Stuff. We sure do buy a ton of it. Whether we live in a big home or a small apartment, we tend to fill it with stuff galore. All these products may make our lives easier in the short run, but the long-run environmental consequences are staggering. Our insatiable demand for cheap stuff has led many companies to use low-quality, often toxic materials and implement questionable manufacturing practices without much regard for the environment or human health at all. And the pile in the landfill continues to grow as “yesterday’s” stuff gets added to the top.
What can we do to minimize our lust for stuff? The best thing we can do for the environment is to buy less. Take a quick look around your home. I bet there are plenty of things around that you don’t really need or even use. Imagine all that extra stuff sitting in a landfill. Now imagine that multiplied by millions of households. That’s not a pretty sight, is it? Next time you toss something into your shopping cart, ask yourself if you really need it. You might not.
But you can’t avoid the marketplace altogether. Even if you curb your consumerism in the name of the environment, there are plenty of things you still need to buy for everyday life. The good news is, you can use your purchase power to protect the planet instead of harming it by buying ecofriendly, nontoxic versions of the products you need. In this chapter, I will walk you through the vital information you need to be a smart green consumer of those everyday living products. Whether you are buying containers for food storage, pots for cooking, toys for the kids or furniture for your home, the Buy It Green section will help you make mindful purchases by evaluating products based on safety and environmental criteria. With the right information in hand, you will be able to make the sustainable choices that best fit your lifestyle.
To satisfy your creative bug, the Do It Green section includes some practical, ecofriendly projects for your home, such as sewing your own cloth napkins as an alternative to paper, making a baby toy from an old sweater or whipping up a batch of homemade play dough for the kids.
