See entire February 29, 2012 newsletter including upcoming guests
I went to 12 years of Catholic school and actually loved it, learned how to spell and have mostly great memories. Cross my heart. I don’t feel quite right blaming “them” for my guilt cup continuously running over but just rest assured that on any given day, I have something(s) I am feeling guilty about. I am constantly running the “I’m not eating enough locally sourced food, I am not exercising enough, I need to move my life to a greener level, I need to call my friend fill-in-the-blank, I need to install solar, I need to start a garden, we should have a chicken coop” tapes. Not very sustainable.
If you can relate, this is your lucky day. I am going to provide you with three easy things you can do to lighten the green load, move in a greener direction, and take some small steps which collectively make a big impact. Trick is – you’ve got to actually do them in order to assuage your guilt.
#1 – make ONE change in what you eat to a healthier choice and stick it to it. I don’t mean going from a carnivore today to a vegan tomorrow. Commit to eating only organic celery, or buying only cage free eggs, or giving up your diet coke 5 days a week (that counts as one) or always buying spinach at the Farmers Market. You get the picture.
#2 – call ONE bulk mailing violator a week. There is a number to call inside every solicitation and all you have to do is call to request that you be put on their “do not mail” list. Last week I called Citi after receiving 5 “0%” interest rate credit card offers in three days. Two weeks ago I called Chase. The people I spoke with were very nice and the recycling box under my desk is not filling up as fast. On track for this week for FOOTSMART catalogs! I recently ordered one single little thing for my plantar fasciitis (there are no secrets in my life anymore.) You would think FootSmart put me on high alert – emails, Facebook ads, catalogs. Enough already! Like I want to be reminded anyway. But I digress. You will feel so great about cutting down on your junk mail. Just picture Mother Earth smiling.
#3 – If you don’t already, consider subscribing to ONE e-publication about the big “E” – the environment. I don’t want to tell you how many I get a day. If I shared with you even a tenth of what I read about, you would run out of the room screaming! But if you’re on this journey with me, there is so much fun, informative, daunting, controversial, confusing, challenging information out there about a myriad of topics, why not pick one? I believe that everything is about sustainability and you can choose any area that interests you while continuing your education.
My favorites: www.ewg.org , www.thedailygreen.com, and www.grist.org . Not interested in getting another email? That’s fine too! A subscription to Miraval’s Facebook page is a real treat, or follow your favorite used bookstore on Twitter (Bookmans anyone?) My point is to take one more step along the path of hope, possibility and change.