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Holidays as a benchmark

By February 6, 2013
Reflection

Another holiday season is behind us. As I reflect on mine, I get a strong sense that holidays can be seen as a sort of benchmark. We tend to remember certain traditions and how they played out throughout the years. On needles and pins Take the Christmas tree, for example. Let’s face it, there's nothing that can bring out the worst in any of us than the tree. Remember the year that the kids knocked it over? Or, the year that the cat tore all of the ornaments off of the bottom tiers? Or the … [Read more...]

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Our local eco swap

By February 1, 2013
ladies on bikes

I've written before about the merits of swapping clothes and accessories you no longer want for "new-to-you" items instead. The three top benefits are: Saving money — one of the the keys to prosperity is spending less/saving more. Eco-friendly — reusing stuff helps avoid adding to the landfill. Fun! — getting together with others for a good time beats solo shopping zombiedom. But while I had researched and described how to host one of these events, I had not yet thrown one or … [Read more...]

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Secrets of the trait

By January 28, 2013
No GMOs

Picture this:  You’re an organic farmer in – well, pick a place. Your neighbor also farms, but not organically. As neighbors go, he’s a pretty good one; the two of you talk about the weather at the feed store, and he’s been interested in your agro-forestry sideline. By the same token, Monsanto’s visited your county multiple times, and your gut tells you he’s one of their hot prospects. Hoping to avert catastrophe, you’ve been straightforward with him, asking that he advise … [Read more...]

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Terrible tech toy tortures toddlers and tweens

By December 10, 2012
Apptivity Monkey

We don't own a TV, so I don't see many ads. But since I love the NBC show Parenthood, I had to subscribe to HULU Plus to catch the show every week. There, I'm subjected to the every-eight-minutes commercial assault on our minds, dignity, and behavior so central to the TV "experience." This, HULU Plus calls "limited commercial interruption." I call it Hell. Ever since my HULU subscription began a few weeks ago I've been seeing a raft of hideous ads for a slew of unconscionable products … [Read more...]

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The endangered repairman

By November 27, 2012
repair workers

Getting your stuff fixed instead of throwing it away is good for the environment as well as for your bank balance. So why is this craft dying out in America? If there is one piece of electronic equipment in our house that every member of the family equally enjoys, it is our stereo. Listening to music and radio is one of our greatest pleasures. Bob and I purchased it shortly after we got married with gift money we’d received. We chose carefully, selecting a system that had been manufactured … [Read more...]

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From Wall Street to Main Street

By April 19, 2012
War of Wealth Poszter

In the 14th century, wealthy business men in Italy would set up benches in the piazza, covered in green cloths called banca to conduct financial business. From this humble beginning, banking as we know it today, got its start. Since then, banks have grown into complex, often international, institutions that offer what may be a confusing array of products, services and financial instruments. Once seen as the Main Street backbone of American communities, banks today are now often lumped … [Read more...]

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Meet the woman who makes your kids nag you for products

By January 4, 2012
Lucy Hughes

"We found the way a child nags isn't always the same," says Lucy Hughes, then-director of strategy and insight for Initiative Media. "There's one of two ways that they nag— either with persistence or with importance." Persistent nagging is "really whiny," according to Hughes. "'Mommy, I really, really want the Barbie Dream House, wah, wah, wah, wah...'" Important nagging by contrast is more reasoned: "'Mommy, I need the Barbie Dream House so barbie and Ken can live together and have … [Read more...]

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Six ideas for a low impact holiday

By December 15, 2011
Recycled Gift Tags

For many of us, the first snow is on the ground, night skies are star-studded and a holiday spirit is in the air. Holidays, as much fun as they are, tend to bring out some of our most entrenched bad habits. The holidays shouldn't be a burden on the environment, but they are. Most Americans, for example, produce about 25 percent more trash during the holidays (from Thanksgiving to New Year’s) resulting in around 25 million extra tons of waste. There has to be a better way to … [Read more...]

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This Buy Nothing Day #OCCUPYXMAS

By November 24, 2011
Buy Nothing Day Poster

You’ve been sleeping on the streets for two months pleading peacefully for a new spirit in economics. And just as your camps are raided, your eyes pepper sprayed and your heads knocked in, another group of people are preparing to camp-out. Only these people aren’t here to support occupy Wall Street. They’re here to secure their spot in line for a Black Friday bargain at Super Target and Macy’s. Occupy gave the world a new way of thinking about the fat cats and financial pirates on … [Read more...]

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Embracing Buy Nothing Day

By November 23, 2011
Buy Nothing Day

I love Buy Nothing Day. I've celebrated it since it was first announced twenty years ago by the same band of merry activists who launched the Occupy Wall Street movement. Why do I like it so much? It's not just the rejection of a massive consumer culture that I relish, though I do find the doorbuster frenzy mentality tacky and dangerous. No bargain is worth taking my life in my hands. But moreover, the values of more, more, more stuff just doesn't resonate with me, either materially, or as … [Read more...]

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