There's a lot of great information in this post and I encourage you to read through it ... however, if you don't have the time right now, you might find the following quick links helpful:
Last week we focused on the holidays and Eco-friendly giving. While it may seem a bit early to be thinking about it, preparation is the key to any "green" activity.
The Honor Society are those people who help us spread the "green" word by writing an article about our challenges and/or leaving pertinent comments. Here's what they had to say:
Anita shared this " I love this idea. I've been making Christmas gifts since I was a child - paper weights from River Stones (painting them) - handmade notecards from scrap paper & old Holiday cards & misc. jewelry, ribbon, buttons...whatever. This year - I'm giving cards again..however, these are cards I photographed and assemble...tie them with raffia and give a set of 3 away to family & a few close friends. It's so much fun to make something from my surplus. Enjoy!"
I really enjoyed this POST by Argentum Vulgaris. Contrary to what he might have you believe, he's a very nice person who cares about others. Check out his article to read about his holiday traditions ... they are thoughtful and kind.
Cat talks about a very unique, and lovely, gift idea in this ARTICLE. Here's a hint ... it is "one of a kind", it involves ears and will last a lifetime. Curious? Check it out!
Mrs. Green wrote A meaningful Christmas where she talks about celebrating Yule and connecting to the earth. She also shares that the holidays, for her, are about compromise. But ahh ... in her "perfect world" celebrations would be earth-friendly and very meaningful. No, Mrs. Green, you are not a "party pooper" ... you are a caring person with a worthwhile dream.
Fiona stopped in and had this to say, " Reluctant though I am to start thinking about Christmas so early I know it makes sense not to be last minute - that's when the tat creeps in. Present wise I've suggested to my sister that we could do a bit of a toy swap with her kids - variety is the spice of life and all that. Am going to involve my 3 yr old in this - good to dilute her mine, mine, mine tendencies! I'll give other things some thought once we've figured out the social arrangements! The way the holidays fall this year mean we would in theory be able to travel by train to visit relatives - we usually hire a car as railways shut down. Tricky thing is we get given so much stuff it is impossible to contemplate the train. Bit of a conundrum. For some top tips for a ethical Christmas you can join Extra Ethical at http://extraethical.com/referral/65787496 where you can win FREE prizes throughout advent! Looks intriguing." Extra Ethical looks fascinating, Fiona! While it's for folks in the UK, it has some great ideas for gifts which anyone can use.
CelloMom shared this, " I am a serious contender for World's Grinchiest Mom. I deeply believe that it is actually a disservice to our children to load them with presents at the end of each year. After all, the Child of Light himself received just three gifts. Those three gifts were fittingly royal, but most of our children are happiest with the simplest toys. Here is my all-time favourite toy review (from Wired magazine's GeekDad!) - try it, it's hilarious, and puts toys in a really nice perspective (that of the child): http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/01/the-5-best-toys-of-all-time/ ." Oh my goodness, CelloMom ... that was the funniest toy review ... loved it!
Alicia has some nice ideas for us. Here they are: " Oh another great challenge! I am putting together a blog post about this very subject. I love making holiday decorations with things from our yard like pine cones, pine and cedar branches and beautiful red nandina berries. We made some adorable tree ornaments this past year using shells from the beach. I also love using different size boxes and covering them with recycled paper or material and then filling them with lots of homemade goodies to give as gifts. I also like using old Christmas cards to make new package tags." Thanks, Alicia ... can't wait to read your post!
Katie came by and had this to say, " I like the challenge this year. I did some of it last year and plan on kicking it up a notch this year. For Halloween, I bought some more mum plants for the front porch (these will get planted in the ground this weekend) and pumpkins (I plan to cook with them)." By the way, Katie has been working on her own challenge this week ... she's been eating out of the freezer. Click HERE to read about Day 7 and at the top of the post, you'll find links to each day's progress. Nicely done, Katie!
For a previous challenge on food waste, Clare wrote this interesting ARTICLE where you'll find out which supermarket saved $100 million because of bread pudding and challenged corporate thinking on waste.
Our Twitter friends joined the conversation this week:
From @pinkladyapril
- I'm doing a lot of home made Christmas gifts this year - including food gifts. Also making cards & gift tags.
