by kirsten on December 21, 2009
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Americans produce more than five million tons of trash between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. That’s 25 percent more than we generate in a typical five- or six-week period.
To reduce your load, consider shopping online classifieds or thrift stores for “gently used” gifts. Sites like Oodle, Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist offer hundreds of gently used items — without all the new packaging and waste.
When searching for a recycled or gently-used gift, it’s helpful to have a general idea of what you are looking because there are millions of items to search from. Great deals on tickets, ski gear, vintage clothing — even jewelry abound. It’s a bit like shopping a very large virtual garage sale - but then again, browsing is half the fun.
by kirsten on October 23, 2009
Every so often a book resonates with me. Often it has to do with the subject matter and the timing of when I read it (i.e. child-rearing). On a rare occasion, I find a book that speaks to me as an individual, but that is clearly sending an important message to a broader audience regardless of demographic, sex, generation or professions.
Bag Green Guilt, Five Easy Steps: Turn Eco-Anxiety Into Constructive Energy is such a rare find. It does not add 365 more things to your already overwhelming “to do” list. Nor does it do a deep-dive into the laborious science of why the planet may not survive. Instead, it offers simple solutions that anyone can use to improve the state of our planet, as well as our attitude towards one another and ourselves.
While the book offers a step-by-step approach, it is definitely not a manual. It’s a very heartfelt personal journey that you’ll share with author Jen Pleasants who wrote it from her own “neurosis of being overwhelmed with all that is happening with the world today.”
Her premise is simple: Change yourself, change the world. And through five simple steps, this all becomes doable. Without giving away the whole book, in step two (which is one my favorites), she suggests you “Acknowledge that you can’t do everything, but affirm that you can do something.”
Common sense, right? But not in this day in age, where we are running too fast to tie a loose shoelace.
She also sums up the three most important and impactful things you can do to help the environment. (Again, I will not divulge, but let’s just say it’s nothing complicated or mandates driving a Prius!)
I have had the fortunate experience to meet (and since then, become dear friends with Jen), and thus I appreciate the amazingly positive zen-like spirit Jen resonates. Knowing this, makes it even more clear that Jen was the right person to write this book: it is a book that inspires the individual, any individual, to do the most important thing - make small, but important changes.
If only as many books relieved us from guilt as opposed to adding to it.
What better gift than to give a friend or family member peace of mind. For a mere $10, that seems like quite a bargain. Also, a portion of the revenues go to environmental charities. Find it on Amazon.com: but notes that when I last checked there were only five copies left.
