My lovely, celebrity-style dressing room is a spare bedroom I stole in the house, a spare that once housed a maple crib, green nursing glider and armoire of precious, spit-up stained Baby Gap dresses on mini-hangers.

Today, it’s my own little retail Mecca (organic, of course). But I do allow my daughters to visit and check out the blouses and shoe rack, and yes, even borrow on occasion. That sort of thing was taboo when I was growing up. Moms were moms.  Friends were the ones loaning stuff.

My own stylish mother (here with me and Grandma Zelda) towered over me at 5-foot-9 (not counting the beehive do) and always wore at least a size 14. She wasn’t a Laker like Julia Child and her sister, Dorothy, but when she got married, she wore flats so not to surpass 6-foot dad.

I hung out in Mom’s cavernous walk-in closet while she was away at luncheons. But no way could I actually borrow one of those gowns since they hung on me like a puddled curtain. I also was drawn to her off-limits, pointy, size-10 pumps, dyed to match her Jacky suits.

I was the fourth child and the runt of the litter – considerably shorter and smaller than the rest. (My theory is mother smoked a few more cigs and sipped a few more martinis when she was preggers with me.) But to be fair, I’m also considering the DNA link to my small, Polish ancestors.

Cut to my gorgeous teenage daughter with a great sense of style, who caught up with me in stature a few years back. I provide her with her own little Nordstrom Rack down the hall. I take full credit for cultivating her sense of entitlement since I have been most gracious about loaning her items, and have only kvetched a few times when they weren’t returned on time. She is very responsible and that counts.

Combined, Syd and I have a substantial inventory. I’m proud to say a chunk of it is the ski apparel we share for our annual Mommy-Sydney ski weekends in Lake Tahoe.

I was glad to squeeze into a pair of my daughter’s skinny jeans for my birthday outing with friends in August, and only felt a pinch after the second drink. You dirty martini, you!

How does the sharing work? Sometimes we fall for the same cardigan and it can make more sense during hard times to buy one to share and take turns – you know, like college co-eds on a strict budget. Call it the The Daughterhood of the Traveling Pants.

I also prefer to loan rather than buy her a dress for the countless B’Nei Mitzvah parties and other events she seems to attend. If she wears something of mine, it feels like new to her, even though I’ve worn it a dozen times.

This whole lending thing is why those smart couture rental shops, like Boutiqueville in Chicago, do so well. Why own something costly when you can rent for the occasion? When the high is over you send it back. Thank you, it was a great date, but onto other matches.

I should point out it isn’t just us girls sharing the wealth. My daughter also gets warm and fuzzy about wearing her dad’s old sweaters. I seriously think it brings her closer to him in a very sweet way.

Guess teens have been burrowing in oversize wool since Ann-Margret sang “How Lovely to be a Woman” in Bye Bye Birdie. He doesn’t mind her using the old sweaters, or at least, has never complained.

I got to wondering if other kids and parents are comfortable with community closeting or if most families are fiercely territorial about their closets. It certainly requires trust and respect, and the right kind of green deodorant.

I did a bit of research online and found little has been written on the subject. Hurray for me!

But I did stumble upon an interesting post on How to Share Clothes with a Cross-Dressing Husband.

Okay, the ground rules killed me: Killed me! They included keeping his paws out of your underwear drawer, making him replace anything stretched, torn or stained, and drawing the line when it comes to your most precious blouses or skirts (i.e. the ones with price tags still attached). The helpful primer also suggested shopping together to make sure you have the same taste. Oy!

None of this would work in my marriage. My husband is a large man who prefers high-wasted, baggy slacks to hip jeans. If he were a cross-dresser, he’d still be swishing around in those Dean Martin pants.

I do like some of his Oxford shirts and could see slipping into one after a post-sex shower and cocktail in bed, but since we don’t schedule those kind of Hollywood encounters (we don’t eat Chinese out of the box either), it’s all just another fantasy, like wearing my mother’s Yves Saint Laurent caftans.

I do have friends who are married to dainty men with little feet and excellent taste, and I could see trading with one of those fellows, swapping Indian tunics and Moroccan slides for a tux and velvet slippers when those Victor-Victoria mood strikes.

Of course, the well-dressed gay husband is top drawer when it comes to swapping, assuming he would cooperate. His rules might be too stringent for even me. I sort my closet by color but not by texture and season and don’t iron a thing. Crisp is not in my vocabulary.

