Shop safely, America. But do shop.

The Christmas shopping season is almost upon us, ready to claw open our clamped, unwilling mouths and cram them so full with cheer that we collectively choke on our own merriment and saliva. Many retailers have maximized their potential hours of profit by opening their stores in the morning before closing the night before, including 80% coupons in the small plastic bag of giblets found in most frozen turkeys, chaining cashiers to their stations with lightweight chromium steel “efficiency tethers” and allowing would-be shoppers to sublet entire portions of parking lots for tent cities, RVs, and small condo shares.

Of course, you can and will do at least a portion of your holiday buying online, but the safe point-and-click of the Internet shopping cart carries with it none of the thrill of victory, or the savage pleasure that comes from hearing the pathetic, mewling shrieks of the defeated. Black Friday unites the twin American obsessions of waiting in line and staying inside, while elevating the act of purchasing bargain electronics to a savage yet sublime battle of wills. With that in mind, here are a few tips to ensure that this year you crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women. You know, secrets for shoppers.

10. Prepare for distractions and have an exit strategy. Let nothing deter you from achieving your goal. “Can you please move these trampled corpses out of the aisle? They’re blocking the Call of Duty display.”

9. Odds are that things will get violent, and that sooner rather than later. Bring a knife. They’re best for close-quarter combat situations, like jockeying for position in line at the Best Buy. A knife can also double as a box-cutter if you reach a display before the employees have had a chance to remove the products from their manufacturer’s casing, and of course, nothing’s going to push that mother of three away from your iPad 2 faster than a quick, lateral thrust to the kidneys.

8. Plan your route. Is it more practical to take your own vehicle, or commandeer somebody else’s once you take to the streets? If you take your own, you’ll have to do your own modifications, and active protection systems don’t grow on trees. What kind of self-propelled artillery will you need? Do you plan on plating your vehicle with composite armor or are you sticking with steel? Bearing in mind that every major transit artery will be blocked solid from now until January, does it make more sense to fund and develop helicopter support? These are things you should be thinking about now, not when you’re trying to navigate the fume-filled and gang-dominated blood mazes that once comprised your local downtown area. Of course, you may already live in Los Angeles.

7. Hydrate. Forget the Sunny D; these times call for Gatorade. Get it in you.

6. Shed your innocence. If you think you’re going to find a single parking space without screeching horrific obscenities at numerous elderly disabled veterans, then you don’t have the stomach for this. Why don’t you just stay home? You could order all your presents a week before the holidays and present everyone with a printed invoice (“So it was supposed to ship on the 22nd, but I guess something in the warehouse got tied up – anyhow, I hate to spoil the surprise, but here’s the receipt – you should be able to expect it by mid-January, the lady on the phone said”) or knit everyone an incredibly itchy scarf. Accept your limitations.

5. Hone your focus. What do eye contact, verbal speech, and the human ability to experience the feeling of mercy have in common? There is no place for them this day.

4. Remember that this is a marathon, not a 5k or even a half-marathon. Promotional sales have been extended over the last few years from Friday-only to cover the entire weekend. Some even begin on Thanksgiving Day, an absurd and tragic reminder of the arbitrary nature of brand pricing.

3. Multitask. Worried there may be a better deal online than what you’re being offered in the store? Oh, my friend, you had better believe that there is an app for that. Now you can shop online while you are shopping in person. Efficiency. Singularity. Unity. Soon, our gracious corporate overlords will find a way to make every day like Black Friday, and every technological device a potential Target. We’ll always be shopping. All things single, all things alike. It’ll be like the movie Groundhog Day, only real and wonderful and full of bottom-priced DVD box gift sets of Sex and the City with all nineteen movies and interactive Stanford Blatch-voiced Crocs.

2. Retain the element of surprise. Upon retiring for the evening, steal your family members’ cell phones (or alarm clocks, for the older set) and reset the time. Won’t they feel like suckers when they wander downstairs as late as 7 a.m. only to see you surrounded by your numerous purchases and covered in the blood of strangers.

