I’ve long meant to try Freecycle, a forum set up to facilitate people’s giving things away rather than discarding them. Great idea, and as I move offices and change rooms at home I finally signed up for the western Mass group. Our old slow but working computers are far more popular than I ever dreamed, [...]

I happened to pick up a copy of Audubon magazine over the weekend. I admit that I’d thought of it as rather dull, a publication for retirees with too many pets and obsessed about animal protection above all other environmental concerns. But I was wrong. It was full of beautifully written articles about a wide [...]

A friend told me not long ago that she wanted me to help her give her apartment an eco-makeover and especially, first thing, to advise her on what kind of cleaning products she should be buying. I felt like I punctured her enthusiasm a little when I said it didn’t matter all that much, because [...]

When you hold an item in your hand and think about its connection with the environmental problems you’ve heard about, use your imagination and think about the parts you can’t see: where it came from, and where it’s going. That’s a mind-shift that politicians haven’t made yet, but the most innovative thinkers about sustainability are [...]

Every day starts with water. No, I don’t mean that kind of water. I’m thinking of the first glass of water I drink, and the water I fill the kettle with for my first pot of tea. (I could be content with locally grown food, I think, except that I would still have to have [...]

I’m hunting for statistics comparing the energy and natural resources used by a purchase online (which many people I meet think, incorrectly, is better for the environment) in a shop. So far, I haven’t found any numbers, but this report highlights the problems: “Online Shopping and the Environment”. I was amused to be reminded that [...]

I had a call this week from a reporter at the Daily Mail in London who wants to interview me about having an ethical, green Christmas. I laughed at the irony of calling the day after Thanksgiving, usually the last Friday in November, Black Friday. It’s the day Christmas shopping supposedly begins, and there are [...]

I’ve been on the run and didn’t make it to the food coop today for the tea tasting. But my marketing assistant Margaux did, and came back with tales of wonderful teas and also a hemp tea bag that you refill with loose tea. It was especially nice because it’s open and light, not a [...]

I came across a terrific new book the other day, at a lovely new bookshop called the Stocbridge Bookseller, which has a considerable selection of green titles. The book is called Green Remodeling, Chaging the World One Room at a Time. It’s written by a Boulder-based professional green builder David Johnston. This means it’s geared [...]

I love word-of-mouth, and I start to believe in something when my kids forward it to me. Rachel (16) just sent me this notice about Freecycle, which I may have mentioned before. But it was then at the suggestion of my 40-something brother.
Forwarded:
Hi guys,
my friend showed me this, and I wanted to spread it [...]