From @givetreegifts
- I save bits, pieces & scraps of yarn, twine, paper (especially from scrapbooking) ...anything to embellish...& make handmade cards
- One of my favorite handmade gift ideas is "Gift in a Jar". It's so easy, you can get the kids involved, & you can recycle those jars!
- Mason Jar Recipes: Holiday Ideas for Gifts In A Jar: http://christmas.organizedhome.com/crafts/gifts-in-a-jar/recipe-index
- 48 Homemade Gifts in a Jar: http://www.tipjunkie.com/homemade-gifts/jar-homemade-gifts/
- Gifts in a Jar: Bath Snowballs in a Jar: http://www.marthastewart.com/277236/gifts-in-a-jar/@center/307035/santas-workshop
- Here are some images of gifts in a jar to inspire you: http://www.google.ca/search?q=gifts+in+a+jar&hl=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=5xuRULzLIojaygGTzoGgBw&ved=0CB0QsAQ&biw=1024&bih=677
- I save gift baskets & interesting containers, fill them with baking at Christmas & give them as gifts.Use a festive towel to wrap it.
From @earthyurban
- Im down and out about my home state, it's seems mother earth has Performed it's own change for #CTWW but i want to be there to help
From @themac533
- Save old business cards to write/stick on as gift tags. Wine for the host can go wrapped in a new festive tea-towel for safe transport
The #CTWW Gang are those folks who share our challenges on twitter using the hashtag #CTWW. If you're a Twitter member, I highly recommend following them ... they have a lot of great things to say. Let's meet them:
My Final Thoughts:
This is a difficult challenge which is probably why it comes up every year. It makes us take a hard look at our environmental ethics. For some, giving up the commercial (and usually wasteful) aspect of any celebration is an easy option ... they simply make the decision to do so and that's that. For the majority of us, however, it's not so easy because drawing a hard line could mean offending the people we love ... after all, we're dealing with expectations and traditions. So ... does that mean that we simply give up and stop trying? Of course not! We approach it in the same manner that we approach everything on this blog ... one small step at a time. We continue to educate ourselves (and those around us) and look for ways to honor our traditions without hurting the earth. We take one little step after another until one day we achieve our goal ... a meaningful event which makes everyone happy, including Mother Earth.
Thanks, everyone! If you wrote an article, I have Stumbled, Tweeted, Facebooked and posted it on Google +. You can help spread the "green" word by using the share feature at the bottom of this post.
This Week's Challenge:
This week's challenge comes from Kim who says "I've always been a huge advocate of local shopping." Here it is:
This week shop local by making at least one purchase from a local independent business. In other words, pass right by the big chain stores and search out a local merchant. Need some ideas? Have your hair cut by an independent salon ... buy food from a farmer's market or a local grocer ... get your car maintenanced by the neighborhood mechanic ... buy lunch from a "mom & pop" restaurant ... get your cup of coffee from the neighborhood barista. Want to shop online? No problem ... shop at a local Etsy shop (find one HERE), via a site such as GROUPON, using CRAIGSLIST or do an Internet search for local businesses in your area to find their website (if available). As always, we'd like to know all about it ... where you shopped, any problems with shopping local, etc.
Or ...
Not planning to make any purchases this week? Then your challenge is to do a little "homework" and come up with a plan for shopping local when you do need to shop. We'd like to know what kinds of purchases you can make locally and any problems you'll need to overcome (along with solutions if you come up with them).
Not planning to make any purchases this week? Then your challenge is to do a little "homework" and come up with a plan for shopping local when you do need to shop. We'd like to know what kinds of purchases you can make locally and any problems you'll need to overcome (along with solutions if you come up with them).
UP THE ANTE (From Argentum Vulgaris): Not only is this CTWW a message to shop and buy local, I want to take it a step further. Don't buy anything at a franchise. By that I mean don't even buy a coffee at Starbucks. McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, nothing of that kind. Make your coffee at home, or go to a little coffee shop. These franchise places are stealing from your community and stopping the little people making a living.
So what do you think ... can you do it? Yeah ... I know that you can!
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WE'RE CHANGING THE WORLD ... ONE CHALLENGE AT A TIME!
Love this - almost think this should be a once-a-month challenge! Local is soooo important!!