1. Alternately, keep your head down, pick up a drink, and pray for January. Better make it two drinks, just to be safe. It’s going to be a long winter, but all winters eventually come to an end.

Image: afroboof

The post Tips for Surviving Black Friday appeared first on EcoSalon.

No doubt you’ve noticed the hot trend of Pop Up retail establishments.

The wave began as a way for scrappy, undercapitalized entrepreneurs to try out a new business idea without getting locked into a long-term lease. Good ideas almost always originate at the grassroots and work their way into mainstream culture through co-option so it’s not surprising that national retailers are hopping on board.

A lot of these early would-be business owners were victims of the economy. With fewer opportunities in the industries that smart, cultural creatives flock to, like computer programming, advertising, and graphic design, droves of clever people begin turning their passions into small businesses. These businesses are dynamic, fun, and provide customers with something new and different. Through their very originality and quirkiness, they bring something of value to the neighborhoods they adopt, the cities in which they are located, and to the culture at large.

For example, how can you not love the restaurant-inside-a-restaurant known as Mission Chinese Food? Located on one of the skankiest blocks of Mission Street in San Francisco, Mission Chinese Food improves the neighborhood by drawing people in to eat its amazing, authentic, affordable Chinese food, and it also gives away 75 cents per entrée sold to The San Francisco Food Bank.

Of course, the major retailers are riding the wave of the trend too. Lured by the economy-related explosion of empty commercial space and cheap rent, many national brands are opening Pop Ups of their own. As much as the kiddies love their craptastic plastic toys, a Pop Up Toys R Us is hardly as exciting or as a sexy as an unexpected restaurant or boutique tucked away in an out-of-the-way neighborhood.

Do we really need more chain retail outlets? And as TriplePundit asks in this piece, how green are these stores if they use and discard temporary signage and fixtures? Even less green if the stores are located in far-flung dying malls, which just encourage people to drive around and buy more crap.

On the other hand, a better corporate-driven use of the Pop Up concept is for businesses that ramp up for a specific purpose and then shut down, as this Business Week article notes.

Here’s a rundown of some good, bad, and ugly Pop Up concepts that have come to our attention. Tell us your discoveries in the comments below.

At the Pop Up General Store, located in a refurbished streetcar depot in Oakland, CA, you can buy handmade artisanal foods from Chez Panisse cooks. It’s pricey, but the people who can afford it are getting some top-notch goodies from real pros, who are in turn, hopefully, making a living through their talents.

Chef Ludo Lefebvre’s, roving restaurant, Ludo’s Bites has taken LA by storm in its various locations. Ludo’s a total pro and if anyone can get me a reservation, I’d be eternally grateful.

The Pop Up concept is always open for interpretation. In this slight twist, two cafés in Manhattan are sponsoring a Pop Up outdoor café for Park(ing) day.

The Detox Market pops up in Venice, CA, and provides access to a variety of super eco health and beauty products, some of which are not that easy to find elsewhere.

New Orleans has MVB (Most Valuable Burger), which operates Sunday nights out of a diner that is closed in the evenings.

One of the first dining-related Pop Ups, Outstanding in a Field has been connecting eaters, farmers, food artisans, and chefs in locations all over the U.S for the past decade. They’re even branching out to other locations around the world.

Burlington Coat Factory is opening up Pop Ups around the country this winter. While it isn’t as exciting as some of the food-related Pop Ups above, one can argue that it makes sense for a company that sells a seasonal product to utilize their resources more efficiently through using Pop Ups. Think about those Halloween Superstores that have been around for years.

Ford is trying to sell its Fiesta model to hip, urban consumers through a Pop Up Store in Portland, OR. I wonder how that’s going.

The Limited returns to New York City after being absent for 10 years via a Pop Up store. It makes sense from a corporate point of view if you want to test a new market.

It will be interesting to see how the Pop Up trend evolves alongside economic developments. Because I don’t believe our economy will ever be the same (due both to the facts of capitalism and the constraints of our environment) I think ways of doing business have changed permanently. What new methods to sell goods and services will smart, creative people invent next?

