If you're awake and in the presence of a news source even occasionally, you can't miss the stories on the myriad ways we're screwing up our planet. Our plastic grocery bags are filling up landfills and killing wildlife. Global warming? Looking pretty real. Plastic water bottles are wrecking the environment, evading recycling, and probably giving us cancer. It's easy to get a little down because there's not a lot you can do as an individual other than pester your elected representatives and try not to add any more stuff than necessary to the trash heap every day. And let's face it, "eco" shopping only helps if it's done in the context of trying to use less stuff, not burdening yourself (and the planet) with even more consumer goods.
That grim warning aside, there are some smart buying decisions you can make when you're going to be buying something anyway that can help the planet in one way or another.
First, let's talk about those plastic bottles. Hydration is a good thing. More plastic bottles in landfills are a bad thing. And plastic recycling, by all accounts, just isn't working out as well as our fairly streamlined aluminum recycling. So instead of drinking some other city's tap water name-branded in a plastic bottle that may or may not wind up being recycled, try one of the Sigg bottles, which are made of aluminum (recyclable!) and which hold up very well to repeated use without leaching anything gross into your water. 18.99
We have a lot of forest loss these days from wood products, and that's problematic, since trees clean the air, cool the planet, and house wildlife. When you're considering something made of wood, bamboo is often a better choice than more traditional wood products. Bamboo grows very quickly, which makes it easier to farm instead of just clear-cutting. And honestly? It's really beautiful, so it's an easy choice to make. Here we have some gorgeous bamboo bowls from re: modern. It's just as easy to find bamboo servingware, flooring, and furniture, so consider it whenever you're considering wood. $16.00
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Ecological living usually involves compromises. Cotton, for instance, sucks up a lot of water and land. Then again, using cloth napkins at the table instead of paper napkins saves trees, the water that pulp mills pollute, and the plastic packaging that goes on paper goods. Not bad, eh? I like these screen-printed napkins by Michelle Brusegaard. $20.00 for a set of four.
The other big tree killer, of course, is paper. The nice thing about paper is that it recycles easily, forming … more paper! It's like a magic trick! I usually remember to get recycled notebooks but forget to buy recycled printer paper. Now that I've found Greenline Paper Company's Cascades Enviro100, which is recycled from 100% post-consumer waste, though, I have no excuse. Plus, who doesn't love ordering online and avoiding the office store? $45.95 for 5,000 sheets.
One possibility you should never overlook when you're shopping is the reuse end of the reduce-reuse-recycle mantra of eco-shopping. You can sometimes find classic furniture, kooky lamps, and designer duds at your local thrift and consignment stores. This saves you money and sometimes benefits a charity you'd be glad to support anyway. It's also a great way to get good-quality products that you can use for a long time instead of spending your limited budget on throwaway furniture or cheaply made accessories that might not last over the long haul. If you can't find what you need at the local thrift store, there are always online auctions, including the thrift-store auctions organized by Housing Works, whose profits benefit people with HIV/AIDS.
Now, about those plastic grocery bags: we've got to stop using them. Seriously. Unless you have the perfect totes already handy, though, that means you need something to get your oranges and milk and (crucially) Nutty Bars home in. Enter the recycled ad bags, made out of recycled outdoor banners. Replace, in other words, disposable plastic with reusable, recycled plastic, and thus hit two birds with one stone. (Note: Do not throw real stones at real birds, as this is not ecological.) Plus, these bags are super-cute. $29.95
We've concentrated on necessities, but you can find great Earth-friendly toys, too. Made in a fair-trade workshop in Cameroon, these terracotta birds whistle different notes depending on how much water you put in them. This is one of those simple toys that kids of all ages will like, and what's more renewable than terracotta? $4.00
It used to be harder to find eco-friendly products, but now that the internet has put us all a click away from anything in the country (and arguably the world), it's gotten a lot easier to buy stuff that is partially recycled or that can be recycled. Remember that any shopping has an impact on the Earth, so buying those cute recycled-tire shoes isn't really justifiable unless you actually need a new pair of shoes -- nobody ever saved the Earth, in other words, through shopping. Then again, there are ways to shop that hurt the Earth less and that might even ameliorate our impact on the planet over time. And that's something we should all aspire to do. |