No, I think I’ll stick with sharing with the girls, my wonderful girls, grabbing a wrap for Lauren when leaving for a party, pulling a dress for Sydney for a Bat Mitzvah. Selecting a hand bag that works. Maybe a trinket or earrings to tie it all together.

Does sharing benefit my daughters more than me? Well, naturally. It goes with the territory when you’re a consummate stylist and mother – who still misses dressing her dolls.

This is the sixth installment in Luanne’s column, Life in the Green Lane.

Main Image: In Style

Image One: Luanne Bradley

The collapse of the economy has had a curious effect on our culture. Shuttered chain stores and denuded neighborhoods have made us realize how unstable and unsustainable a society predicated on constant growth and fueled by the twin demon drugs of easy credit and cheap consumer goods can be. When the Circuit Cities go away and the lesser Starbucks close, we realize we didn’t really need them anyway.

All over the country, people are reconnecting with their communities, saving money, working cooperatively, bartering and living a less consumption-dominated life. People are realizing the joy of self-sufficiency and the beauty of taking care of one another instead of just ourselves. There are so many payoffs to living this way. It’s cheaper, it’s more meaningful and it’s easier on the planet.

The evidence of this movement is everywhere:

There’s the Slow Money Movement, which promotes an economy based on preservation and restoration rather than extraction and consumption.

Community gardens are on the rise. A National Gardening Association study indicates about one million American households have community garden plots and an additional five million say they would like to acquire one. The rise in community gardens has sparked a move by US Representative Jay Inslee of Washington State to propose a community garden grant proposal from the USDA. August has just been named Community Gardening Awareness Month. There are free farmstands, foraging movements and community canning projects springing up all over the country.

And this movement isn’t just about food. There’s the Buy Handmade Pledge, Really Really Free Exchanges, online bartering groups, DIY Bike Kitchens in San Francisco, Bozeman, Sacramento and LA, community acupuncture networks all over the country and even events that simply aim to take back public space such as Park(ing) Days and San Francisco’s Sunday Streets program.

At the same time, corporations are doing their market research and finding out what people care about right now, and they’re trying to get in on the action.

According to a Hartman Group Survey from 2008, 52% of consumers polled said it was important for them to buy local goods whenever possible. The report also found that the desire for “local” products wasn’t just about freshness but also about a return to simplicity, handcrafted production and the ability to match a product with a place or face.

Another survey shows an alarming lack of trust in corporations. A survey this year by IBM found that fewer than 20% of adult grocery shoppers indicate that they trust food companies to develop and sell food products that are safe and healthy. It’s no wonder people are starting to take matters into their own hands.

I suppose you can’t blame the corporations for trying to muscle in on the action. They wouldn’t be very successful companies if they didn’t. But a look at some of the latest marketing campaigns leaves me scratching my head. Corporate efforts at co-opting this movement are often clumsy at best. I wonder if they’re as off-putting to others as they are to me.

1.  My “favorite” recent action was by Starbucks.

After putting its less well-capitalized and often more quirkily authentic brethren out of business, sucking the soul out of the neighborhood coffee house, and commoditizing coffee to the point where consumers couldn’t see the difference between a $4.00 latte at Starbucks and a $2.00 latte from McDonalds, Starbucks was hurting. The company’s latest strategy involves “Unbranding” a few select stores by taking away the Starbuck’s look and logo and instead naming the stores after the neighborhoods that surround them. They are also sending spotters into independently owned shops and copying the look and feel, as well as sourcing the décor items locally. If it works, they’ll roll it out all over the country. Oh Goody. This one makes me want to choke on my home-brewed, fair trade, organic blend.

2. Another good one that got a lot more media attention was Lay’s Chips local campaign.

According to the company website, the campaign is meant to put a spotlight on potato farmers from California, Florida, Maine, Michigan and Texas that grow potatoes used in Lay’s Potato Chips. The theme line is “Happiness is Simple,” designed to “uniquely celebrate the brand, its place in Americana and role in bringing people together for life’s simple pleasures.” The campaign highlighted the simplicity of Lay’s Classic Potato Chips in a day and age where consumers are looking to keep things less complex. I don’t know if this would fly if the campaign showed the complicated machinery that harvests, transports, processes, packages and distributes the potatoes that makes those chips. I’ve got a simple idea: buy some potatoes from your local farmers’ market and roast them in olive oil at 400 degrees until brown and crisp. Save a few, cut them, dry them and stick them in the ground. Mound the dirt up around them. A few months later, you can dig up your own potatoes. I can tell you from experience that this works.