This is the latest installment in Vanessa Barrington’s weekly column, The Green Plate, on the environmental, social, and political issues related to what and how we eat.

Image: Djjewelz

The post Hop on Pop-Ups appeared first on EcoSalon.

Do you keep saying yes to new button downs, tees and crops, so much so that your top fixation is spinning out of control? Let’s not skirt the issue: Girls just wanna have fun tops; tops for a party, for a special work day, for a date, for shopping at the mall for tops. We collect them, like crazy shut-ins collect cats, and it’s not very sustainable, unless you are swapping with your friends or sisters, and not many of us do that after college.

The Female’s Closet becomes a Blouse House Early On

It starts in adolescence when the frontal cortex of your brain was being reconfigured and you literally lost your mind for a while, hence the book, Get out of My Life, But First Could You Drive Me and Cheryl to the Mall? As a teen, I forced my mother to drive me to Contempo Casuals at Bullocks Fashion square in Sherman Oaks to buy tops. The alley – long racks of Saturday Night Fever tube tops and gathered peasant blouses blew my mind. Now, karma tortures me with a 14-year-old who morphs into Linda Blair when she realizes she needs a top for a Saturday night. No exaggeration; her head spins 180 degrees.

We Sport Tops for Other Women

You heard me. We don new hot tops to impress our BBF’s who already know we got it going on, and females from other villages we will be encountering at tribal mixers. They will judge or be judged by the tops. Men typically look at the breasts in the tops, or, if they are stylish, the accessories selected from the Piperlime Accessories Wall to accent the tops. Did you add a leather woven belt? Did you do a chunky pendant?

Getting to the Bottom of the Top Fetish

Tops are easier to fit than jeggings or jeans for many women. It’s like how shoes are easier to buy than bathing suits. They always look pretty good, no matter what’s going on in the backyard. So you try on a dozen different styles: ruffled yolk, butterfly sleeved, plunging neck, cropped or embroidered, and you buy one, one per mall outing, one per occasion, and you get your fix. But like candy, the sugar low – or in this case tunic or halter low – brings on the mean reds, and you hang it up to hopefully wear it again. But it won’t give you the same high, not like the first time, because it has been seen. The thrill is gone.

Retail Therapy: Medicinal Tops

Consider whether or not your wardrobe is top heavy. Can you close your tee shirt drawer? Can you see the blouses you own? Are there tops you only wore once and then gave away? If you answered yes, just remind yourself that a top can be a drug. What does top spell backwards? I know, right? And it leads to harder garments, to costly coats, designer boots, even stronger, medicinal tops. Just say no to tops. Otherwise, you might go through life known as a top head.

Images: adria.richards, Cocoeco, Barnes and Noble, Project Runway, My Lifetime

The post Girls Just Wanna Have Tops: Unsustainable Addiction? appeared first on EcoSalon.

I’ve just spent three fast and furious days at the America’s Mart in Atlanta, Georgia for the Fall Gift Show. “Gift” is loosely used in the retail industry to describe anything from furniture to sheets and towels to my favorite, a high heeled shoe that cradles a hairbrush (as seen above).

Twice a year, like thousands of other buyers, I travel to shows looking for the latest and greatest from the world of consumer goods. Wholesalers exhibit their goods and buyers buy them to sell to consumers like you and me. Editors from magazines come to look at the latest trends and shape their stories for the seasons to come. Sounds exciting, right? Sometimes it is, but more often than not, especially if you’re of a sustainable bent, it can be a little depressing.

If you’re like me and feel there’s entirely too much stuff in the world, attending a Gift Show will really make you a believer. When you come to these shows, the sheer amount of stuff, utterly useless stuff, is truly overwhelming.

At the America’s Mart, there are 5 million square feet of showrooms and 99% of them are filled with things you can’t imagine anyone ever wanting. And certainly not needing. Floor after floor of fake neon Christmas trees, LED polar bears, strange elfin mannequin dolls meant for I’m not sure what.

