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 … [Read more...]
Meet the woman who makes your kids nag you for products
"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 … [Read more...]
Six ideas for a low impact holiday
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 … [Read more...]
This Buy Nothing Day #OCCUPYXMAS
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 … [Read more...]
Embracing 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 … [Read more...]