Need New Outdoor Gear? Patagonia Says Seek Out Used First
Sep 9, 2011 Environmentally Friendly
Talk about walking the walk. I just read an article about Patagonia, an outdoor merchandise retailer, strongly encouraging people to look into buying used gear before buying new from them. That’s a pretty amazing thing to hear from a company which won’t be profiting on said sales of used gear, but I like it.
This is a part of their Common Threads Initiative, and participants get special privileges to sell their used Patagonia gear on eBay’s Patagonia Common Threads Initiative site, which also appears to show up on Patagonia’s website in the used clothing and gear section.
The pledge is pretty simple:
Reduce
I pledge to buy only what I need.Repair
I pledge to repair items when they are broken.Reuse
I pledge to use what I have, sell what I don’t need, and buy used when I can.Recycle
I pledge to keep my stuff out of landfills.Reimagine
Together we will reimagine a planet where we take only what nature can replace.
Sounds to me like something that anyone trying to live an eco friendly lifestyle can agree to, even though it won’t always be easy. I believe most people will be challenged significantly by the Repair part, as well as the Recycle part, as even the best intentioned of us usually generate some trash that goes into the landfill.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out for Patagonia as a business. They’ve shown themselves to be quite active in environmental causes, but this step may impact their bottom line.
That said, I don’t know that it will be a big impact. There are still plenty of people who will be solely interested in Patagonia’s products as products, and not for the environmental philosophy. I expect there will continue to be plenty of people buying new from them.
Tags: Common Threads Initiative, patagonia, recycle, reduce, reimagine, repair, reuse, used clothing, used outdoor gear
How Do You Keep Reusable Items From Cluttering Your Home?
Jun 6, 2011 Eco Friendly Home
The environmental mantra of “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” is a great one for cutting down on the waste you create in your life, but it can have its downside if you aren’t careful. You can hit the reuse part of the rule too hard, and have more of a mess in your home than you can deal with. You have to make sure that the things you’re saving for reuse really will be reused. Otherwise it makes more sense to just get rid of them.
This can be difficult. If you’re really going to reuse something, I’m not a fan of getting rid of it just because you can get a new one later. That’s the kind of waste you’re trying to avoid. However, if a new one will naturally come into your life later, such as with jars and other food containers you may enjoy reusing, you should limit how many you save to the quantity you’re likely to need soon.
If it’s something you aren’t likely to need for a long time, make sure you’re storing it well. Clothes that don’t fit should first be looked at in terms of whether or not they’ll still be in style when they do fit again. If they’re a clothing basic, don’t keep them with your other clothes – find a better place to store them where they aren’t taking up space you need right now. Just be realistic about whether or not you’re going to wear them again.
You can always send old clothes to the thrift store so that someone else will get to reuse them if you can’t do so yourself. No one ever said you have to be the one reusing. Just make it possible for someone else to reuse your old things rather than throwing them into the trash.
If your kids are like mine and love using found items for crafts, keep appropriate limits on what they can keep. Don’t let them keep every piece of junk mail, every bit of interesting plastic, every leaf, and so forth. Allow them to keep enough to encourage their creativity, but not so much that the mess challenges your sanity. A good storage container for holding their craft supplies can help you to give them a natural limit. When the container is full, they can’t have more craft supplies until they make room for them.
Keep in mind that you aren’t helping the environment by holding onto things that should be passed on to others who really will reuse them. If you aren’t reusing recyclable products, that’s more new materials that may be used to make products that might have come from the recyclables cluttering your home. Keep that balance, hold onto the things that you really will reuse, and allow the rest to continue in the cycle in the most environmentally friendly way you can.
5 Simple Environmentally Conscious Steps You Can Make Today
May 12, 2011 Environmentally Friendly
Being aware of the impact your lifestyle has on the environment isn’t always as difficult as it sounds when you first consider the problem. It’s not all about sacrificing comfort and going off to live in a cave. Matter of fact, it’s not at all about living in a cave. If you want to be more environmentally conscious, try these simple steps to get things moving.
1. Be more aware of the resources you’re using.
Just take a little time and think about what you’re using when you do things in your daily life. How much electricity and water do you use in a day? How much gas do you use? How much stuff do you buy?
Awareness may not sound like much, but it’s the first step in taking action to decrease your use of resources, especially the ones that aren’t renewable.
2. Find ways to cut back on the resources you use.
Once you’ve become more aware of the resources you use, you can also consider ways to cut back on what you use. Not only is this likely to be better for the environment, using fewer resources usually saves you money in the long run and often the short run.
It’s not all about getting off the grid or things like that. Such things are beyond what many can afford, although if you can make it, it’s not a bad choice. It’s about looking at what works for you, such as replacing light bulbs with more efficient bulbs, turning lights and electronics off when they’re not in use, carpooling or using public transportation, shopping less, taking shorter showers, things like that. Things that fit into your budget.
3. Reuse.
Reducing is the most important step, but after that comes the reuse of the resources you already have. This can be as simple as finding a new use for that glass jar the spaghetti sauce came in or using an empty gallon jug for watering plants in the garden. You could even make a reusable shopping bag out of an old pair of jeans.
The point to reusing things is to remember that just because something has served its original purpose doesn’t mean it’s garbage already. Think about other ways you could reuse things before you throw them out or even send them for recycling.
Consider buying some products specifically because they can be reused, rather than buying single use products over and over again. Water bottles are a great example of this. Drinking water is a great, healthy habit, but buying bottled water is not. Not only are the bottles wasteful, bottled water is less regulated than your tap water in most places, and may not be as good for you as you think. Get a water filter if you really need filtered water, and carry a reusable water bottle with you. A good quality one will save you money over the cost of buying bottled water.