Every now and then you find the needle in the haystack, the innovative item that could make your life easier, help you be more efficient or teach you something about lessening your impact on the planet. But mostly, it’s just more of the same, more of the different, and more of the “what the…?” variety. With “more” being the operative word.

At my company, VivaTerra, as at EcoSalon, we’re all about conscious consumerism and we’re trying to help wean us all from the “more” and on to the fewer and better for longer. If we can’t make that change, those LED polar bears may be the only ones left.

Let us do some of the work for you. (And let me tell you, Atlanta in July is hard work!)

Editor’s Note: Guest contributor Susan Donaldson Ely is the Director of Merchandise at EcoSalon sister company, VivaTerra, and is a sustainability consultant working and living in the Bay Area.

The post The Road to Retail Is Paved with Bad Inventions appeared first on EcoSalon.

Raccoon dogs are bred, tortured, smashed to the ground and skinned alive in China. The unspeakable methods used amount to animal abuse in the most inconceivable way possible and you might be unwittingly endorsing it by simply buying a so-called faux fur jacket at Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Burlington Coat Factory and dozens of other stores that simply ignore the Federal Fur Products Labeling Act.

It seems it’s easy for retailers to slide by the labeling clauses of the act, despite the fact unsuspecting buyers might be opposed to the slaughter, not to mention allergic to animal fur.

This has prompted at least one California leader to take action to change the system. Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco, has followed in the footsteps of New York and four other states by introducing a law requiring  “conspicuous” labeling of all garments that include real fur. Ma announced the measure at a news conference joined by  Pierre Grzybowski of the Human Society’s Fur-Free Campaign.

Grzybowski says China’s lax animal welfare laws allow raccoon dogs to be raised by the millions and skinned alive and the fur is rarely disclosed on labels. He also paraded jackets, boots and other items purchased at Bay Area stores that contained rabbit and raccoon dog fur not listed on the labels.

The Humane Society fights against loopholes in existing laws which allow jackets trimmed with $150 worth of fur to be sold without labels. Since animal fur is often sheared and dyed to resemble synthetic coats, consumers are essentially being tricked into buying the real thing.

The need for labeling is clear, since we have no idea what we are getting from even the ritziest stores. For example, last summer, Neiman Marcus was caught misrepresenting a pair of Manolo Blahnik $1,495 boots – which it had advertised as “natural ocelot fur” – an endangered wildcat. Turns out the boots were actually common goat fur patterned with ocelot markings. If it had been ocelot it would have been a crime. Was it a crime that it was goat? Not yet.

Labels on clothes are as valuable as labels on food, which help consumers make choices for themselves. And the campaigns and state laws are moving retailers to shun fur all together. Among them is Overstock.com, which boasts revenues exceeding $700 million. It became the 100th on the Fur Free list of retailers and designers to commit to a no-fur policy.

Image: Jeremy Barwick, All Creatures; Democrats.Assembly

Image by: mandydale

The post Faux No: When Fake Fur Isn’t appeared first on EcoSalon.

I’m  so over the annual mandatory retail blitz which prompts us to purchase scads of presents no one needs (and few can afford).

Enough is enough. Necessity is one thing; waste is another. Be an angel and give material items only to the needy. Give kisses,  homemade jam and DIY potpourri to your family, teachers, bosses, employees and friends. Stick to eco for everything else.

Here is my festive round up of gifts both you and Santa can live without:

A new cell phone

The cynical perspective is that these communication devices are made not to last. From batteries that die prematurely to signals that crash to the uncool technology factor, we are inclined to trade in our models for new bells and whistles. Instead of tossing out (remember, there is no out), research ways to make your battery last through a few more seasons.

Uggs

AOL Shopping wants you to buy Uggs for the holidays because “they are getting better and better, having evolved from a boho chic trend to an integral part of many people’s wardrobe.” The so-called sheepskin baked potatoes grew 57% in sales last year because of the desire to own newer pairs. Shouldn’t a pair of $200 boots (and I don’t mean the knock-offs) last several winters? I say keep the ones you have lovingly broken in and get them resoled and patched or whatever is needed to endure the city and slopes.

