Why do we have to use so much paper? Technology was supposed to bring us the "paperless office" by now, but people are using more paper than ever. We simply don't need to cut down this many trees to make "virgin" paper.
I found this video through Karma Tube. You can sign up for videos and tips at the great site Daily Good
BTW: when I was a kid my mum bought me a paper making kit. I LOVED making my own paper. It was a long labourious process but it was great and I got so much satisfaction out of sending letters made on my own paper. Would kids today like them? I don't know - I was a weird kid. You can get them here for UK / Europe and here for the USA
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Things I'm gonna do this week
Make sure I'm on paperless billing for all my bank and credit card statements
FINALLY get a no junk mail sticker for my letter box. Maybe I should sneak them on my neighbours too!
Who Participates in World Empathy Day?You and others around the world offering empathy to each other.
What is World Empathy Day?A day to come into consciousness and really understand the people in your life, including yourself.
When is World Empathy Day: Every Wednesday. Write on your calendar Empathy Day every Wednesday to help set your intention for understanding and presence for others. You will be modeling peace. Remember, we all value being heard.
Where is World Empathy Day? Where ever you are. You are World Empathy Day. Why: To manifest peace around the world and in your personal and business life.
A sea of trash five times the size of Britain sits just below the surface between California and Hawaii in a becalmed area of ocean known as the north Pacific gyre. There, plastic waste is deposited in a slowly twisting, soupy mass by the circular pattern of the world’s sea currents.
Because most plastic is not biodegradable, almost every piece ever made is still somewhere on Earth. Researchers estimate that, out of about 100m tons of plastic produced each year, 10% ends up in the oceans.
That's so disgusting. This now goes beyond plastic bags. This is things that we probably used once and then threw away. Plastic tops of bottles, things that were completely unnecessary but were "cute and fun" little plastic trinkets made in China, or old mobile phone chargers because Nokia changed the size and we didn't know what to do with the old one.
Imagine how many of those little soy sauce containers shaped like fish there are in the ocean? Imagine turtles going "hmmm, lunch!"
So, what can we do about it?
Stop using plastic packaging in one area of your life. For example, buying beauty products from Lush, go no-poo, or shop somewhere like Unpackaged where you can take your own containers
Sign up to a local veg box delivery service, like Abel and Cole. Good for your health too!
Use a Sigg Water Bottle instead of plastic bottles. Just stop drinking soda and other things that come in containers. It's not worth it and bad for your health anyway!
Just don't buy any novelty item made of plastic. Pleasure for one minute, a lifetime in garbage
Write letters to everyone you can think of. Here's one to get you started. Write to a major supermarket chain here. Keep a look on the Green Campaigns tab for responses.
Thought I'd share with you the poster for the documentary of the No Impact Man project, which premieres at the Sundance Festival on Friday (click on the image to enlarge). In case you're interested, here's how the Sundance site pitches the film:
GLOBAL WARMING! The headlines scream it; the thermometer confirms it; but few of us do much to address it. Author Colin Beavan and his family are pictures of liberal complacency—sophisticated, takeout-addicted New Yorkers who refuse to let moral qualms interfere with good old-fashioned American consumerism. Then Colin turns things upside down. For his next book, he announces he's becoming No Impact Man, testing whether making zero environmental impact adversely affects happiness.
The hitch is he needs his wife, Michelle—an espresso-guzzling, Prada-worshipping Business Week writer—and their toddler to join the experiment.A year without electricity, cars, toilet paper, and nonlocal food isn’t going to be a walk in the park. Or is it? As Michelle contends with caffeine and shopping withdrawal, compost worms, and defending her dreams in the face of Colin’s household hegemony, she’s gradually transformed by this life-without-wastefulness.
Meanwhile, Colin’s numerous media appearances unleash a viral rash of criticism among bloggers and friends, raising doubts about the project’s integrity. Is it ostentatious or altruistic? Hypocritical or visionary?Whatever the conclusion, no one can deny we’re going to have to alter our habits radically to achieve sustainability. Through the intimate prism of conflict within a contemporary marriage, No Impact Man suggests that individual change can be the first step in a quantum leap toward a systemic, societal shift. And the temporary discomfort just might be worth it.