3. Then there’s the Eat Real, Eat Local campaign Hellman’s mayonnaise rolled out in Canada.

The campaign touts the fact that the eggs and canola oil used in the mayonnaise come from Canada. That’s all well and good, but it’s a processed food made from commodity crops, in factories, in a very very large country called Canada by a multinational company that also owns Lipton, Knorr, and personal care products Dove, Lux, and let’s not forget everyone’s favorite petroleum-based moisturizer, Vaseline. Come on.

4. Barnes & Noble has put together a video blog featuring “local booksellers” from all over the country.

Barnes and Noble Booksellers. Because as the site says, “All Bookselling is Local.” Really? I don’t think so. I’m all for promoting reading, but it would be nice if communities had the choice to shop at bookstores owned by people who live in their communities, spend money in their communities, feature local authors from that community and stock books of local interest. Now that’s local bookselling.

5. Whole Foods, Interloper?

Whole Foods has long touted its sales of local produce and the chain does do more than most of its competitors to support local farms. But it does something else that I find too slick by half. When it opens a new store in a new community, the store designers add touches of local color through themed displays, historical photos of the town or area, and murals.  Though it’s nice if they do hire local artists to create materials and I’m sure they sometimes do, and it no doubt makes for a pleasant shopping experience for the locals, to me it feels like a disingenuous way of establishing itself as part of the community and as an entity that has a history in the town, when it really isn’t and doesn’t.

6. Shop the local…box store.

Speaking of national chains masquerading as local stores, here’s a great article that details how shopping centers all over the country are rolling out “shop local” campaigns even though the stores in the shopping center are anything but local. Think Lowe’s, Wal-Mart, Target and other big boxes.

7. Localwashing

While we’re on the subject of Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart and other chains are increasingly highlighting locally-grown produce with big, hit-you-over-the head signage. But as this article details, much of the produce the signs highlight is anything but local, prompting a new word to be coined this spring: local washing.

All of these examples, like the fashion industry’s co-option of hip hop style, and the record companies’ mass marketing and replication of any fresh voice that comes along, are just part of living in a capitalist society. It can feel crushing sometimes. Looked at positively, it keeps us nimble, creative and active, in an effort to stay one step ahead of the marketers. Because once people get a taste of what it’s like to have something conceived of, built and shared among individuals – once we start to feel like humans, not just consumers – there’s no going back. It’s what keeps us innovative and what may ultimately save us.

Images: Ben Cumming, ginnerobot, grilled cheese, That Other Paper, elliottcable, fab4chiky

Destruction in the Amazon. Clear-cutting of virgin forests. These are sad, infuriating events, but they can also seem distant – even abstract. How about the wanton destruction of a thriving Los Angeles community garden? Now that brought me to tears.

Who owns the land?

In 1992, after the Los Angeles riots, a 14-acre community garden was formed in an industrial section of South Central LA. Over 350 families banded together to create an urban paradise and grow their own food in the middle of a largely forgotten and blighted concrete jungle.

There was only one problem. Although they were clearly stewards of the land, they never legally owned it. Thus began a saga that played out for years and garnered the active support of the likes of Daryl Hannah. The families had been granted a revocable license to use the lot, but in 2004 the original owner decided to sell it and a few years later bulldozed the lush gardens (watch the heartbreaking video and you’ll be moved to tears) to build another warehouse in an already industrial part of town. The gardeners banded together as the South Central Farmers and protested to save their community gardens, but it wasn’t to be. The story is poignantly told in the Academy Award nominated documentary entitled The Garden.

Adding insult to injury, the proposed warehouse to be built on the now bulldozed and barren lot is a storage and distribution center for Forever 21. The South Central Farmers are working hard to stop that from happening too, and if possible, reclaim their beloved land to create paradise once again.

Listen to Joni Mitchell: Big Yellow Taxi

As we’ve mentioned before, there’s a growing trend for municipal authorities taking matters in the own hands when it comes to the environment. And why not? When their own governments get it wrong or take too long to implement innovative new measures, it’s local government that misses out on the benefits, such as substantial savings on power and waste management.

