Obviously I’ve been in the mood for introspection these last couple of days. And I think that introspection is important in the environmental realm, because we must prioritize the use of resources. We must decide what our limited resources are best used for. That requires introspection. Because to know what our resources should be used […]
Consumerism and Materialism
Thirty-one tips for reducing your impact while saving money
I was reading through comments here on the blog last night and I found this great list of tips by reader Millie Barnes, who writes a blog about health and gardening called Optimum Nutrition. Her tips were just too comprehensive to let them languish in the comments. So here they are (I don’t even mind […]
Design that doesn’t waste
In the meditation school where I sit, we have formal Zen meals during retreats. Each of us sets out four bowls in front of the mats on which we sit. Water is placed in the furthermost, right-hand bowl. Different types of food go in the other bowls. But what is fascinating from a conservation perspective […]
To participate in the real economy
This is a guest post by my friend Sean Sakamoto who writes the blog I’d Rather Be In Japan. You can read his previous post on No Impact Man here. “Thrift can take lasting hold of a consumer society, to disastrous effect.” —The New York Times I keep reading about how saving is the worst […]
Open Discusson: Saving money while saving the planet
It’s time for a recession special blog post–how can we help our wallets while saving the planet while making ourselves happier and healthier? During the No Impact project, we saved–and continue to save–a lot of money on everything from transportation to food. The combination of riding our bikes everywhere and only eating fresh local produce […]
Companies who make durable products could cheat the recession while saving the planet
In an article in Metropolis Magazine, writer John Hockenberry suggests that, in the present economy, the only way to coax money out of consumers’ wallets is to give us what we wanted all along: products that last and don’t go obsolete or break down in a year. In other words, the products should deliver real […]
LVGRN: 20 ways to keep the landfill empty
Organic material–food and paper, for example–rot and release methane, a potent greenhouse gas, when sent to the landfill. When the liners meant to seal landfills eventually crack, toxic substances can leach into the water table, causing hard to trace illnesses in faraway communities. But perhaps the worse thing is, when we throw something in the […]
Open Discussion–What products do you reuse to avoid waste?
In the last week or so, I posted about products that save planetary resources: toilet paper made from recycled paper so trees aren’t cut down; mentrual cups that allow women to avoid buying and throwing away thousands of tampons; and the straight razor to avoid the use of throwaway plastic razors. Today, I thought it […]