A tiny house, a farm and the good life. But are you really willing to commit?

Back to the land. Off the grid. Minimalism. Tiny living. Intrigued by any of those words and phrases?

Of course you are. In our modern, fast-paced world of consumerism, we have come to crave respite from our everyday routines, and in the bright age of all-you-could-ever-want media, lifestyle magazines and blogs give it to us.

Who hasn’t flipped through an issue of a magazine on green living with tips on urban farming and thought to themselves, “I want to grow my own food”? Who hasn’t watched a short video about a tiny house and thought to themselves, “I want to live like that”? Who hasn’t read an article on consumerism and thought to themselves, “it’s really time that I minimized”?

We’ve all done it, and we’ll continue to do it. This type of media fuels our aspirations. We all want to be eat and live better, be healthier and wiser, choose a path of intention rather than mindless consumption, so we keep reading, clicking and watching, and for a few brief moments we feel better about ourselves. We feel powerful. We feel in control of our lives. Yes, I too can choose to get rid of most of my wardrobe and commit to only seven articles of clothing!

But the danger lies in the fact that consuming this kind of media is a noncommittal act; few of us take the inspiration and turn it into action.

We are living in a moment where we need change. Actually, we needed it a long time ago, which means that the change we face now is going to have to be radical. We are going to have to live with less. We are going to have to grow some of our own food. We are going to have to change our consumption patterns. Advocating for simplified lifestyles is therefore essential; a reminder that such living is in fact perfectly normal and achievable, not just a fringe activity for the leftist nut jobs.

But the execution is more about glitz and glam than it is reality. I was recently reading a New Yorker profile about the woman behind the magazine Modern Farmer. I  love Modern Farmer. As an urbanite with a ridiculous craving to jump ship and move back to the countryside, it speaks to me. Yes, I want to learn more about goats! But I’d like to think that I am self-aware enough to realize the privilege that I have to read a few articles while drinking my mug of single-origin French press while waiting for my organic chocolate kale cake to bake in the oven. I don’t have to go and put my hands into the dirt, I have a CSA farmer for that. Does this make me enlightened or just full blown bobo?

A farmer told the New Yorker reporter that Modern Farmer was less farm magazine and more of “a fashion magazine for farming.” In fact, Ann Marie Gardner, the founder and editor, herself has described the magazine as “the farming magazine for media professionals.”

Fashion magazines have clothes we’ll never buy, car magazines have cars we’ll never drive, and architecture magazines have homes we’ll never live in. They’re aspirational. But we continue to consume them like starving pigs at a trough.

It’s like when you walk into the cookbook section of a bookstore, all those books with the beautiful pictures of the healthiest food alive. I will eat better! I will make more food! I will learn how to bake bread! But then real life gets in the way, and despite the amount of cooking media – be it print or on television – the hard to swallow reality is that we’re eating worse than ever, and it’s going to take more than just a new cold pressed juice bar to change that.

At their core, aspirations are a good thing; they are what push us to take action. But in a world of easy-to-consume media, we never get to the action part. We click, we share and we move on. I liken it to a friend who once made a comment about people sharing inspirational quotes online. A quote is only inspirational if it actually inspires you to do something. Simply passing it along doesn’t count.

We want to minimize. We want to grow our own food. We want to choose a life of intention. But the risk is that this desire is only skin deep. These lifestyles aren’t glamorous. At times, they’re downright hard. Just ask a farmer. Or someone that actually sold all of their belongings to live out of their van.

Do we aspire to take action or does our action simply go as far as a collection of well shot cabin and tiny house porn on a Pinterest board? My idealistic self would like to believe it’s the former. Because ultimately, we have to believe in change in order to make change. Maybe one day we will in fact have gotten rid of all of the McMansions, and when that day comes, we can surely celebrate.

In the meantime, we have to acknowledge that we’re romanticizing lifestyles while doing nothing to make them a reality. We don’t need to put the blame on the media; we need to put the blame on ourselves. The over glorification is all our own doing.

Sustainability is dirty work; it isn’t just buying a pair of 100 percent hemp yoga pants and carrying around a reusable water bottle. Read a book called “Getting Green Done” if you don’t believe me. We have to take real action, and we should have taken it yesterday.