Toys

Dear Syd and Lolo: You have been more nice than naughty this year but that doesn’t mean I will buy you  toxic plastic entertainment to junk up your rooms, or virtual computer games or board games, DVD’s or learning gadgets. You hardly use the ones you have and your life won’t be improved by having more under the tree. Let’s take a hike, instead. Love, Santa.

Calendars

How much paper is wasted on these obligatory annual date keepers that are becoming obsolete? I was at Borders the other day and couldn’t believe the variety, from New Moon to 365 Cats to Nuns Having Fun. The ones that don’t sell are virtually useless, having no shelf life in 2011. Sure, some of them are green, but there are greener ways to schedule your days.

Diamonds

They aren’t a girl’s best friend. Everyone knows chocolate is. Or her Pug dog. Or maybe her laptop. The U.S. is the largest consumer of the rocks, purchasing over $33.7 billion dollars’ worth in 2005. If you must become engaged and do it with diamonds on Dec. 25, buy the conflict-free variety. Otherwise, say it with a handwritten letter or poem.

Ornaments

There are enough existing tree ornaments out there to deck all the halls of the  North Pole and then some. If you’ve busted your balls, buy used or eco tree decor that will last, or trade with friends and loved ones. Make your own DIY felt ornaments with your kids, string some corn, nix the lights or go solar. The more the demand, the more the production, the more the waste. When the old objects get thrown out, remember, there is no “out”.

Personalized Coffee Mugs

They’re far better than throwaway paper cups, but still tacky, and usually are made in China from toxic materials. Sure, Nana might enjoy getting her morning jolt looking at renderings of her precious babies with reindeer ears, but an eco-friendly commuter cup made from corn, stainless steel or recycled post consumer materials is a better way to go, plus, you won’t need a refill of that Joe.

Holiday Gift Baskets

Stores like Costco are make shopping for that boss or neighbors a no-brainer with a pre-packaged $130 junk food basket disguised as a gourmet food orgie. If you must give a basket, why not go with quality, healthy goods, such as fair trade dark chocolate and coffees? I’m sorry, but Jalapeno-blend cheese spread is not organic and summer sausages have Food Inc. written all over them.

Dalmatian Puppies

Rascal, one of the stars of the new 101 Dalmatians Musical was one of dozens of rescue dogs discovered at animal shelters for the stage show. Rescue was found with a broken leg at the side of the road. Like many Dalmatians, he was abandoned when he grew from an adorable Christmas puppy into a energetic teen. Resist buying puppies for Christmas unless they are from a shelter and you plan to see them through adulthood, just as you would a child.

Main Image: NeilT

The post The Unlist: 9 Holiday Gifts Not to Buy appeared first on EcoSalon.

But step inside, and it’s beginning to look a lot like Hanukkah. You want tinsel? We got tinsel. You want some banners and dreidels? Come in, come in, have a jelly donut, sit by the fire. We know from decorating for the holidays. We’re yuppie Jews who majored in art.

For me, getting in the spirit of the season isn’t limited to peeling potatoes for latkes and lighting the menorah. I like going that extra mile (oy, my back!) to hang ornaments, gather festive decor and make merry the Jewish way. Have a peek, darling:

Hang Blue and White Ornaments

Etsy Star of David Ornament

Large handmade six-sided star surrounded by copper band. Pattern created with clear and light blue faceted beads, highlighted with golden foil lined beads. Golden glitter on back. 4×3, $33.

Etsy Mosaic Peace Crane Origami

Beautifully handcrafted at Etsy, $6 each.

Recycled Blue Glass Balls from World of Good

Support fair trade and suspend these balls or collect in a pretty vintage mercury glass bowl. $9 each, handmade from glass bottles from restaurants and homes.

Put up a Banner That Screams “We’re Fun, Too!”

