Book Review: Cheap

I'm over at The Green Phone Booth today with a review of the new book Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture.

Like many young couples, my husband and I furnished our first home at Ikea and Target, but a year ago, I decided I wanted to start upgrading to "grown-up furniture," starting with our bookcases. I dreamed of solidly crafted bookcases that would last the rest of our lives. So when we moved to Raleigh, we sold our cheap Ikea bookcases, gave away enough books to be able to downsize to two bookcases, and then I went shopping.

Cue reality. Even though I am definitely a grown-up, I cannot afford grown-up furniture. Two hardwood bookcases from grown-up stores like Crate and Barrel and Pottery Barn cost upwards of $800. Ouch!

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You have hereby been challenged to go green in a year without going broke! Check out the last challenge, or view the whole list of Challengicious Mondays.

Like what you see? Sign up for my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, and join my "Go Green without Going Broke" group on Facebook! You can also find me over at The Green Phone Booth.

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Do Personal Changes Matter? Yes, yes, yes!

Do personal changes matter?

That seems to be the big question circulating around the green blogosphere this month.

First, there was the Orion Magazine article, Forget Shorter Showers: Why personal change does not equal political change, in which the author asserts:

I’m not saying we shouldn’t live simply. I live reasonably simply myself, but I don’t pretend that not buying much (or not driving much, or not having kids) is a powerful political act, or that it’s deeply revolutionary. It’s not. Personal change doesn’t equal social change.

Then there was this article in the New Yorker where Elizabeth Kolbert criticizes No Impact Man's "eco-stunt:"

So committed is Beavan to his claim of zero impact that he can’t—or won’t—see the deforestation for the trees. He worries a great deal about the environmental consequences of Michelle’s tampon use and the shrink-wrap around a block of cheese. But when it comes to his building’s heating system, which is apparently so wasteful that people are opening windows in the middle of winter, he just throws up his hands.

(Reading this article, I wanted to rush to No Impact Man's defense - his experiment did matter because of all the people he has influenced...Me! for one. But Kolbert also describes the eco-stunts of a couple other popular environmentalist writers, and I was completely turned off by her descriptions of Vanessa Farquharson, whose book I had on my to-read list.)

Grist mentioned the Kolbert article twice (here and here), and also ran a piece about Henry David Thoreau referring to the same biography of Thoreau that Kolbert discusses in her critique of eco-stunts (Walden Pond being the first and most famous eco-stunt).

Fake Plastic Fish took up the argument on Wednesday, listing several bloggers responses to the Orion article, and then interviewed Diane MacEachern of Big Green Purse for her post today. Diane defends using consumer power as a political act by stating:

For thirty years, my focus was really on public policy. I thought passing laws to address environmental issues was the most effective way to make a difference. We still need stronger laws, and enforcement of regulations on the books. But the last few years, I've become convinced that the marketplace moves faster than the halls of Congress! Companies fight legislation tooth and nail - but consumer dollars are their lifeblood. If we use our money to make a difference, we can accelerate the transition to a cleaner, greener world.

So what are my thoughts on the subject?

1) Personal change leads to political change.

Personal change probably doesn't matter very much. The author of the Orion article points out that the majority of waste and energy use comes from commercial, industrial, and agricultural sources, so personal changes are just a drop in the bucket.

That's true, but the people who are taking shorter showers, recycling, and bicycling are also the people who are lobbying for water, land, and resource conservation and proposing solutions like cap and trade. Personal change is like a gateway drug. You start with the easy stuff by greening your own life, and pretty soon you're looking around for some harder drugs to ease your addiction: "Now how can I help my office go green? Or my school? Or my city? Or my country?"

I've pointed out before that real wide-scale changes will require organization and policy change, but those big changes start with individuals making a choice to live differently.

2) Corporations are people too.

We have a tendency as environmentalists to anthropomorphize corporations, labeling them as "good" and "evil" as if a corporation has the ability to make good or bad decisions. Corporations do not make decisions. They are made up of individuals who make decisions - ordinary people who are just as capable as you or I to make personal choices about water use, energy consumption, and waste management. But whereas my decision to go green affects very few beyond my small sphere of influence, if the executives of Walmart decide to go green, it has a monumental impact.

