apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Hmm and while we're at it, we can all stop frivolously buying objects for our homes. I'm not being sarcastic either. I've been spending a lot of time selling and giving away most of my belongings. Most things we don't really "need." Shopping is way overrated.

i'm also kinda sick of my consumer-self. it's getting so that going out usually involves buying something. i've decided to scout out great places to go enjoy air conditioning while also getting some cultural stimuli while also taking photographs - museums! this summer i plan on hitting up just about every museum. gotta get started and all, but... ;)

i'm also trying to cut down waste and our trash, plus remember the packaging as i am buying the product. i've also purchased new garbage can/recycling stuff that's smaller so i will use the building compactor instead of throwing out big bags of garbage. i'm currently unsure how to live without paper towels, but i do have tons of hand towels in the kitchen to grab instead of grabbing paper towel.

i think it's just important to use less and waste less - buying STUFF is definitely at the top of my no-no list, but it's hard to remind oneself of the bigger picture when all you wanna do is go buy some cool stuff and chill out.

for me, it's not easy being green :)

um, see "i've also purchased new gabage cans..." so i will waste less. that's how twisted i am.

(You're just thinking of bringing your own bags to the grocery and using cwf NOW!? yeesh, no wonder the world is melting.
I moved from the west coast where people have been doing these things for years...)
I am a designer and can be a bit consumery, but believe that if it still usable, find someone that can use it instead of throwing it away.
i.e., freecycle.org, free listings on craigslist. Hmm, maybe AT should have classified ads for free stuff?

Stop eating meat.

Except there's scientific proof that the temperatures aren't rising, carbon dioxide makes up an insignificant part of our atmosphere, there's 160,000 glaciers and only a tiny fraction have been monitored and only some of that fraction are melting while the rest are actually increasing, the Saharan Desert is receeding not expanding, and our globe is constantly changing anyway, whether we like to think we have a vast "global warming" effect on it or not. We're really and truly heading into a mini Ice Age, NOT heating up!

Greenland may melt, new islands will form from volcanoes, deserts will form and grasslands will burn. It's how the planet works.

The 'green' industry is a pretty sweet conspiracy to suck consumerist's money away from them in an already desperate economic situation. You feel you can't control what's going on the economy or with corrupt corporations, so you feel better buying canvas totes instead of using plastic grocery bags. Whatever people need to sleep at night, but a little research shows what little impact we have on this planet. We too are an endangered species.

I wonder if "bringing your own reusable bags to the grocery store, reusing wrapping paper for gifts and using energy efficient fluorescent light bulbs" will make nearly as much as an impact as NOT having been on a jet that spewed emission into the air while you noticed iceland melting by looking out it's window.

As an aside, that wasn't a slam on the person about totes, it's just the most common thing I hear about going green and I was generalizing.

Holy crap, snow melts in summer? I'm astounded.

Another significant step would be to reduce one's opportunities to watch Greenland melt by flying less.

Become vegetarian -
Industrialized farming has a huge ecological impact (think of the trees cut down for pastures, the energy used, the fresh water needed, the waste created...).

Stop driving -
Use public transit, bicycle, or walk. If you must drive somewhere, carpool, and use a fuel efficient vehicle. Don't contribute to exhaust-choked cities, smog, acid rain, and global warming. Not to mention the wars waged and environmental devastation wreaked by our society's unyielding demand for oil.

Those are two big things for me, but any small thing we do is a step in the right direction. The old slogan remains timely - Reduce, ReUse, Recycle. To deny global warming would be catastrophic. I'm not even 30 and I can see, with my own eyes, weird weather, hotter temperatures, local species becoming extinct... It's terrifying.

a little research shows what little impact we have on this planet

No. Wrong, wrong, and wrong. But if it makes you feel better, go ahead and be in denial.

Strange responses. Yes snow melts in summer, but not like that in Greenland. Perhaps you are not aware of where Greenland is located and therefore you do not understand what this is a symptom of. Besides, you don't need scientific proof to see the damage we've done to this planet.

I've already made bringing my own bags to the grocery store a habit. Something that I'm working on is remembering to bring a bag when I go to pick up my lunch. Or better yet, bringing my lunch a few times a week.

I bought used boxes for my recent move from Eco Box which in addition to costing less than new boxes, can be resold back to them when I'm done (or could be if I'd moved to a location near them. Unfortunately I didn't). I wanted to just get used boxes from Craigslist, but I couldn't find any when I needed them.

For my move I sold and gave away as much stuff as I could including the food that was left in my refrigerator.

Except for when I took driving lessons a couple of years ago, I have never driven and have always used public transportation whenever possible.

A colleague of mine brings his own coffee cup to Starbucks.

2 words: library card

I bind old papers and envelopes into little note/sketch books.

I think it's really matter of being really conscious of what you consume, buying for quality and longevity and doing whatever you can to avoid waste.

I just wanted to add that regardless of whether anyone believe global warming is happening or not, it is clear that one way or another (increasing fuel costs, increasing food costs, food shortages, weather disasters) the way we live our lives is changing and that can't be denied.