Let’s not just obsess over these lifestyles, let’s start living them. Not everyone needs to drop everything and become a farmer, but we would do ourselves and our communities a favor if we started acknowledging how essential farmers, and growing food, truly are to our livelihood. We could live without Madison Avenue; we couldn’t live without carrots. Let’s build tiny houses, but not as a second or third home, or as a guest house out the back; lets build them as our only homes. Let’s have a life of less fashion and more substance.

And let’s acknowledge the true impact of our everyday lifestyles – what we eat and what we buy – so that we can start making real change.

Every day we have the chance to do better. It’s time to make sure that we’re not just talking about it, but that we’re actually doing it.

Related on EcoSalon

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My Tiny House Adventure: Have I Lost My Mind?

Image: Tammy Strobel

The post So You Want to Live in a Tiny House and Be a Farmer? Our Obsession with Lifestyles Most of Us Will Never Commit To appeared first on EcoSalon.

EcoSalon’s favorite quotes about minimalism, downsizing, and living small.

Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful. -William Morris

As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness. -Henry David Thoreau

Poverty is my pride. -Muhammed

With a few flowers in my garden, half a dozen pictures and some books, I live without envy. -Lope de Vega

You know you have reached perfection of design not when you have nothing more to add, but when you have nothing more to take away. -Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Live simply so that others may simply live. -Elizabeth Ann Seton

Reduce the complexity of life by eliminating the needless wants of life, and the labors of life reduce themselves. -Edwin Way Teale

Small rooms or dwellings discipline the mind, large ones weaken it. -Leonardo Da Vinci

Simplicity is an acquired taste. Mankind, left free, instinctively complicates life. -Katharine Fullerton Gerould

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction. -E.F. Schumacker

The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less. -Socrates

The simplest things are often the truest. -Richard Bach

Less is more. -Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like. -Will Rogers

If one had taken what is necessary to cover one’s needs and had left the rest to those who are in need, no one would be rich, no one would be poor, no one would be in need. -Saint Basil

One can furnish a room very luxuriously by taking out furniture rather than putting it in. -Francis Jourdain

Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art. -Frederic Chopin

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. -Hans Hofmann

There are two ways to be rich: One is by acquiring much, and the other is by desiring little. -Jackie French Koller

One of the advantages of being born in an affluent society is that if one has any intelligence at all, one will realize that having more and more won’t solve the problem, and happiness does not lie in possessions, or even relationships: The answer lies within ourselves. If we can’t find peace and happiness there, it’s not going to come from the outside. -Tenzin Palmo

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. -Confucious

We go on multiplying our conveniences only to multiply our cares. We increase our possessions only to the enlargement of our anxieties. -Anna C. Brackett

You say, ‘If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied,’ you make a mistake. If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled. -Charles Spurgeon

Any half-awake materialist well knows – that which you hold holds you. -Tom Robbins

The intention of voluntary simplicity is not to dogmatically live with less. It’s a more demanding intention of living with balance. This is a middle way that moves between the extremes of poverty and indulgence. -Duane Elgin

If one’s life is simple, contentment has to come. Simplicity is extremely important for happiness. Having few desires, feeling satisfied with what you have, is very vital: satisfaction with just enough food, clothing, and shelter to protect yourself from the elements. -The Dalai Lama

The consumption society has made us feel that happiness lies in having things, and has failed to teach us the happiness of not having things. -Elise Boulding

Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you. -Lao Tzu

I bet most of us have experienced at some point the joys of less: college – in your dorm, traveling – in a hotel room, camping – rig up basically nothing, maybe a boat. Whatever it was for you, I bet that, among other things, this gave you a little more freedom, a little more time. -Graham Hill

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? -Mary Oliver

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Images: D. Ferragamo, Tammy Strobel, Alexandre Dulaunoy, Baijg, Tumbleweed Tiny Houses, Johnrobertshepherd

The post 30 Best Quotes On Living Small appeared first on EcoSalon.

QuoteDaily quotes at EcoSalon.

“We spend money we don’t have, on things we don’t need, to make impressions that don’t last, on people we don’t care about.”

– Tim Jackson

Image: “Shopping – Despair” David Blackwell

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A review of The Ecological Rift: Capitalism’s War on the Earth.