And why would the executives of Walmart decide to go green? Maybe in part because they care about the environment, but it's more likely because they recognize the economic value of a green image and green products. They are responding to consumer demand.

The author of the Orion article doesn't want us to label ourselves as consumers because "we reduce our potential forms of resistance to consuming and not consuming." He's right that we have many other "resistance tactics" available to us, but it's wrong to say that consuming is an invalid method of protest.

We are consumers, and because we consume, we have immense power. We can choose to buy a product because of the materials it's made of. We can choose to buy a product because it's less toxic. We can choose to buy a product because it's made in a safe, fair environment. And we can choose not to buy a product at all.

We do have power as consumers, and when enough people choose to wield that power, the marketplace listens. Corporations have to listen, or they will die.

3) It matters to me.

I made my very first environmentally related decision twelve years ago when I became a vegetarian. It was a major lifestyle change, but I didn't do it because I expected my actions to have a huge rippling effect or that my personal choice would change the meat industry. I did it because I personally could not feel good about eating an animal that was raised and slaughtered inhumanely. My decision to give up meat was not based on a desire to change the world. I became a vegetarian because I believed it was the right thing to do.

Every eco-related choice I've made since then has followed the same line of reasoning. I hope that my actions will influence others. I try to be involved in my community so I can effect change not just in my own life, but in the world around me. But what matters most is that I'm being the best person I can be.


I intended to write this post last week for one of my Weekend Ramblings, but I never got around it it. So many people have blogged on this topic since then that I feel like I'm late to the party, and it would have been easy to say, "There's nothing left to say." But because I believe in the power of personal change, I believe my voice matters. So here I am, adding my individual voice to all the others, asserting that my changes matter. Your changes matter. Our collective changes can make a better, greener world.

Photo by Marco Belluci

This post was included in the Carnival of the Green #195 at EcoTechDaily.

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A Conscious Shopper Is/Is Not

Since we still haven't sold our house in Maryland, my family has lived for the past eight months with only half of our stuff. The other half is still in Maryland "staging" our house. Thinking of this fact today, I had two thoughts:

1. Our house in Maryland looks really beautiful without all the clutter.
2. Except for missing a few big furniture items, it hasn't been much of an adjustment to cut back to half as much stuff.

Don't get me wrong. I will be ecstatic when our house finally sells and we have all of our belongings in one place again. I miss having a home that actually looks like a home, instead of like we're in transition.

But doing without has made me realize how much of what I own was purchased to fill up space, to make an impression, or to fulfill an impulse rather than being chosen with careful thought.

I know I'm not alone in that. Afterall, recreational shopping is one of America's favorite pastimes. And in general, I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting nice things or wanting to look nice.

But often, we get so caught up in everyday living that we forget to pay attention to the things that matter. We live such fast-paced lives that we don't have time to choose carefully, and we end up with stuff we don't need, stuff we don't use, stuff we don't wear, stuff that doesn't last. And because we bought the wrong stuff in the first place, we end up buying more stuff and more stuff and more stuff.

This cycle of spend, spend, spend is not good for the planet or the pocketbook, but many people are afraid of what will happen if they step off the treadmill and try something new. They fear the hippy stereotype, and they fear criticism from their peers for being "different."

So I'm here right now to set the record straight...

Being a Conscious Shopper means:

• you think before you buy
• you are aware of the effects of your purchases on others and on the planet
• you try to choose the best possible products to meet your needs
• you live within your means

It does not mean you have to radically change your life (although you might do it by accident). It does not mean you have to make huge sacrifices (unless you want to). And it definitely does not mean you have to look ugly or drab (but you might end up caring a little less about how you look and a little bit more about the world around you).

Most importantly, a Conscious Shopper knows that shopping can never replace real living. So in the words of the New American Dream:

More fun, less stuff!

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A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Medicine Go Down

This post is my submission for this month's APLS Blog Carnival. The subject is "mind games." Check out all of the APLS bloggers on January 22nd at VWXYNot.

My kids got Mary Poppins for Christmas, and I'm enjoying re-learning all the great songs and dances from that classic musical. I've also found myself quoting her to my children many times the past few days. In her wise words...