2009 Happy Hanukkah, $25 from eco-friendly Land of Nod

Spread the Wealth By Scattering Gold Coins

Fair Trade Chocolate Gold Coins, $5.25 from Global Exchange

The cocoa used in these chocolates is from Kuapa Kokoo, a cooperative of 40,000 cocoa growers in Ghana. Spread them around the menorah or dining table to add to the festive motif. No snacking until you’ve finished that grassfed brisket and kugel!

Gather Menorahs Old and New, Borrowed and Blue

This mixed media Moving Lights Menorah was hand fabricated by British sculptor Richard Miller with a base made of Vermont green slate and nine movable stone candle holders. The earth-friendly conversation piece is $85 at Eco Atware. Assemble it on a table with other menorahs loved and cherished through the years.

Recycled Galvanized Steel Pipe Menorah. $185 from Two String Jane, at Etsy.

The post Oy to the World! Decorating Tips for an Eco Hanukkah appeared first on EcoSalon.

Your iPod can run off the grid with this solar powered iPod Case Charger.

Give someone Wheels When They Need Them with a ZipCar membership.

Great for hot and cold beverages, this tumbler will save a lot of trees and CO2 used to produce coffee cups. To emphasize your point, toss in a gold tone coffee filter to cut down on the paper ones that get pitched each day.

Your favorite tea lover can brew on the run with this combination tumbler-infuser.

Green those meals with a CSA Membership (Community Supported Agriculture). This site will find the closet farm throughout the U.S. for you to purchase from.

Rid friends and family of energy vampires with the Smart Strip Power Strip.

Power small electronics like a GPS or cell phone, with the Solio Solar Universal Charger.

Get your colleagues to ditch the plastic utensils in the office kitchen with reusable bamboo tableware that works great on the go. Utensil holders give plastic bottles a second shot at a useful life, and an opportunity to stay out of our landfills. Made out of RPET (recycled PET plastic).

Chico has taken the reusable shopping bag one step farther with The Messenger, a super hip bag that folds into a small pouch.

Instead of a gift card to the local mall, try the gift that keeps on giving with Microplace.com, a Microfinance organization that serves a range of focuses from Fair Trade to women.

Main image: alan_cleaver2000

The post From Cheap to Chic, 10 Holiday Gifts That Respect the Earth appeared first on EcoSalon.

Don’t be hating on Scrooge. There might have been some green blood flowing through that iniquitous heart of steel.

True, Ebenezer was a clueless curmudgeon, hardened by celibacy and tortured by a dysfunctional relationship with money. An abusive boss and cynical social recluse, he shunned the caroler’s tin cup and community connection, holing up in his work space and bed chamber, destined to die unloved and alone.

In short, he acted like an ass – an ass with some weird-ass dreams. That’s what you get for eating kidney pie before bed, you old meanie. Any good EcoSalon vegetarian could have told you that.

But in revisiting the new 3-D animated Disney remake of A Christmas Carol with my 10-year-old daughter, Lauren, I detected traces of green in Scrooge’s social gaffes. Once we got past the unnecessary harshness of the production, directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring the agile Jim Carrey, I found a new appreciation for Scrooge’s commendable frugality.

He boasted a spare old house with no central heating and a vintage wardrobe. He steadfastly refused to associate personal happiness with material accumulation. Anyone who subscribes to Ad Busters (including my husband, Edwin) applauds these traits.

It is no coincidence the book, America’s Cheapest Family, is becoming a favorite read as the nation’s recession drags on. We yearn to learn how to be tight wads, too, and not to part so easily with our hard-earned cash.

True, Scrooge also withheld giving emotionally, but it can be challenging giving of one’s soul when its casing has been neglected for decades. A dearth of sex can make us stingy. I’d share my thoughts about this with you, but first I need some sex.

In terms of his anti-social life, I can’t say I blame him for rejecting his nephew’s festive fetes which encouraged insensitive guests to join a rousing guessing game of Charades at someone else’s expense.