Our most pressing climate change challenge isn’t what you might think, and according to a new book, there is not one but a growing number of planetary emergencies. Respected scientists James Hansen and Johan Rockström warn that climate change is only one of nine “planetary boundaries,” or crucial processes that allow the earth’s environment to let us live in safety.

Many societies have arrived at a point in which we have crossed over three of the planetary boundaries upon which all life depends, say scientists. These boundaries are soil (nitrogen) cycle depletion, species’ extinction and climate carbonization.

And the culprit for this lethal attack on our ecology? Modern capitalism’s incessant drive to expand. It’s the 800-pound gorilla, also called “the market,” the authors aim to wrestle with in this provocative book. A critique of this grow-or-die system of production, distribution and consumption that began in Western Europe nearly two centuries ago is the special focus of John Bellamy Foster, Brett Clark and Richard York’s book The Ecological Rift: Capitalism’s War on the Earth.

The trio of writers first revisit Karl Marx’s notion of a “metabolic rift,” a crack that he believed separated man from nature. Marx studied ecology deeply, and came to understand the import of a breach in how people live and work to create the world around them in a capitalist society. This rift upends for reasons of private profit the most basic relations of human beings: those between themselves and the land.

The authors then move to unpack four basic areas of inquiry. (The curious reader will enjoy the challenging sections, but I suspect progress is also going to require a few extra bumper stickers.) One is the unsustainable development of capitalism. In simple terms, this is the system’s built-in drive to generate radical imbalances of personal wealth. Enabling this process are the assumptions and conclusions of mainstream economists. They love math, so all the better to monetize Mother Nature and give her a price in the marketplace. These economists’ dominant approaches take on a kind of “Alice in Wonderland” mentality, for those of us who haven’t forgotten our childhoods. The authors argue this “Wonderland” is a danger to us and the planet.

Foster and his fellow writers also take on ecological paradoxes that are not headline news. Take the work of British economist and logician William Stanley Jevons. Jevons focused on coal, the essential fuel to power British industrialization a century and a half ago and created the Jevons Paradox which says, “That the economical use of fuel is equivalent to a diminished consumption.” Just the opposite was and is the case now, Foster, Clark and York explain. To this end, they survey current efforts to economize on the use of fossil fuel, and explain how and why such efforts net unintended consequences. “The result is the production of mountains upon mountains of commodities, cheapening unit cost and leading to greater squandering of material resources.” Their Marxian approach is counter-intuitive to say the least.

A section, the book’s longest, on the dialectics (study of change) of nature returns us to Marx’s writings as an environmentalist. This is perhaps the most complex part of the book, but those who stick with it will gain nuanced insights concerning the interrelatedness of nature and society. (One thing is certain. The book’s more than 90 pages of notes offer vital information to address the planetary emergency.)

The authors offer no blueprints for a transition, rather, it’s about “us” as imperfect people finding common ground and beginning the difficult work of creating a more civilized and sustainable way of living and working.

Call it the intersection of informed study and capitalist anarchy. The latter won’t stop on its own. That’s up to us.

The Ecological Rift: Capitalism’s War on the Earth John Bellamy Foster, Brett Clark, and Richard York, ISBN: 978-1-58367-218-1, $17.95 paperback, 544 pp., October 2010, Monthly Review Press

Seth Sandronsky lives and writes in Sacramento, California.

Image: Some Driftwood

The post The Crisis Has a Gorilla appeared first on EcoSalon.

Why investment dressing costs far less than fast fashion.

The term “Slow Fashion” combines many aspects of sustainability. From an industry perspective, it can refer to slowing down the production cycle, giving more attention to detail and craftsmanship in each garment, manufacturing locally, or supporting fair wages. From a consumer’s angle, it means slowing down our consumption habits, buying fewer garments that are classic, of quality, and will last us for years.

As a frequent public speaker on the topic of sustainable fashion, I find that the concept of slow fashion resonates really well with the audiences I speak to. My guess is because it’s the one area where consumers feel they can make the most impact simply by shifting their consumption habits.

Those habits are hard to break.

