirt-cheap composting equipment, native plants at Grand Street Gardens (2200 W Grand Ave), the natural cuisine of Lula Cafe (2537 N Kedzie Blvd, 773-489-9554).
Eco-tip “We have a lot of friends who garden,” Palmer says. “We do seed sharing or seedling sharing—giving unused seed packets to friends.”

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