This article from the Wall Street Journal (via Kottke) looks at nine such examples, including:

• rooftops in Chicago that are kept cool by gardens, lowering air-conditioning bills
• a suburb of Mumbai, India, using solar water-heaters
• New York taking the first steps towards hydroelectric turbines providing power for 8,000 homes
• the streetlights of Ann Arbour (near Detroit) shifting to LED bulbs, with a projected power saving of $700,000.

In the U.S., President Obama couldn’t be firmer on his commitment to switching America over to sustainable clean energy production over the coming years. However, that will take time – meanwhile, many municipalities already have their own plans in motion. Take California, where the state government is chasing the “zero net energy” standard of building efficiency. The city of Berkeley’s FIRST (Financing Initiative for Renewable and Solar Technology) program is providing the means for property owners to invest in cutting-edge green efficiency. Or how about Riverside’s sweeping Green Action Plan looks to providing a third of the city’s energy needs from renewable sources by 2020? Further afield, there’s the impressive greening of Grand Rapids under its eco-progressive mayor George Heartwell. And on…and on. These initiatives complement the national energy goals nicely, but they’re all proudly homegrown. (Over the border, Canada is similarly busy).

And what about political action? More than 160 countries have now signed the Kyoto Protocol for ecologically sound industrial and economic development. Under the Bush administration, the U.S. rejected it (happily, President Obama has a rather different view). For more than 800 American mayors in 2008, this was unacceptable ““ so they signed their own agreement to adhere to Kyoto’s guidelines.

Support your local city government: there’s no telling what it’s capable of.

Image: jmcmichael

It’s great to send and receive cards. But what do you do with them once the holiday season is finished?

One of my friends bought her kids a paper recycling kit for Christmas with the aim of taking all the greeting cards they received and turning them into decorative paper that could be used for this year’s birthday cards.

But if you haven’t got the time or the creative gene for such an enterprise, consider this alternative.

Send your used greeting cards to Jude’s Ranch for Children in Boulder City. They’ve been running a Recycled Card Program for the past thirty odd years. Children and volunteers take the donated cards and create new recycled cards by removing the front of the original card and attaching a new back. These cards are then sold at the ranch’s gift store (and online) in packages of 10, with the proceeds of all sales going to the ranch which provides a safe haven for abused, neglected and abandoned children in Southern Nevada.

St Jude’s are accepting all used, all-occasion greeting cards up until Feb 28, 2009, so why not have an early spring clean and dig out all the birthday and other cards received last year?

Mail them to: St. Jude’s Ranch for Children, Card Recycling Program, 100 St. Jude’s St., Boulder City, NV 89005. Of course, if you’re in the neighborhood, you could always deliver them in person and maybe even pick up some new cards for this year.

Food, water, shelter – the most basic requirements to sustain human life. Thanks to catastrophic global agflation, one of these is in widespread turmoil. Lack of food is causing terrible suffering. Meanwhile in the developed world, good food is ending up in landfills. The world is out of balance.

WHAT CAN I DO? Buy only the food you use. Keep a shopping list, and aim to process all your fresh food within a week of buying it.

HOW WILL THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE? At least a quarter of American groceries go to waste. In Britain it’s an estimated one in three bags of edible food – some $20 billion of groceries each year. If you buy only the food you use, you save money and someone else gets that food. If you’re sceptical about the food reaching the people who really need it, then look at what you’ve saved in grocery bills at the end of the month, and donate a portion of that money directly to a charity or micro-loan provider.

 

It clogs our rivers and seas. It suffocates wildlife and lingers in landfills. It’s a modern scourge- and it’s become known as urban tumbleweed.

WHAT CAN I DO? There’s two things to do with plastic supermarket bags – work around them and work against them. The former is as simple as remembering to carry a tote bag when you go shopping. In the latte case, don’t ever use the plastic bags provided by your local supermarket. Drop them a note (perhaps in their suggestion box) asking why they’re still using them when they’ve been banned for over a sixth of the world’s population. There’s no need to be strident: politeness sinks the message deeper.

HOW WILL THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE? Katharine Mieszkowski’s article at Salon covers it nicely.

Getting into the car seems a matter of instinct for much of the modern world, and particularly in the U.S. – in 2001, 90% of Americans were using their car to get to work. The US auto industry relies heavily on subsidies and bailouts when things aren’t going well…and with the state of global oil reserves, things are unlikely to improve. Domestic American ethanol production couldn’t even meet a tenth of the ravenous fuel demands of cars currently on the road. The only way forward is to kick the auto habit ““ and every little helps.