Like fast food, we are victims of fast fashion in North America. We feel constant pressure from the media to buy the latest trends that change with each season: From short hems to long, pointy toe to round, skinny to wide leg, we yearn to stay current. Because most of us simply cannot afford to buy quality-made garments to keep up with these fluctuating trends, we resort to shopping at the “convenient” fast fashion outlets and the big box retailer that trend-hunts runways to bring you the latest fashions in a matter of weeks.

As consumers, we are a sale-driven culture used to the quality of disposable products. We think after we wear a piece of clothing purchased at such a dramatically low cost, it’s acceptable for it to fall apart, for buttons to drop off, threads to come undone, or for them to lose shape. After all, who cares,  it only cost us $10!

The problem with this mentality is that it fuels excessive over-consumption, which comes with a hidden price tag on the environment. According to sustainable super star Kate Fletcher, who coined the term Slow Fashion, laundering our garments has a greater impact than the growing, processing and producing of the fabric, as well as its disposal. So it makes sense then that the more garments we consume, the greater the cumulative negative impact.

This is a serious problem and one that cannot change overnight. However the with our ecological clock ticking, we have to make a change sooner than later, and perhaps when it comes to fashion, we need to adopt a more European mindset. We need to invest in our wardrobe and buy quality made pieces that are timeless, and can be worn for years without falling apart.

Cost-per-wear or investment dressing is a relatively new term. But it is a very powerful tool with potential to change the way we shop. Let’s use a button down shirt as an example. On the higher end, you might spend $150 on such a top (particularly if made from organic cotton).

• First, divide the cost of the shirt by the number of garments in your wardrobe that can be worn with it. For example it can be paired with 3 pairs of jeans and 2 pairs of pants, so $150/5 = $30. The $150 shirt has now been reduced to a cost of $30;
• Next, divide the new cost of $30 by the number of times the shirt will be worn per year (say 4x per month for 12 months ie: $30/48 = 62.5 cents). The $150 shirt has now been further reduced to a cost 62.5 cents;
• The last step is to divide the new cost of 62.5 cents by the number of years the shirt will be worn – and if it was quality made and off trend it should last at least 5 years. So $.625/5 = 12.5 cents.

The final result is a $150 shirt reduced to a cost of 12.5 cents per wear over a 5 year period. Compare this to a cheaper option that falls apart in 6 months or is no longer in fashion and thereby rendered unwearable by the fashion gods. Your cost per wear can be up to 10 times more than an investment piece.

All this talk of slow fashion forced me to reflect on my own wardrobe. I was curious to know how many pieces I still wear that I have owned for 5+ years. I was surprised to see that about 40% of my wardrobe is of that vintage. I was then inspired to poll other eco fashion experts to see if they own, and still wear, items purchased from 5+ years ago. Not surprisingly, here is what I found:

Above (right): Anna Griffin, Publisher and Editor in Chief, Coco Eco Magazine pictured with astrologer Susan Miller

“I was at the Susan Miller Event at the W Hollywood Residences and wore my most treasured piece, a vintage Ozbek which always stops traffic and is absolutely stunning.”

Jasmin Malik Chua, Managing Editor Ecouterre

“I bought this sweet gingham dress from Benetton shortly after 9/11, after a harrowing 11 days away from my Ground Zero apartment.  It was a splurge for a graduate student living on a shoestring, but it’s held up magnificently over the past 10 years. Weddings, brunches, picnics, you name it. I even wore it when I was five months pregnant, so you can’t say I haven’t made the most of it!”

Emma Grady, Fashion Correspondent for Discovery’s TreeHugger, Lifestyle Correspondent for The Daily Green and Founder of PastFashionFuture

“This is a London Fog trench coat that I found at a consignment shop in Newport, Rhode Island when I was still in high school, which was more than five years ago. I have only had to mend the belt and sew on a couple of the buttons since then and it is still in fine shape and still very much a wardrobe staple of mine.”

Johanna Bjork, Founder & Editor of Goodlifer

“I’m wearing an olive green miniskirt that I bought over ten years ago. It’s been in and out of rotation in my closet, but the basic color and cut makes it a timeless piece .”

Kate Black, Founder & Editor, Magnifeco

“I bought those boots before I even knew what ‘sustainable’ fashion was, but I wanted a pair of boots with longevity, that offered both a style and brand that would see me through the years. And they only get better with age! Being a North American living in Japan, I can’t buy jeans here in my size. This means I have to ‘borrow’ from my partner’s closet. This pair, which he bought in 2006, reside permanently on my side of the closet”.

Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff, Founder/Editor of Ecostiletto

“I bought this cotton shirt and jeans before I knew what sustainable fashion was! Even though I was eating and cleaning organic, I never thought about the implications of cotton production–that this outfit alone probably required about a pound of pesticides to produce. The empire waist has seen me through two pregnancies–my kids are 12, 9 and 4 so I’ll let you guess which ones. And the jeans are soft as butter. So I guess my non-sustainable fashion purchase turned out to be sustainable after all!”

To explore this a little deeper, there are some great organizations helping raise awareness with consumers around slow fashion, such as Make Do and Mend, which, according to Maureen Dickson, co-founder of of Slow Fashion Forward “Advocates consumers make do with what they have rather than buying new to combat over-consumption. The creative one-off Six Items or Less Experiment and The Uniform Project challenge consumers to minimize consumption by simplifying their wardrobe.”

Image: Zitona

Take a look at your wardrobe. Do you own any pieces that are more than five years old and still wearable? Why do you think that is?

The post We Can All Afford to Slow Down appeared first on EcoSalon.

Creeping ever closer to the McDonald’s model, Starbucks has poured it on with the new Trenta serving size. Do we need another supersize product that tempts our taste buds and throws rationality out the door? Of course not. No one should be drinking 31 ounces of double, mocha, frappy, whatever.

But we can’t blame Starbucks. Sure, the new cup can hold an entire bottle of wine (wait, does Starbucks sell wine?), but the company is a business, functioning on the principles of supply and demand, which means the coffee giant is marketing to a nation of consumers who are compelled to go bigger.

What drives us to big over small, more over less, when we know there are smarter choices?

To put it in the words of a friend who minces no words: “Maybe we’re just a confederacy of super dunces.”

Maybe. But as Sara Ost put it today, “you’re powerful,” and that means you can and should opt against 31 ounce drinks, unless of course it’s water. When it comes to food, it’s tempting to grab the fast, cheap and easy, but we all know that the real costs are externalized.

The less is more attitude when it comes to food is nothing new. Choosing less instead of more isn’t just beneficial to your physical health, it also keeps you more sane. Pick up any women’s magazine and you’ll find an article on simplifying your life. We spend ample amounts of time and money on organizational products, from planners to shelving systems, and yet we can’t seem to slim down our pantries.

How do we go about doing that?

1. Make a list. Check it twice.

Take a moment to go through your refrigerator, rethink your core items and narrow your shopping list to healthier options. Review your go-to recipes for the week and make a list of the staples that you need to keep on hand. Having a go to selection of fruits, vegetables and grains will mean you can whip together a handful of simple recipes without going beyond the basics.

2. Stick to what you know.

Trust your gut. Despite our love for Amy’s ready-made meals, we can’t rely on processed microwave dinners even if they’re vegan and organic. It’s too easy to let our brains slip in the heat of an eating moment. Try to keep your healthy, rational self in check.

3. Commit to reducing.

Maybe it’s your guilty pleasure of afternoon pudding cups or a morning break of a muffin, but above all, start small. No one is asking you to revolutionize your cooking ways, but just like you slowly start cutting out single use plastics and replacing them with reusable bags, you can do the same with your food choices. Organic dinner party? Check. All fruit smoothie instead of the double whipped vanilla latte? Check. Handful of almonds instead a snack bag of Cheetos? Check. After all, constraints don’t limit your creativity, they fuel it.

Image: jenny downing

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Drive small and thrive might well be the European motto. Green actions speak louder than words in Europe when it comes to energy and consumption and walking the walk. They ride bikes and walk more than we do to get around, use and waste less of our limited resources, have a different sense of space. Just don’t throw around terms like green and eco expecting everyone there to know what you mean.

Throughout my travels in Italy, the term “eco” got lost in translation – and I resorted to hand signs and terms such as nature and sun power to investigate the Italian practices or describe what I do for a living. Still, many signs show Europeans have as beat when it comes to practicing restraint in their lifestyles and consumption.

