This week I'd like to offer something more like "food for thought". It's not really a tip per se. I was reading an article in O magazine titled Green IQ. The article is actually an interview with the author and psychologist Daniel Goleman. In it he asks us in his new book Ecological Intelligence to think beyond things like organic, recycled and fair trade and "pursue a deeper, more critical understanding of how the products we use, buy and discard affect the environment". Without copying the article word for word I will give you my simple translation. Turning down the thermostat and replacing a few light bulbs is just the tiny tip of a really big iceberg. Every single thing we buy has an impact on the earth. The article used a glass jar for example and everything it goes through JUST to become glass. Just to make the glass you have to burn a gas furnace 24 hours at 2,000 degrees. He talks about a method called life-cycle assessment that looks at the entire range of a product's impact on the earth. You can go to GoodGuide.com to get more information. Long story short after reading the article I was both frustrated and energized. Frustrated because the hill just seems to big to climb. I turn down the thermostat, I use the eco friendly grocery bags...but I use way too many Ziplocs and my online shopping is anything but green. But energized because I was becoming more educated. Daniel Goleman seems to believe that knowledge is the key and I'd have to agree. I'm learning and that is a start. So on your next trip to the grocery store or the mall or eBay think...what did it take to get this product to me? And what will happen to this product when I am done with it? I think if we can do even just this one little thing - THINK - we will be helping.
PS. Richard...they weren't weeds (see above).
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