WHAT CAN I DO? Here’s a good way to start. Whenever it’s practical to do so – walk. (Or cycle). Particularly for short journeys. Factor in an extra ten minutes travel time, and use your legs.

HOW WILL THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE? Last year, How to Live a Low-Carbon Life author Chris Goodall calculated that driving to the shops uses less carbon that walking. This statement is well-argued, logical, and completely useless to anyone but advocates of the automobile industry (it’s a damning statement on food prices, not the eco-friendliness of driving, as Goodall himself notes). Driving very short distances is fuel-inefficient: starting your car is around as much energy as idling it for one minute. Anything that reduces American consumption from a whopping 21 million barrels of oil a day is good for the economy and for the environment. And what about your own health?

When the sun falls below the horizon, modern society fights the dark. In keeping our cities and roads illuminated, we squander our precious energy reserves skywards in a blaze of candlepower we simply can’t afford. Light pollution is bad for the environment in ways we’re only just beginning to understand.

WHAT CAN I DO? At night, dim the lights and rediscover the dark.

HOW WILL THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE? By dimming their lights for Earth Hour 2008, Toronto residents saved an estimated 434 Megawatts (MW) of electricity – for comparison, standard nuclear power stations generate from 500 to 1000 MW.

Going green is about communing with Nature, leaving the modern world behind and harking back to a happier, more eco-friendly era when humans lived in perfect harmony with the landscape – right? Except it’s not that simple. Take the “wild” moors of Britain – many of them result from deliberate deforestation during prehistoric times. We’ve always made our mark on the planet with technology – yet recently it’s reached a scale where our ecosystem can’t adapt itself fast enough. So now it’s up to us to make amends. Should we throw away the best tools we have to do this?

WHAT CAN I DO? Buy a programmable thermostat and save 10% on your heating bills. Buy CFLs for now and LEDs later, and save energy when lighting your house. Upgrade your home, 21st Century style. Spend quality time with a crank or two! Buy and use your gadgets wisely, and keep a constant eye on the technological cutting edge of green.

HOW WILL THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE? Take renewable energy – it’s all about using the best technology science can provide. And look at the results of doing so.

Contrary to what some would have you believe, a sustainable lifestyle is not about vowing to never buy anything “non-essential” ever again. Shopping is green ““ but only if it’s done right.

WHAT CAN I DO? Eco-artisans and fair-traded products deserve your custom, from the beads of Project Have Hope to the fresh produce of the Milkweed Mercantile. By buying products that have an unambiguously eco-friendly component to them, and by closing your ears to the greenwashers (and their twins, the greenscourers), you can prevent profits triumphing over ethics.

HOW WILL THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE? The Fair Trade movement, for all that it should be called “Fairer Trade”, gives producers a better deal without compromising on social and environmental standards. It’s a success because shoppers often choose to buy Fair Trade over cheaper, more readily available items. It’s a great start.

Next month, the United States has a new president. He’s already been unprecedentedly vocal about his commitment to the environment – and, like all politicians, it’s his job to listen to what people want. He needs feedback to do his job well.

WHAT CAN I DO? A green lifestyle is a politicized one. You don’t have to march in endless rallies or pore over The Economist every week – but you should have a read around the most pressing issues facing your governments, federal and local. Your voice deserves to be heard – if you’re doing everything possible to live in the real world. Sustainability is pragmatic: there’s no room for unthinking dogma in today’s eco-political climate, and the best way to approach green issues is with open ears, open eyes and an open mind.

HOW WILL IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE? Because, more than ever, Washington listens.

Remember when you were a child? Your optimism and determination knew no bounds (I’ve fallen over? Well, I’ll get up again). Everything was endlessly fascinating, and nothing wasn’t worth learning about. You had more energy than you knew what to do with. Wouldn’t it be great to experience the world like that again?

WHAT CAN I DO? A thriving green lifestyle is: optimism about the effects of your personal choices, determination in the face of contrary commercial pressures, fascination in scientific innovations that will clean up our environmental impact, a willingness to learn new skills and relearn old ones, and applied energy and enthusiasm in adapting to an ever-changing modern world. Sound familiar?

HOW WILL IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE? By giving our children the future they deserve. 

Main image: Wrap

The economy isn’t stunning (all right, I admit, that’s putting it generously). And climate change just keeps on changing. But the truth is that in spite of great challenges, there are also plenty of things going on in the world – and in your life – to be thankful for. Here’s a list of some of the things for which I’m thankful. 25, to be exact, but there are so many more that could be added to the list. I hope you’ll share what you’re thankful for, as well.