“For every task that must be done, there is an element of fun.
Find the fun, and snap, the job's a game.”

I've also been applying this mantra to my own life as I've tried harder and harder to be less consumeristic. In my own home, I'm safe, but as soon as I step out into the real world, I meet a thousand enticements to slide right back in to that spend, discard, spend, discard cycle.

For example, I went to the mall last November for the first time in several months, and suddenly I was intensely aware of how drab my clothes are, how my shoes are out of style, and how I have no cool jewelry. I was feeling a little despondent about my dowdy appearance and had the impulse to spend to my heart's desire to make myself feel better.

Instead, I came up with a compromise: I could buy myself new clothes whenever I wanted as long as they came from a thrift store.

Up to that point, I had never enjoyed thrift store shopping. But as I began visiting my thrift store on a weekly basis, I began to see the fun in it. It is a challenge to find good buys. And when I do find them, I feel a victorious high that I've never felt from a shopping spree at the mall.

If you're trying to live a low-impact lifestyle, it's easy to start feeling deprived, but if you find the fun in your new way of life, it becomes a game, and it can be amazingly rewarding.

Here are some more examples:

• I am hooked on Craigslist. Why would I ever want to buy something new again when there are so many “like new” items on Craigslist? And like shopping at thrift stores, I see Craigslist as a challenge. I have a running list of things I want, and I check it regularly. I have to be patient until just the right item at just the right price comes along. But if I put in the effort, I reap some amazing rewards.

• In my attempt to be more frugal and buy less, I've started seeing everything in a new light. Before buying something, I ask myself, “How could I improvise and use something I already have to do this job?” Before I throw something away, I ask myself, “Is there any way I could reuse this?” When I come up with a way to solve a problem using that method, I feel creative and satisfied.

• Trying to support my local economy, I do a lot of shopping at the farmer's market. I hate going grocery shopping, but the farmer's market is fun every time. I only take one kid with me at a time, and we make it a date, giving me a chance to teach each child on an individual basis about where our food comes from. First Son always asks, “Momma, are these eggs from happy chickens?”

• Sometimes if you're willing to be behind the times, you can reap some great benefits. For example, we still have a VCR. I can pick up old VHS tapes, like Mary Poppins, from the thrift store for a couple dollars. The videos are getting extra use instead of heading straight to the landfill, and we get to enjoy some classic old movies without waiting for them to be released from the Disney vault.

If you're feeling deprived in your non-consumer, green lifestyle, take a note from Mary Poppins. Make it a game, and you'll be surprised at how much fun it can be.

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Green Christmas Killjoy?

Last year, the New York Times had an article around this time of year called "Jolly and Green, with an Agenda" about environmentalists who were using Christmas as a platform for selling their anti-consuming message but were just ending up driving their families crazy. One example they relate is of a woman who gave everyone in her family a compact fluorescent bulb for Christmas. She thought it would convey her "deeply-felt environmental conviction;" her family "thought she was nuts.”

I read that story and thought, "Ugh." Compact fluorescent light bulbs are a lousy gift. And some people might be able to eschew all gift-giving at Christmas, but my family (including me) would find that pretty disappointing.

As a religious person, I think it's important to preserve the spiritual side of Christmas. As an environmentalist, I hope people will avoid consumerism during the holidays. But as a normal person who loves to give and receive, I say, "Why kill Christmas?"

The problem I see is not that Christmas is a consumer holiday, but that we Americans consume and consume and consume all year long. We buy ourselves the newest and latest whenever we want it. We spoil our children, giving them whatever they want because we want to see them happy but also because it is easier than dealing with a temper tantrum, and we Americans have also become lazy. So then when Christmas rolls around, we have to go over the top, buy huge extravagant gifts, and spend hundreds of dollars to make it seem more special than any other day of the year.

There's a scene from an old book I read as a child - I think it was Little Women but it might have been Little House on the Prairie - where all of the kids got oranges in their stockings at Christmas, and they were ecstatic over the oranges. Christmas was the only time of year they ever got to taste that delectable fruit that we now can have anytime we want.

