After the holidays, we’re often left with the problem of what to do with all the waste — from the platters of uneaten food to the Christmas tree to the old things that the shiny new gifts replaced. The answer: reuse or recycle them. See my new “Holiday Guide to Reuse & Recycling” for practical, [...]
Tag Archives: consumption
Green Giving for the Holidays
I still remember virtually every gift I received in childhood, not because the gifts were so special, but because they were so few. Though I was a comfortable child of the post-war boom, the times were thrifty compared to today. I never had more than a few dolls, games, crayons, records, books, a bike and [...]
Let’s Put Overpopulation Back on the Agenda
The world’s population topped 7 billion yesterday, according to the United Nations. Amazingly, it was covered in the media not so much as a problem as a milestone. Oh look, we’ve hit the big 7-0-0-0-0-0-0 mark. How can that be? Overpopulation is one of the root causes of our most pressing environmental problems — from [...]
Green Restaurants
If you’re interested in maintaining a low-impact lifestyle, watch where you eat. The restaurant business is extraordinarily wasteful — of food, water, packaging and most particularly energy. In fact, among commercial businesses, restaurants squander more energy per square foot than any other. Restaurants that have been certified green by the Green Restaurant Association are a [...]
Donating a Mattress
With bedbugs on the rise, it’s harder than ever to donate a mattress. But it can often be done if the mattress is clean and bug-free. If not, you may be able to recycle it. A mattress in great condition — with neither sags, stains nor pests — may find a home in your own [...]
Daily Trash: How to Reduce It
One day this month when I was on my own (sans family), I weighed all my trash — both garbage and recycling. It amounted to 2.48 pounds and consisted in the main of packaging. At that rate, I’d waste a staggering 10 tons in 25 years. In Trashy Habits, my November issue of This Green [...]
Donating and Recycling Old Clothes
In my home, when we’re through with clothes or shoes, we typically hold onto them a long, long time — not out of sentimentality, simply for lack of a convenient alternative. Typically, most of the clothes are in good condition or even “like new” — so they are obviously not garbage material. But I have [...]
A Different Approach to Holiday Giving
In our family we celebrate Hanukkah with very little gift-giving except to the kids. We’ve even cut way back on their gifts in recent years — to things they’ll love but can also really use. Gift-giving at Hanukkah parties is more difficult to control. At our annual celebration with my brother’s family, we have tried [...]
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This Green Blog is the companion blog to NRDC's This Green Life, a green living column written by Sheryl Eisenberg for the Natural Resources Defense Council. (Subscribe to get it for FREE each month.) Sheryl has also written Greentips for the Union of Concerned Scientists and designs websites for environmental groups and others with her firm, Mixit Productions.
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