This guest article has some good ideas for gifts. I’ll take the cashmere socks! Maybe I should have run this article earlier, but a lot of these take little time so now is probably good. — Zana

Simple & Sustainable Holiday Gift Ideas

By Heidi Decoux

Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, Americans throw away about 25% more trash, on average, compared to any other time of the year. That’s about 25 million tons of trash over the Holidays above and beyond what we already throw away. Unfortunately most traditional gift-wrap is not recyclable due to the high metallic and dye content and most tissue paper is also not recyclable due to the short fibers.

During the holiday season, consider giving gifts, which are both environmentally friendly and creative. For example, consider the gift of an experience. An experience creates a memory, which lasts a lifetime and does not create more clutter in your home or create more trash.

Gifts of Experience

• Tickets to a play, concert or movie Read the rest >>>

We keep cloth bags hanging near the front door of our house, so we’ll remember them as we walk out the door.  I keep a few in the car too. This is one simple thing that anyone can do. You could give cloth bags to friends and relatives for holiday gifts, too. — Zana

Why Reusable Bags Are Better Than Plastic and Paper Bags

By Tom V Powell

Reusable bags are sensible alternative to paper and plastic bags. By using reusable bags, not only can you lug around your groceries, you can also play your part in preserving the environment. Over the course of the year, over 360 billion plastic bags are used in the United States alone. The sad news is that it takes over 1000 years for plastic bags to break down within a landfill. Read the rest >>>

Here’s a guest post by a fellow blogger, Kate Willson, who writes on the topics of top online colleges. I was looking around her site and found an article that is very pertinent to simple green living: it’s on 100 lessons you can learn from frugal people, and she links to a fascinating variety of articles. Happy surfing! — Zana

If you are fortunate enough to be employed by one of the top 10 green companies in the
nation then kudos to you. But if your boss is too stubborn to follow in pursuit and is against
transforming the workplace into a sustainable environment, there are a few things that you can
do as an individual to ensure an eco-friendly office.

1. The first thing you can do is change the way you get to work—meaning change your
means of transportation. Try to organize a carpool with your co-workers or challenge
yourself to take the bus or ride your bicycle to work. You don’t have to this everyday
but try making it your goal to do this at least once or twice a week to reduce your carbon
footprint. You’ll be surprised how much this little change can improve the air quality and
how much you’ll save on gas money.

2. Another simple way to go green at work is to make sure that you invest in reusable
containers, silverware, plate wear, mugs and water bottles for your lunches and
beverages. This will heavily reduce the amount of harmful plastic and Styrofoam that is
dumped into landfills every day. Read the rest >>>

Here’s a reflective piece on simple living by a woman who is doing it. — Zana

The Art of Simple Living

By Tiffany Washko

Simple living is the way an individual chooses to enjoy life in the simplest form possible without the comforts often found in high technological materials and wealth. The art of simple living may be described as living in a way that is outwardly simpler and inwardly richer; focusing more on the richness of the world’s natural resources rather than on the material things that often clutter our life. Read the rest >>>

Big Green Purse is a very useful book for shopping greener!Not just that, it’s also all about living more ecologically in general.

I found a copy at one of the three public libraries I frequent, and have been working my way through it. It has inspired several blog posts I’ve written here. Diane MacEachern has done a massive amount of research, and the book is full of information, tips, websites, comments on how her family does things, and more.

Highly recommended! Click on the image to see more about the book at Amazon.

Earth flag, Image via Wikipedia

Many people just can’t get into making changes in their lives to help the planet. They often say that it seems futile to them. With billions of people alive — and world population still rising — how much can it matter what one person or one family does?

I can understand this point of view, as I have certainly had this thought myself many times. How much can it really make a difference if I write articles on simple living, for example?

I think the point is that all we can change is ourselves. That’s where all of us have to begin. Then, some people’s actions will in fact go on to affect how things are done on a society-wide level. Most people’s actions will have a much smaller range.

The Happiness Factor

It is easy to say that since your actions will be such a tiny part of the picture, you won’t bother. What you don’t realize you are missing out on is the happiness factor. Read the rest >>>