Category: holidays

Red Hot Plastic Valentine’s Hug

Valentine’s Day is almost here! We’ve only got about a month to finish our shopping, as Walgreen’s and other drug stores remind us, their aisles suddenly lined in red and pink, overflowing with hearts and bears and sweet treats. On this official day of love, how will Michael know how I feel if I don’t [...]

Read the full post.

Learning How to Love Christmas

What I Used to Love
When I was a child, Christmas really was the best time of the year.  It meant four kinds of treats from Mom Mom:  sand tarts, Mexican tea cookies, seven layer cookies, and chocolate fudge with walnuts.  It meant driving around to see the colored lights.  Singing holiday songs at school and [...]

Read the full post.

What’s Clogging Up Your Life? A Story of Unwatched Videos & Other Stuff

The Hours is one of my favorite movies of all time. My first time seeing it in the theater created such a profound reaction in me that I wept uncontrollably through the entire film. I was still so emotional afterwards, I had to hide in the bathroom stall before facing the world. [...]

Read the full post.

Is Recycling the Answer to Holiday Waste?

A version of this post appears on BlogHer.com today.

Actually, no. Recycling is certainly important. We do it in our home. But it’s not enough, and here are a few reasons why.
Recycling is a business.
Like any business, recycling relies on markets to survive. Do you know what happens to the metal, glass, [...]

Read the full post.

Holiday Buying: More Pressure Today Than 40 Years Ago?

Once upon a time there was a little girl whose only wish was for a Barbie Country Camper.  This was 1971.  For simplicity’s sake, let’s call the little girl Beth.   Beth had seen the Barbie Country Camper in Saturday morning TV commercials, and she wanted her Barbies to have the fold-out picnic table, pop-out tent, sleeping bags, [...]

Read the full post.

Notes on a Plastic-Free, Shopping-Free Holiday

Have you ever had so much fun that you completely forgot to take pictures? That’s what happens when the day is all about great food, friends, and silly games. Our friends Red & Jen (that’s them on the left) hosted a Thanksgiving potluck, and you know what? I didn’t see a lick [...]

Read the full post.

Thanksgiving, Buy Nothing Day, & My Travel Mug

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. This post is not really about today but tomorrow:  the day the media insists on calling “Black Friday.”  I’m choosing instead to honor “Buy Nothing Day.” And to celebrate Buy Nothing Day, I am not going to replace my lost travel mug. And I’m not just going to [...]

Read the full post.

Say No to Fake Plastic Wishbones & Other Thanksgiving Waste

Fake plastic wishbones?  Around Thanksgiving time last year, I read a post by blogger Rejin from Urban Botany blasting People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for promoting plastic Lucky Break Wishbones .  She wrote:
Hasn’t PETA ever heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? They claim these wishbones and their packages are recyclable, but [...]

Read the full post.

Love the Ocean, Use Less Plastic

My friend Eli Saddler from OceanHealth.org wants you to make this a plastic-free Valentine’s Day in 2009. Here are some tips from The FaceBook event he created:
Show your love for that special someone in your life and the ocean on this Valentine’s Day.
Love the Ocean, Use Less Plastic:
1. Bring your reusable bag when you [...]

Read the full post.

Dear family and friends,

Happy holidays! It’s the time of year for snow and ice. Or light-strung palm trees, depending on where you live. Here in Oakland, we haven’t even turned on our central heating yet. My toes are mildly chilly — a condition easily remedied by fuzzy slippers, which I have on right now.
No [...]

Read the full post.

Earlier Posts »