Forgive me for exposing my political inclinations, but Inauguration Day is less than 2 months away. Out with the old, in with the new!

Know that despite what you hear on the evening news, there ARE people making good things happen in the world.

In Macedonia, a country with a population of just 2 million people, soldiers and civilians recently joined together and planted 6 million trees in a single day. Let’s be thankful for this positive act and its ensuing ripple effect.

In similar news, Indonesia, which planted 100 million trees in 2007, is going to plant 100 million more in 2008.

For those of us happy to see organic food come back in style (after decades of pesticide-laden food being the norm), “U.S. sales of organic food and beverages have grown from $1 billion in 1990 to an estimated $20 billion in 2007, and are projected to reach nearly $23 billion in 2008. Organic food sales are anticipated to increase an average of 18 percent each year from 2007 to 2010.”
- 2007 OTA Manufacturer Survey

Wal-Mart is buying wind power for its Texas stores, and expects to get 15% of their power from wind. With 460 Wal-Mart stores in Texas, that’s a lot of fossil fuel saved. And it’s a good example for other big businesses, too.

No matter how you celebrate Thanksgiving this year, be thankful that you have access to food, hopefully healthy and delicious, and hopefully enough to share.

Friends and family. Yeah, it’s the old standard of things to be thankful for, but seriously, where would we be without them?

Some endangered species are making a comeback!

Even though we are looking forward to a post-petroleum world, it is rather nice that gas is relatively cheap right now.

Carl Pope provides a great list of things to be thankful for in the Environment.

There really are Good Samaritans left in the world, like Marilyn Mock, a Dallas, TX “Foreclosure Angel.”

Japan vows to spare humpback whales during their annual Antarctic hunt this year, although they still plan to kill other species of whales. Let’s be thankful Sea Shepherd is doing their job disrupting that!

For those of us who are employed, let us be thankful for our jobs and income in these troubled economic times. And for those of us who are unemployed, enjoy the free time and make great use of it – good things can arise from setbacks.

Barack Obama publicly mentioned reading a Michael Pollan article and continued on to make intelligent comments regarding America’s agricultural addiction to oil and monocultures. Let’s hope we’ll see some positive changes in how food is grown in this country.

To see the day’s headlines without feeling depressed afterwards, I’m thankful for The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.

Let’s be thankful that the season for political ads is over.

Women over 50! (In this case, because they’re likeliest demographic to buy green.)

If Los Angeles can do it, anyone can. Although not known as a particularly ecological city, the Los Angeles city council has voted to ban plastic bags by 2010.

As more people strive to buy food locally, the number of farmers’ markets is still on the rise.

Four states voted to ease marijuana (including medical marijuana) laws in the 2008 elections.

Henry Waxman has toppled the reign of auto-industry-loving, backwords-looking John Dingell, chairman of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee. Maybe now we can make some real industry changes without having our hands tied behind our backs.

Thank goodness for environmental artists, bringing our attention back to the nitty gritty of our world.

Mushrooms. And Paul Stamets’ presentation on how they can save the world.

On a final note: kitties again!

Image: Thiru Murugan

There are few pleasures in life greater than curling up with a good book – preferably along with a nice glass of wine. Minimalist interior designers might disagree but as far as I’m concerned, a full bookshelf is what turns a house into a home. It’s also an eco-choice since it doesn’t require any electricity to actually read a book, except lighting at night.

Yet these days I’m far less likely to buy my books new. My book habit alone could be responsible for the loss of two large trees per year – one Canadian spruce produces just 24 books, according to Greenpeace. The publishing industry is not as green as it could be and dodgy paper sources have helped fuel the destruction of ancient forests in Finland, Indonesia and Canada.

Equally important, I look for ways to recycle my books when I’m done. I used to be very attached to my books but I’ve come to the realisation that I can’t keep every volume that passes through my hands. If a book is gathering dust and it’s an easily obtainable paperback, there’s no reason to hang on to it.

Beyond these initial steps, here are 5 simple tips for greening your reading:

Support publishers doing the right thing.

There are times in life where books need to be new – whether you want to treat yourself to a latest release, buy a gift for a friend or support a favorite author. If you are buying new books, it’s a good idea to ensure it’s printed on sustainable paper. The good news is that this is getting easier.