ReplyDeleteToday I had breakfast at a local coffeehouse where all of the furnishing came from salvaged wood and found objects & they use local CSAs for their produce and organic, locally-roasted coffees & ingredients in their baked goods. For lunch with a client I walked across the street to my local cafe who serves locally roasted coffee that's delivered by bike (Trailhead Roasters) and has a beautiful garden out front for customers to sit in (yes it's actually still in the 50's here, gorgeous fall day!).
A tidbit I also learned, speaking of local and repurposing, is that my client, who heats her home with wood and is always searching for salvage wood to use for this, found that the local port will sell the equivalent of a cord of wood for about $50 - they use this beautiful, untreated wood on cargo ships and then dump it, and PDX'ers got wise and they now sell it to them for next to nothing! Cool huh.
What a wonderful challenge! I'm right on board and when I started thinking I realised just how much I'm doing already; That made a nice change - thanks SF!
ReplyDeletehttp://littlegreenblog.com/blog/green-news/supporting-local-business/
CTWW is up and running, finally... on:
ReplyDeletehttp://ecocrap.wordpress.com/2012/11/08/change-the-world-wednesday-8th-nov/
I have Upped the Ante
AV
I am new here, but love this challenge. I buy local quite a bit, although this week there is nothing I need. I live in a small town where I shop at a local consignment store, thrift store which is run by a church and proceeds go to buy school supplies and socks and underwear for low income families each fall. There is a farming community around as well, so all my eggs, cheese, honey, bison meat (for family get togethers) is bought locally. We also have two local potters, jewelry artisans, and alpaca farm where I can buy the wool or already made clothing items. When we aren't getting all our books from the library we use the locally owned book store, when we want a treat we head to the bagel shop for a bagel and bowl of soup. There is so much here to allow me to live locally that the only time I stop at a chain store it is my grocery store, which is a locally owned franchise, but still a chain.
ReplyDeleteI love this week's challenge! I rarely eat in chains as I don't buy fast food, and there aren't very many chains where I live, luckily. However, remember that some franchises are owned by local people, running a business just like other local people. Of course a chunk of the profit goes to the multi-national so I agree with the challenge, but I'm just saying there is a local element too - well, there is on my little tropical island at least.
ReplyDeleteMy article this week covers last week's AND this week's challenge - how to make your holiday travel eco friendly, and what to eat when you get there. http://www.ecofriendlylink.com/blog/ecofriendlytravel
Thanks for another great challenge!
I have a suspicion (or maybe wishful thinking) that the era of the chain is ending. The reason we like chains is that even though we're far from home, we know exactly what to expect when we pull into a McDonald's or a Wendy's - even if the expectation may be low.
ReplyDeleteBut with the advent of review sites like yelp, and the rise of mobile connectivity, we can look up what restaurants people are enthousiastic about, even when we're travelling. So we don't have to rely on the chains any more. There's nothing more satisfying than discovering a gem of an eatery, no matter where you are!
Same for hardware stores, clothing stores, and all the rest!
We *love* this challenge, as we live in White Center Home of Local Independent Food!. We are very fortunate to live in a community inexpensive enough to serve as a nursery for family businesses starting out with a food idea..
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful challenge and I have even posted about it today. We just had new tires put on our car at a local shop, I got some beautiful jewelry from a local shop in Nashville this past week.When we eat out we like to find good local restaurants to go to and we get our hair cut at local salons.I love buying veggies at the local Farmers markets and produce stores.Whats great is we save money as well. A good example is that I got some beautiful Kale this week at the local produce market for only 99 cents a bunch. I had seen it a few days earlier at the grocery for $1.89 a bunch and it was really limp looking! Cheaper and fresher from the local market! There is a local company making and selling fresh tortilla chips that I just found out about so I will be checking them out soon.
ReplyDeleteI think I just want to share some of my joys of shopping local. When supporting a family run, local, independent or 'little guy' business, I find the service or products you receive are so much more meaningful, friendly and dedicated. The person helping you do it because they want to make their business a success and often because they love what they do. I sometimes spend up to an hour just chatting to the lady who sells herbal medicine and fair trade products. I also love to barter products and servics with other locals, and you can get great bargains and unique finds at markets!
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