It could simply stem from resources like water and petrol being considered more precious. As a college student in England, I was told my gin and tonics lacked ice because freezing water for cocktails was frivolous. I suppose this also explained the dull hair many of us have witnessed in our European travels. Fewer showers are another concession to save. In this sense, French cologne is indispensable and might also be lauded as green.

Also woven into the culture is smaller, more economical cars and homes, due to population density, higher fuel costs and necessity. Honda Civics might be considered an adequate family car – not the minivan, which would be more for tourists. If you aren’t walking, biking or taking public transit, as more Europeans do as a matter of practicality and habit, then you are most likely tooting around in a compact (although power counts in certain circles where larger BMWs hold status).

“Whether in crowded cities like Rome or Budapest, or centuries-old villages, people get around on their own power,” notes eco travel writer, Wendy Worrall Redal. “It’s easier than negotiating jammed streets, finding scarce parking and paying $10 a gallon for gas. Age has nothing to do with it; you’re as likely to see a wrinkled grandmother toting a wheeled market cart or pedaling her cruiser, as you are more youthful cyclists.”

Here are some comparisons:

Banning Cosmetic Chemicals

Activists trying to rid our shelves and salons of toxic chemicals point to the fact the European Union has banned 1,100 chemicals in cosmetics, while the  Food and Drug Administration in America has only banned ten. The nasty agents the FDA approves cause cancer, birth defects, genetic mutation and organ damage. It appears our regulatory system has no authority to test cosmetic chemicals or require companies to conduct safety testing before selling. Definitions also vary. The FDA defines cosmetics on vague lingo to minimizing government interference form profiteering, while the The European Union Cosmetics Directive clearly puts thee health of the consumer first. Why are their laws more stringent? Undoubtedly the same reason why the government is loose on meat protections. It’s all about the money.

Cleaner Vino

First, there is the innate friendliness bred into the land. France was the first country to introduce anything remotely close to our concept of “organic” wine. Vineyards of the Loire region that involve small, organically-farmed estates, avoided pesticides as a matter of conscience to produce their grapes at a time Americans were pushing baby formula and frozen dinners. Beyond the spraying, is the transport of the bottle. A study analyzing wine carbon suggests East Coasters (New Yorkers and Miamians) are better off buying a Bordeaux than a Napa-based wine because the greenhouse gas emissions from shipping are far less than those from trucking.

Reduced Aviation Emissions

Speaking of transport, the European Union has led the way in reducing aviation emissions through its cap-and-trade system for carbon dioxide. Starting in 2012, all international flights landing in the Union must meet regulations capping emissions at 97 percent of the baseline (95 percent by 2012). The plan called for airlines with carbon shortfalls to purchase additional permits from European markets. Meanwhile, airport operator BAA has invested $1.65 billion on a green makeover of its terminal Heathrow East to cut carbon emissions by 40 percent. As the new home of Star Alliance Airlines, the upgrades involve solar panels on the roof, north-facing windows for natural lighting, and a new energy center using renewable resources for heat and air.

Eating and Drinking Less, Without Disposables

I will never forget a Weight Watchers meeting in which a member brought in a biscuit from England, saying they don’t supersize their teas with ginormous American-size chocolate chip cookies. The fact Europeans consume less food and walk more means they don’t struggle with diets the way Americans do. They also shun to-go cups, even at panini or espresso bars where if you need a paper cup to dash out, then you are clearly in too much of a hurry. Pasta isn’t piled sky high on a plate, but often served in an appetizer size portions, unless requested otherwise by an American. Again, the concept less is more is ingrained in the mentality – the same one that prefers quality over quantity. Sure, they smoke like fiends, but that’s another story.

Euro Trash: Switzerland Scores High on Recycling, While Europe As a Whole Lags

While there is a tendency to use less, Europe on the whole does seem to be lagging behind in the areas of recycling and composting trash. The BBC reported only 17.7 percent  of England’s households recycle, while the U.S recycles 28 percent of its waste. Still, Switzerland stands out as one country that is making strides, recycling 80 percent of its PET bottle drink containers, higher than the European average of 20 to 40 percent. The Swiss incentive is not just environmental, but also financial, since recycling is free while all trash bags require a sticker that cost one euro apiece. Without the stickers, trash will be left out to rot.