I'm certainly not nostalgic for the days when oranges were a special treat, nor am I saying that you should only give your children oranges at Christmas. But maybe Christmas would be a little more special if we didn't consume so much the rest of the year. Maybe we wouldn't have to blow Christmas so out of proportion if we practiced some restraint January through November.

As a Conscious Shopper, I think the solution is not a no-present Christmas or a green-message Christmas, but just a downsized Christmas, a responsible Christmas, and an in-the-budget Christmas.

Message to all of my friends and family: please don't get me lightbulbs for Christmas.

Photo by tsuacctnt

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The Sad Tale of the Broken Yogurt Maker (and a bonus yogurt recipe)

While unpacking boxes after our move (back in July), I dropped the lid to my yogurt maker, and it cracked in half. This was terrible because I was in the habit of making one or two batches of yogurt a week to satisfy my family's smoothie needs. I would have to start buying yogurt. (aargh) In nonrecyclable containers. (double aargh)

I had the option of trying to repair my yogurt maker or buying a new one, and being the thrifty, environmentally-conscious person that I am, I chose repair.

So I emailed the company that made my yogurt maker, and received a reply back that they didn't have the part I was looking for and I would need to contact another company. I called the second company, where a costumer service representative informed me that they did indeed have the part, and it would cost $15.

My original yogurt maker only cost me $25. (aargh aargh aargh)

Still $15 was an infuriating yet small price to pay to save an otherwise perfectly fine yogurt maker from the landfill.

A month later, my new lid arrived...with a small problem. It was the wrong lid. My particular style of yogurt maker has an inner lid for the quart container and an outer lid for the incubator. It was the outer lid that I needed, and the inner lid that I got.

Now by this point, most people would have given up. To be honest, the amount of yogurt containers we had gone through by now was probably going to take up more space in the landfill than if I'd just thrown out my yogurt maker. But it was the principal that drove me on.

It makes me crazy that we live in such a throw-away culture. Most people, when faced with the option of trying to track down a replacement part that costs minimally less than a brand new item, would choose to buy the new item.But that's not the way it should be. Products should be made to last, and when they break, we should be able to get them fixed.

Remember back in the old days on Sesame Street when Maria ran a Fix-It shop? Characters on the show would bring in their old blenders and toasters and TVs, and Maria would fix them. Well, guess what. Maria doesn't run a Fix-It shop anymore. She runs a Mail-It shop. Our kids don't know what a Fix-It shop is. Let's face it, the grown-ups my age don't know what a Fix-It shop is. If something breaks, we toss it.

So in defiance of this attitude of disposable consumption, I went through the whole song and dance again, this time carefully explaining exactly which lid I wanted (and I was pleased to hear that the cost of the lid would be waved since I'd already purchased one replacement lid). Another month later, I'm making yogurt again, using my three-year-old yogurt maker, which still works perfectly fine.

(And for the record, I've actually saved all of my yogurt containers with the hope of eventually finding a TerraCycle yogurt container recycling location.)

How to Have Homemade Yogurt of Your Very Own

(Cost: Depends on the cost of the milk you use, but for me using organic whole milk, it's roughly $1.50, compared to $3.99 for a quart of Stoneyfield Farms yogurt.)

1. Buy a container of yogurt from the grocery store with the words "live active cultures" on the package. Set aside 1/4 cup of this yogurt to be used as your starter.
   
2. Before you start making yogurt, set your starter out on the counter to warm up to room temperature and plug in your yogurt maker if you're using one.
   
3. Start with a quart of milk. Whole milk works best. If you're using skim milk, you may want to add 1/3 cup of powdered milk to thicken it.
4. Sterilize the milk by heating it to almost boiling, about 180 degrees. (I generally do this in the microwave, but if you plan to use the stove, I advise using a double boiler so you don't scald the milk.)
5. Put the milk in the fridge and cool down to about 110 degrees. (This takes about 30 minutes. Set a timer so you won't get caught up doing something else and forget that you were making yogurt. Been there...)
   
6. Stir in the starter.
7. Incubate your yogurt anywhere from 6-12 hours, depending on how tangy you like it. You can incubate it in a yogurt maker (the foolproof method I prefer), in an oven with the pilot light on, or even in a thermos. The trick is to maintain a temperature of about 110 degrees.
   