There are no excuses for how the boss man treated Tiny Tim’s nice dad, Bob Cratchit, forcing him to work long hours and holidays at a poor wage, except for the fact I see this all the time in the American workforce as over-worked retail cashiers and migrant workers suffer at the hands of the profit-hungry corporate machine.

Perhaps the best argument that Scrooge was not just mean, but also rather green, was his strict no gift policy, a trend that is catching on as a rising number of celebrants choose to pass on amassing more junk they simply don’t need.

Some, like my friend’s 8-year-old son, Samuel, need more prompting than others. His mom, Susanne, convinced him to throw an “eco birthday party” last week (below) with paperless invites, no presents and a fun craft project of constructing a solar car.  In the end, she says, he got the message that sustaining is better than receiving.

Other friends of mine turning 30 or 40 or 50 are happily forgoing gifts and stating so on invitations with notations that say stuff like, “No presents: Your presence is all we need.” There was a funny Curb Your Enthusiasm addressing the issue at a party for an injured Ben Stiller, who was peeved when Larry David took him at his word and nixed the gift. At least old Scrooge withheld with conviction.

Who decided honoring one another requires spending money on new things? Here is a cashmere sweater and a diamond heart pendant to say you are special. Here is an electric razor, a Snuggie, an iPod, to make sure you know.

If you don’t agree Scrooge was a tad green, you might concede that the moral of the Dickens tale qualifies: Giving is a state of mind.

Giving from the heart, not the pocketbook, is the true message of Christmas – the message articulated by Christ and Buddha and other teachers who demonstrated how to be a kinder, gentler, carbon mass.

When Ebenezer turned the corner that fateful Christmas morning and became decidedly present, his new-found sense of positive Karmic energy was the gift that touched his community, even more than the massive goose he bought for the Cratchits or the cash donation he pledged to the needy. A re-birth is always something to celebrate, whether you’re talking about an old dog like Scrooge or the beloved planet.

This is the latest installment in Luanne Bradley’s column, Life in the Green Lane.

Images: Disney, Luanne Bradley, HBO

The post Revisiting Dickens’ Scrooge: Was He Mean or Kinda Green? appeared first on EcoSalon.

The signs seem to be everywhere: We are becoming a more frugal nation that needs to be fed deals and discounts as we plow through increasingly difficult financial times.

According to a new report by the Associated Press, frugality is the now the new norm in America and it stems from necessity. We are working less and earning less while the costs of food, schooling and housing remain pressing obligations we struggle to meet. So everyone seems to be cutting back across the board – white collar, blue collar, affluent, illegal.

The report finds consumer spending will never return to pre-recession levels, unlike what we witnessed after all other recessions since World War II when thriftiness took a back seat to the demand for new cars and shiny goods.

But this recession has taken such a huge bite out of spending and our old ways, Baby Boomers are unlikely to return to the affluenza that got us here in the first place. While the new frugality is good for the family budget and the planet, it is hurting the national economy including everyone associated with the housing market (sellers, contractors, laborers, suppliers) as well as gardeners, handymen and domestics.

And anyone who hangs at the local mall has seen how quiet things are, as shoppers buy what they need and buy it on sale rather than loading up on seasonal items they can do without.

The auto industry has seen a huge decline, from sales of cars and trucks averaging 16 million a year in boom times to a recession level of 10 million a year. The result could be further consolidation among auto makers and a loss of new vehicle taxes that aid state and local governments.

The report cites a Gallup survey taken last month which found seven in 10 Americans are cutting weekly expenses consistently through the summer. This is linked to the worst downturn since the Depression with unemployment currently at 9.7 percent and rising to double digits before the end of the year. Those who have jobs are earning less and have lost sizable percentages of their investment nest eggs.

We have always seen frugal behavior in some Americans, those wise enough to save more than they spend, to reuse what they can, to eat leftovers and take public transportation, turn off the lights and the heat and air whenever possible. Without even knowing it, those people are the real deal when it comes to being green. And now as the rest of us jump onto that bandwagon, they can proudly say, “I told you so.”

Image: timparkinson

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