Images: pedrosimoes; Uggboy; idhren; my pouss; Mariamonastery; Kecko

The post The Top 5 Reasons Why Europeans Are More Eco Than Americans appeared first on EcoSalon.

Shopping is an adrenaline rush. How else to explain the talking ceramic cat you had to have, or the face cream that you bought because it was guaranteed to return your skin to the hue it had in the womb? Sure, the Great Recession has shifted Americans’ shopping habits, but we’re still a spending force to be reckoned with. Luckily, there are things we just don’t need on this planet. So take a look at some items you might want to trim from your shopping list.

Microwave oven

I haven’t had a microwave since Clinton was in the White House. Sure, on occasion I’ll miss the opportunity to melt down butter without burning it on the stove. I’d just rather give the counter space to something more deserving, like cookies. Or cupcakes. Or brownies…

Electric wine bottle openers

Waiters can open a bottle of organic wine, at the table, with just a mere flick of a wrist and cork-screw. Mentally raising a cork out of the bottle with special brain powers would be cooler, but for now a simple corkscrew works fine. And gives good strength training!

Bread machines

Sure, bread machines can be an awesome way to get perfectly-shaped loaves of steamy, fresh bread. But allow us to face the delicious reality of fresh bread. If you’re taking the time to make fresh bread in your bread machine, you probably have the time to bake fresh bread in your oven. Hard realities, folks. Hard realities.

Neck creams

It’s become casual sport in Hollywood to guess an actress’ age by her neck, which still remains hard to control by Botox or a lift. So now there’s a whole industry of creams dedicated to the neck. In reality, you should just use the same creams and treatments on your neck as you do on your face. Moisturize tone, mask – just bring it down a few inches lower than your jaw line.

Beauty products tested on animals

To which we and super cute-bunny-that-fits-in-a-hand say – really? Products like said Botox are continually tested on animals with appalling results. There’s a whole world of products, beauty or otherwise, that are cruelty-free. You can find them here.

Hand sanitizers

I’m not saying medical professionals should go without, or that we should immediately start diving into gas station bathrooms to dance around barefoot. But washing your hands will kill germs just as easily as hand sanitizers. Sanitizing your paws every time you touch a door knob will kill most bacteria. But the tough ones that survived will multiply and will be stronger than the cousins you killed off. (Read more about that here.)

The latest product from Apple

iPods are fun. As are iPhones and yes, even iPads are kind of cool. Do they get more fun as the latest updates cycle through every year and/or month? (As giant UFOs bearing the Apple insignia lower into our horizons.) Sure, maybe we all need the ability to instantly play music/record/brew latte with our phones. But why not let your old apples actually fall from the tree before you replace them?

Automatic toilet flushers

One of the greatest questions of our time is obviously – do toilets really need to flush on their own, causing us to flee to the other side of the stall to avoid splash back? And repeat.

Motion-Activated Anything

Recently, I saw an advert for a motion-activity candy dispenser. (Because obesity isn’t enough of a problem in this country. Yes, I’m waving a cranky cane right now.) Motion-activated devices are fantastic for people with disability issues. But how many wheelchairs do we see on escalators? We also opened doors for centuries without the power of electricity.

Throw pillows

When you’re lost under a gigantic pile of plush, you have no one but yourself to blame.

Images: sparkys, susang2, Bed Bath & Beyond, crystalwood, chungyc, ivyfield, amanderson2, @davestone

The post 10 Things We Don’t Actually Need appeared first on EcoSalon.

One man’s quest for vegetarianism and a cleaner planet

Millions of gallons of oil are spreading across the Gulf of Mexico, killing wildlife and threatening coastal communities. This environmental disaster makes it clear that there are costs associated with our dependency on fossil fuel. These costs are usually well-hidden and often seem out of our hands. We assume these are challenges for businesses and governments to take on, but too large and unseemly for one person to make a real impact.

I am reminded of The New York Times’ 2008 article, “Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler,” in which the author Mark Bittman compares oil to meat.

He writes, “Like oil, meat is subsidized by the federal government. Like oil, meat is subject to accelerating demand as nations become wealthier, and this, in turn, sends prices higher. Finally – like oil – meat is something people are encouraged to consume less of, as the toll exacted by industrial production increases, and becomes increasingly visible.”