Greenpeace started the Book Campaign in Canada in 2000, urging publishers to clean up their act – which means using as much recycled paper as possible and ensuring that any virgin fiber comes comes from sustainable sources certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. The environmental organisation has taken its campaign globally and achieved some good results. Since 2000, publishers that have adopted ethical paper sourcing policies include Random House, Harper Collins, Penguin, Bloomsbury and Egmont – and recently Hachette finally joined the party. If you have the time, it’s worth writing to your favourite publishers, letting them know that this is something you care about.

Use the local public library.

For some people, it’s been years since they stepped into a public library. That’s a pity because most libraries have a surprisingly good range of books and there’s the added warm fuzzy of supporting the local community. The more people use the library, the more that lawmakers will fund them and that’s particularly important in poorer areas where people don’t always have money to buy books.

Libraries have changed in the past decade too – my local library is open until 9pm on week nights, both Saturday and Sunday until 5pm, and it has free wifi and a café with decent espresso coffee. Admittedly, they’re not all like that but it’s worth checking as you might be pleasantly surprised.

Buy secondhand.

The mantra “reduce, reuse, recycle” applies to books as much as anything else and however ethical the paper source, second-hand books are by far the greenest way to indulge your inner bookworm. Buying used is also a money saver, a distinct benefit for many people in these tough economic times.

In the old days, the only sources for second-hand books were used bookstores, charity shops, and church and school fundraiser sales.  These days it’s much easier because of the rise of online book stores and the trend for people to sell their old books on sites such as eBay and Amazon.

Swap books online.

This is where it gets clever. There are now at least half a dozen websites where you can swap books with other people. California-based BookMooch is one of the biggest and is international, but there’s also WhatsOnMy Bookshelf, PaperBackSwap, Bookins and UK-based Read It, Swap It.

Generally, the way it works is that you get credit for the books you share and you can use that credit to request the books you want.

Share books online.

BookCrossing is a bit different from the other book swapping sites because it doesn’t work on a credit system. It appeals to people who enjoy something a bit more random or are looking for a social element. The main idea is that every book registered on the site gets a unique number that is used to track the book. You write the number in the front of the book with some instructions and then send the book out into the world – perhaps via a so-called “wild release”, where you leave it in a random public place for a stranger to find. If you are lucky they might go to the website and write a journal entry, so that you can see where the book has gone and what people think of it.

If you typically pass books on to friends or leave them in hotels and trains when you travel, then BookCrossing might add a fun element. Best of all, it all works on a trust basis and as one further evidence of good will in the BookCrossing community, many members like to indulge in “RABCKs” – random acts of BookCrossing kindness – where they will send someone a free book for their wish list without expecting anything in return.

Learn more about greening your reading.

Image: tanakawho

Ever the agent of controversy, PETA is at it again. The notorious animal rights activism group has requested that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont raise their health insurance rates for meat eaters (and drop rates for vegetarians). They base their request on studies showing that vegetarians have lower rates of many illnesses such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease. PETA claims that this rate shift would save the insurance company money in the long term. A representative for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont stated that basing rates upon dietary habits is not allowed by state law.

As a vegetarian myself, I’d welcome a rate drop, but I know meat eaters and the meat industries wouldn’t let it happen without a fight. Besides, vegetarianism, though healthier for many people, is certainly not for everyone. I think PETA should spend less time on radical tactics that discriminate against certain groups and focus on encouraging people to reduce meat consumption and eat only meat which is ethically raised. But what’s your opinion?

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Maatiam is an online shopping portal of over 200,000 retailers that donates a portion of every purchase to a charity of the buyers choice. And if you’re not sure which charity you’d like to help Maatiam provides a list of 800,000 charities to choose from such as such as the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, the American Bird Conservancy  and Africa Aid. 

With consumers gaining social consciousness, Maatiam empowers everyone to make a positive impact with everyday purchases turning each consumer into a philanthropist and every online purchase into a donation. As the holiday season quickly approaches, now is a great time to place Maatiam on your computer toolbar so the next time you order Legos for your nephew, you can also feed a hungry child. One example is a customer who bought a PC from Dell and generated a $10.18 donation to International Children’s Assistance Network. Another purchase at Shoes.com generated a $25.92 donation to Orphans of Rwanda. Some of the participating corporations include Barnes & Noble, Target, and Expedia so the next time you plan a trip, buy a book, or need something for your home, feel good knowing that you’re also helping to make the world a better place.

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