December 2007
Hello from Betsy
Well, it’s National Buy More Stuff Month, so I thought I’d wish you all a very relaxing, joyful, family and friend-filled holiday. For a short and inspiring video on why you should stay far away from chain-stores and big box shops this month, see Annie Leonard’s The Story of Stuff. Annie Leonard is the Berkeley-based coordinator of the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives. Her succinct and entertaining video explains the huge environmental and social costs of the cheap plastic crap (“CPC”) that we buy at places like Target and Radio Shack.
After you have watched this short video explanation, then go out and be really entertained by Morgan Spurlock's new film "What Would Jesus Buy?" currently showing at the Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley. In this very serious and very funny film, the maker of "Supersize Me" tracks the Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir as they travel across the country to WalMart headquarters, the Mall of America, and Disneyland. Confronted by security guards in shopping wastelands from NYC to LA, these brave actors combine comedy and social protest in an inspiring effort to save Christmas from insane consumerism.
Instead of filling your house with more CPC this holiday season, take your family for a hike, cook wonderful meals made entirely from farmers’ market produce, and buy marvelous experiences for your significant others. Gift certificates for massages, overnight stays at local getaways like Annie’s Garden Cottage in Point Reyes Station, dinner for two at Zatar – these are all things I would love to have (hint, hint) and they won’t hurt the earth or any living creatures. Give a gorgeous gift made locally such as a coffee mug or necklace from Berkeley's cooperative Potter's Studio or one of the many other Open Studios that local artists have this time of year. Or give the gift of your own time: free babysitting for an evening, a homemade meal for a family of four, a series of dog walks for the long-suffering pal of an over-worked friend.
Finally, consider giving a charitable donation in a loved one's name. My favorite charity this season is the Blue Planet Run Foundation. This innovative organization channels donations to clean water projects in poor villages around the world.
For more alternative gift giving ideas, see my newsletter from last December.
I hope you will all have a very happy December full of light, friendship, family love and good food.
Peace be with you.
Ask Betsy
Dear Betsy:
Help!! I am drowning in catalogues! My mailbox overfloweth with glossy enticements to buy more CPC, not to mention sexy undergarments. My holidays are being ruined by a deluge of paper. Quick, tell me what to do before I am engulfed by the rising tide.
Signed: Disappearing Fast
Dear Disappearing:
I have just the organization for you! Green Dimes saved me from the holiday catalogue tsunami this year, and they would be happy to rescue you, too. For a small annual fee, they make sure your contact information is deleted from both direct mail vendor and catalogue company lists AND they will plant several trees on your behalf.
It really works! Since signing up with Green Dimes last year, I have been able to reduce my mail purely to bills. Lucky me.
Their services actually make a great cheap holiday gift, too. So sign your friends up -- they will bless you.
A similar free service is also available at Catalogue Choice. I haven't used them personally, but their model of clicking on the catalogues you no longer want seems simple and easy. If you like them better, send their link to all your friends as an even cheaper Christmas present.
Another tip: whenever you order something online, you are likely to start the catalogue machines rolling. Order stuff by phone instead. When you talk to a real person, you can ask them to make sure that your name and address are removed from their company’s catalogue mailing list. And -- critically important -- you can ask them not to sell your contact information to any other company.
I’m glad you want to do your share to stop this wasteful destruction of trees. Did you know that, until last year, Victoria’s Secret catalogues were made mostly from old growth trees logged in Canada’s temperate rainforest and boreal forests? The “Victoria’s Dirty Secret” campaign launched by Forest Ethics (a recent Green Planet Real Estate donation recipient) convinced the lacy underwear purveyor to switch to more ethically-produced paper. Currently on Forest Ethics’ list of bad catalogue actors are Talbots, J. Jill, Land’s End and Sears.
After signing up with Green Dimes or Catalogue Choice, do a second good deed by joining Forest Ethics in asking Sears to switch from virgin timber to recycled paper. Just click on the Forest Ethics’ Take Action link and send a quick email to the CEO of Sears. It’s a great way to start the holidays.
East Bay Environmental News
This cheerful news just in from NYC (okay, it's not the East Bay, but happy news is happy news): lights on the 84 foot tall Rockfeller Plaza Christmas Tree will be powered with solar panels this year! LED lights on the tree will save a as much energy per day as an average family uses a month, carbon credits will offset the carbon dioxide produced in cutting down and transporting the tree, and after Christmas the tree will be recycled into Habitat for Humanity lumber. Now there's a green Christmas tree.
Of course, some people argue that the tree shouldn't be cut down in the first place -- but let's leave that to the purists. Please enjoy your Christmas tree this year, even if its dead. And remember to recycle it in January. The cities of Berkeley, Oakland, and Albany all have free Christmas tree recycling programs.
For those of you who would like an alternative to the dead Christmas tree, try an iron one. Smith and Hawkins sells two versions. I got the one featured here last Christmas. It’s elegant. And at the end of the holidays, I just fold it flat and store it in the attic. A heirloom Christmas tree that will last longer than I will: now that’s a comforting thought!
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sustainable sources, and are non-toxic.