Bittman’s piece compares the amount of fossil fuels needed to produce a meat meal versus fossil fuels needed for a plant-based meal and illustrates that the meat meal requires 16 times more!

Although the negative consequences of excessive oil and meat consumption are usually tucked away, a growing bed of evidence is making these issues harder and harder to ignore. In 2006, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization released a report called “Livestock’s Long Shadow.” The report states that animal agriculture is a major contributor to climate change and “emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global.”

It didn’t take long for industry to challenge that report in attempts to debunk the conclusion that animal agriculture contributes more to climate change than transportation. In April of this year, James McWilliams wrote a piece for The Atlantic challenging the rash of media reports that jumped on this industry-led PR campaign. McWilliams rightly concluded, “No matter what the exact figure, the environmental case against industrial meat production remains powerfully convincing.”

Now, the United Nations’ Environment Programme has published a new report called “Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Production and Consumption: Priority Products and Materials.” It identifies the largest contributors to environmental impacts and pressures, citing “food” and “agricultural materials, especially animal products” as priority areas of concern. Referring to this report, The Guardian newspaper published an article under the heading “UN Urges Global Move to Meat and Dairy-Free Diet,” that states, “A global shift towards a vegan diet is vital to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty and the worst impacts of climate change.”

There are many things in this world that are out of our control and where we may feel helpless to make a difference. But, that’s not the case with food. We can each exercise a large degree of control over what we eat, and by making food choices that are consistent with our own values and interests, we can make the world a better place. Choosing to eat plants instead of animals lightens our environmental footprint, including our dependency on oil, and it improves and saves lives, both human and non-human. Of that, we can be certain.

Editor’s note: Article by Gene Baur. Originally published by our friends at Tonic.com. Tonic is a digital media company and news source dedicated to promoting the good that happens each day around the world. Tonic tells the stories of people and organizations who are working to make a difference, by inspiring good in themselves and others. Be sure to visit them and say hi, and follow Tonic on Twitter, too!

Image: flikr

The post The Power on Your Plate appeared first on EcoSalon.

The Deepwater Horizon disaster has leaked more than one million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The magnitude is so large that many people are struggling to put the numbers into tangible context. Cutler J. Cleveland, a Boston University professor of Geography and Environment, and the editor of the Encyclopedia of Earth, has calculated the energy equivalents for EcoSalon readers to better grasp the enormity of this disaster. Dr. Cleveland is also a Senior Fellow at the National Council for Science and the Environment.

The energy content of one million barrels is about 5.8 trillion Btu (British Thermal Units), which is equivalent to:

1. Years of energy used in a single average America home: 61,117

2. Number of miles that could be driven by a Prius: 2,320,000,000

3. Number of airplane round trips between London and Louisiana that could be taken by BP CEO Tony Hayward: 198,352

4. Hours of motor gasoline consumption for the entire United States: 3

5. Minutes of world energy use: 6

6. Minutes of energy that could power the entire country of Ghana: 22,252 (about 15 days)

7. Members of the Chinese population whose energy consumption could be met for year: 98,472

8. Number of Americans whose energy consumption could be met for year: 17,211

9. Dollars of GDP produced in China: $210,893,753

10. Dollars of GDP produced in the United States: $743,971,267

11. Amount of energy harnessed from 3,385,540,566 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches

12. Number of acres of corn needed to produce the equivalent amount of ethanol: 159,928

13. Number of Tour de France races that Lance Armstrong could complete burning an equivalent amount of food energy: 81,408,631

14. Years of energy use in Boston’s John Hancock Tower: 30.3

15. Equivalent amount of energy in tons of firewood: 494,459

16. Tons of steel that could be produced: 354,393

Images: Steve Punter, (A3R) angelrravelor (A3R), goldberg, Kossy@FINEDAYS, futureatlas.com, RaSeLaSeD – Il Pinguino, nova3web, cathyse97, lauren keith, docsdl, scalleja, spcbrass, Lars Plougmann, malias, Adam Pieniazek, smith, on1stsite.

The post Gulf Oil Spill by the Numbers: 16 Different Ways to Understand the Disaster appeared first on EcoSalon.