8. Save 1/4 cup of yogurt to use for your next starter. You need to use this starter within 5-7 days or it will not work and you'll have to buy a new starter. But otherwise, you can use your own yogurt starter almost indefinitely.

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Armed against Consumerism

I tend to be more of a media education type of person than a media abstinence type. I admit that I let my kids watch TV and play on the computer, and I don't feel guilty about it (most of the time). I restrict how much they can watch, I monitor what they are watching, I try to balance outside play with couch potato time. I enjoy the media, so why shouldn't I have kids who also enjoy the media?

The problem is that we live in a commercial culture, and Big Business has their eye on our children. And as we head into the holiday season, it becomes more important that our kids are armed with the resources to resist the consumer frenzy. I believe in teaching our kids to have a healthy skepticism about advertisements they see on TV, or on the computer, or on a billboard, or a bus...(they're everywhere!) And I thought I was doing pretty good at teaching this to my kids.

But then my First Son, who is almost five, says to me, "We need to buy some Motts applesauce."

"Hmmm," I say. "Did you see a commercial for Mott's applesauce?"

"Yes," he replies. "But you say commercials are trying to get us to buy things we don't need, and I think we need applesauce."

"You're right, we do need applesauce. But we buy whatever kind is cheapest, and Mott's is not the cheapest," I say, and then explain, "Commercials play with your emotions to try to get you to buy what they're selling, and sometimes they lie to you. I like to make my own decisions, and that's why I don't listen to commercials, even if they're selling something like applesauce that I usually buy."

I thought I got the point across, but the next time we were at the store, he brought it up again. "Can we get Mott's applesauce?"

I decided I needed a book that could teach my son about advertising strategies. My first stop was my local library's website, but after an hour of trying out various search terms, the only book I could find was The Berenstain Bears and the Trouble with Commercials, which my library does not yet have but has ordered. I put it on reserve, and I'll let you know how it is once I get it.

My next stop was two of my favorite organizations, Common Sense Media and The New American Dream. Common Sense Media is a non-profit organization that rates movies, books, TV shows, and websites based on their age-appropriateness and provides tips and guides for managing media in the home. These are great resources, but not exactly what I was looking for.

Next stop, New American Dream. This is where I hit the jackpot. They have a terrific brochure called "Parenting in a Commercial Culture," which includes a list of books and websites to use when teaching your kids about commercialism. My library happened to have two of the books, so I picked them up this afternoon, and also spent some time perusing a few of the websites.

1. The Gift of Nothing by Patrick McDonnell
This is a fantastic book about Mooch the cat, who wants to give his best friend Earl a gift. What do you get for the dog who has everything? Nothing! Mooch's gift of "nothing" reminds us that the best gift to give a friend is time spent together.


2. Henry Hikes to Fitchburg by D.B. Johnson
Based on a passage from Henry David Thoreau's Walden Pond, this book tells the story of Henry and a friend, who both agree to meet in Fitchburg at the end of the day. The friend says he will work until he has enough money to take a train to Fitchburg, and Henry says he will walk. The friend spends the whole day working, while Henry enjoys a long leisurely walk exploring nature and picking blackberries. In the end, the friend gets to Ficthburg faster, but who had the better day?

3. http://pbskids.org/dontbuyit/
This is a great website, even if it was made by PBS kids, which seems to be one of the big marketers to children these days. (I think my son probably saw the Mott's commercial on PBS). This site is targeted at upper elementary to middle school age kids, but I played a few of the games with my son, and I think he got the gist. I also learned some fun (but sad) facts. For example, how much of the cost of a $50 pair of jeans goes to the Eastern European worker who made it? Answer: $0.50

4. http://web.mit.edu/civenv/K12Edu/game.html
This website includes a game where you can test your skills as a consumer. It doesn't have the best graphics, but my son enjoyed guessing which was the best object to buy, and it was fun to see how we're doing as conscious consumers.

All of these are great resources for arming our children against the media, but none of them were exactly what I was looking for. Anyone know of a good children's book about advertising? I need some help if I'm going to win the battle against Mott's applesauce.

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