Also consider a good quality reusable shopping bag. This won’t save you money if you aren’t charged for paper or plastic bags by the store, but just think about how fast bags add up in your home. That’s a lot of waste you can prevent.
4. Recycle.
Reducing and reusing your use of resources is important, but we all have to use some resources. There’s no way around that as long as we’re alive. What you need to consider is how to allow resources to be reused when possible.
Recycling is much easier now in many communities than it was even a few years ago. Large recycling bins are more common now, and you often no longer even need to sort your recyclables to have them picked up. Pay attention to what can be recycled in your community, as not every one has the same rules.
If recycling isn’t easy in your community, find out what it takes to get the job done. If you have to drive to a recycling facility, decide how often it’s worth it to you, and how you can store recyclable materials until that time.
Particularly important is to pay attention to how you dispose of electronic waste and hazardous waste such as old paint, certain types of batteries and so forth. It cannot just be disposed of in the trash. Many communities have particular places or particular days where they will allow you to bring in electronic waste such as old computers, televisions and so forth, or for the disposal of hazardous wastes. Some of these can be recycled in this way, while others need more careful disposal.
5. Get outside.
You won’t completely appreciate the environment if you don’t get out into it. Go for a hike, head out to the beach, even walk around your own neighborhood. Get out and enjoy yourself outdoors.
This is especially important to do as a family when you have kids. If you’re trying to be more environmentally conscious, then you’re probably trying to teach them the same, and how are they going to understand what they’re protecting if they don’t see enough of it?
Tags: environmentally conscious steps, get outside, recycle, reduce, reusable bags, reusable bottles, reuse, waste disposal
Remember to Give to Charity
Dec 14, 2010 Going Green
This is a great time of year to give to charity. Actually, any time is a great time, but this is the time of year many of us think about it. So do it.
It could be a gift to that relative who really doesn’t want anything more. If you know his or her favorite charity, make a donation in your relative’s name.
Take some time with your children and help out at a local charity. It’s a great way to show them that they can help out with a favorite cause. It may take some searching to find something age appropriate, depending on the age of your children. Many organizations have a minimum age limit for volunteers.
Then, for your own sake and to give to others, declutter your home and give the reusable items to charity. Help your children to do likewise.
It’s often hard to get kids to give up toys, even ones they no longer use, but it is possible. Here are some ways to go about it.
1. Talk about why you clean out the excess toys.
Many children these days have far more toys than they could possibly play with. Others have very few because their families can’t afford to give them much. Sending old toys to the thrift shop means that families with less money can afford to give their children something fun to play with.
That’s what works well on my kids most times. I don’t buy a lot of toys for them, but they get a lot of them as gifts.
2. Make two piles and have your child choose between them.
This works for getting rid of toys or just storing the excess away for a time. Be sure that you allow trades between the piles for particular favorites, and be very clear on what is happening to each pile. Try to keep trades even between the piles, so that the “stay” pile doesn’t keep growing.
3. Sort them out yourself.
I’m not too fond of this option personally – I like my kids to be involved in the decision. Sometimes it’s necessary when the piles of unused toys get too extreme and you aren’t getting any cooperation on getting rid of toys.
If you do this, be prepared for some anger when missing toys get noticed. Kids can come up with a reason why any toy, no matter how neglected, was important. It may help to discreetly store toys taken this way for a time before sending to your local thrift store. This allows for any serious mistakes to be corrected. Or you can be firm about the matter and point out how many other toys are still all over the house.
However you go about it, make sure your kids see you giving up things as well. Children shouldn’t feel as though they’re the only ones having to give things up for others.
Tags: charity, declutter, donations, give away old toys, give to charity, reuse
Have You Added the 4th R to Your Thinking?
Oct 4, 2010 Environmentally Friendly
Anyone concerned about the environment knows the 3 Rs – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. But there’s a 4th R, and it goes in front of the rest. It’s related to Reducing, but may be a stronger reminder that you should be cutting back on what you buy.
It’s Refuse.
Refuse that plastic bag to carry your purchases. Refuse single use containers. Refuse unnecessary packaging whenever possible.
This isn’t easy to do in some ways. Packaging isn’t something you have much control over in some ways. Dodging that plastic bag when you shop by bringing your own reusable bags is easy, drinking water from a reusable bottle is easy once you build the habit, but actual product packaging you have only a little control over.
Even if you just do the easy things, you’re making a difference. Millions of water bottles are thrown out every year by Americans. Use your reusable bottle and help others to see how much fun it is to have your own bottle. It’s not all that inconvenient, after all, and the savings versus buying single serve, single use bottles comes quickly.
Pack your reusable bags in your trunk or someplace else where you’ll actually remember to bring them every time you go shopping, not just at the grocery store, but anywhere you shop.
The most challenging part is refusing to buy things that are overpackaged. It’s the area you have the least control over.
Some things you can buy online with less packaging, such as those products available with Amazon’s Frustration-Free Packaging
When you’re stuck with packaging, think about what can be done to reuse it before you send it for recycling. Anything biodegradable can go in the compost pile. Some packaging materials can be used in crafts or to store other things you already own.
You can also avoid excess packaging by buying in bulk when possible. Buy concentrates and refills when they’re available. This is a habit that can save you money as well as reduce waste.
In general, we need to think when we shop. It’s not just what we buy, it’s how we buy it. Think about what you really need, consider the packaging, consider how you’re going to bring it home and try to make the best decision for your situation. You can make a difference by showing that you care how things are packaged and using less single use packaging whenever possible.
Tags: 3 Rs, 4Rs, packaging, plastic bags, recycle, reduce, refuse, reusable bags, reuse
