"Another world is not only possible ... she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing" - Arundhati Roy
My girlfriend posted the above quote on my Facebook wall yesterday. It gives me hope in the midst of much confusion these days. I...
If I choose to own hybrid cars, recycle twice as much trash as I throw out, swap out my light bulbs and faucets, and wrap my pipes and myself up in multiple layers all winter long to be a responsible energy consumer, can awareness of the damage...
It's week three of IDP's Responsible Consumption month and my fellow bloggers' posts have been entertaining and inspiring. My pledge to refrain from using paper cups and single use plastics has been going swimmingly. My pledge to open an...
Sometime this week I remembered that my resolve was to not buy books until I gave away an equal number of books..in other words, there is a path to acquisition! I can get books!!!!! That just needs to rest on letting go, and creating space. This isn...
Week 3 began with me still on the same roll of Bounty paper towels I started with. We haven't gone through that roll yet. Haven't started on that big six-pack in the closet.
But it's not all about the paper towels, of course.
So, it’s Week #3 of the challenge and things are going relatively well for our household. Here’s an update on what we’re doing and its impact.
Water Usage
I just spent the morning at the Park Slope Food Coop doing my work shift in food processing (all members do work shifts), where I wore plastic gloves and placed bulk items in countless plastic bags. And this is a place that works with local farmers...
Here at the Responsible Consumption Test Site, I've been test-driving websites and mobile apps to see how they can help us develop more mindful habits. This week, GoodGuide.com kicked my butt.
Part of my Buddhist practice lately has been an effort to step out of the world of unverified allegations, or taking things in "good faith", and looking more closely at the facts of my own experience.
I love to read. My first meditation retreats, in India, weren’t completely silent – there were silent days and silent periods – but in any event, I liked the idea of silence. There was a strict guideline though about not reading. That was to keep us...
Last week, I convened a family meeting in order to discuss how to respond to the IDP challenge. With my not-old-enough-for-elementary-school-yet kids seated around the table, I explained that we are going to spend a month “using things less” (or “...
Ah consuming fewer paper towels was going great. I had gotten thru the week and the ample white roll was as plump as ever. It was surprisingly easy how just asking myself, "Do I need to use this?" reduced consumption, and fairly painlessly, too....
Back in 2010 when there was the awful BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico I started to think about how much plastic I use regularly, and just how very dependent upon oil we all are right now. Plastic seems to be everywhere, and is so ingrained in my...
As a mindful consumption practice, I'm limiting my diet to foods that humans have eaten for thousands of years. Following Michael Pollan's Food Rules, I imagine my great-grandmother pushing a cart beside me in the grocery aisle. The blue...
..[T]his month, my effort is simply to do the homework, to do my best to avoid GM foods and see how it goes. What extra planning is needed? What foods should I avoid?
For IDP's Responsible Consumption Month we are committing to working mindfully with the momentum of our consumption habits and each choose specific areas of focus. Here is my pledge:
I live in a house in Barre, Massachusetts, and also stay in a little sublet apartment in NYC in the times that I am there. Both are piled high with books – books I’ve read and don’t want to give up, more often books I’ve bought I intend to someday...
