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Post by ♥Starlene on Apr 11, 2008 11:18:17 GMT -5
I liked this article,,, I am always thinking of the "greener" way to be... and this is a good way to look at it 
CATEGORY THINKING
For many people, going green is daunting. They don't know where to start and worry that they need to "green" their whole lives overnight. Overwhelmed by the thought of making wholesale changes in their lives, they fail to take any steps to go green.
This sense of overwhelm can easily be overcome if people think about going green in categories. For many people the simplest way to go green is to adopt category thinking. It's often easiest to pick one category of consumption for the year and work to take green steps within that category, and then, once that area of your life is green, move onto other areas.
For example, someone might choose to green their clothing. They could make a commitment to not purchase new clothing from mainstream retailers for the year, and instead: 1) look through their closet to see if there are clothes they own, and like, but forgot about (and start wearing them again), 2) organize or take part in clothing swaps within their community -- everyone get "new" and free clothes (and any leftovers can be donated to charity), 3) purchase used clothes at second hand shops (many clothing styles from the past are in fashion today), 4) for any new clothing purchases buy from fair trade, organic and/or union labeled retailers (Co-op America's www.greenpages.org is a great resource). Once they are used to green sourcing for their clothing, it will be easy to keep up their green clothing commitment in the future. And once they see how easy it actually was to go green in this one area of their life, they will be motivated to green other areas.
You can see the benefits of category thinking from this example. You can focus and take your time to learn all about the category. By making a commitment to one category, you can save money. In this case, in steps (1) – (3), you are saving big on your clothes budget so that you can afford to buy eco-friendly, sweatshop-free, labor-friendly clothes. Plus eco-friendly clothes don’t need dry cleaning – more budget savings! And it becomes easy – once you identify your favorite thrift stores and eco-friendly clothes stores, online and in your community, you can turn to them in the future for your clothing purchases.
Other categories that people can look at “to green” are: 1) home energy use; 2) transportation; 3) investing; and 4) food. Start with the area where you are most motivated!
(BTW, if you find category thinking as easy as we think you will, pat yourself on the back for your smarts. The eco-experts call this “systems thinking” -- seeing how things are interconnected. Rather than isolated thinking, like “I can’t afford one of those cool organic cotton shirts,” you take a look at your whole system – or category -- of buying clothes. Then you find that by focusing on the whole way you buy clothes, you naturally become more intentional about it and save money by using the clothes in your closet more, swapping, thrift stores, fewer impulse purchases of clothes you’ll never wear, and less dry cleaning. And now you’ll find that you can afford to buy that cool organic cotton shirt – making you truly hip and helping the environment at the same time.]
CATEGORY THINKING
For many people, going green is daunting. They don't know where to start and worry that they need to "green" their whole lives overnight. Overwhelmed by the thought of making wholesale changes in their lives, they fail to take any steps to go green.
This sense of overwhelm can easily be overcome if people think about going green in categories. For many people the simplest way to go green is to adopt category thinking. It's often easiest to pick one category of consumption for the year and work to take green steps within that category, and then, once that area of your life is green, move onto other areas.
For example, someone might choose to green their clothing. They could make a commitment to not purchase new clothing from mainstream retailers for the year, and instead: 1) look through their closet to see if there are clothes they own, and like, but forgot about (and start wearing them again), 2) organize or take part in clothing swaps within their community -- everyone get "new" and free clothes (and any leftovers can be donated to charity), 3) purchase used clothes at second hand shops (many clothing styles from the past are in fashion today), 4) for any new clothing purchases buy from fair trade, organic and/or union labeled retailers (Co-op America's www.greenpages.org is a great resource). Once they are used to green sourcing for their clothing, it will be easy to keep up their green clothing commitment in the future. And once they see how easy it actually was to go green in this one area of their life, they will be motivated to green other areas.
You can see the benefits of category thinking from this example. You can focus and take your time to learn all about the category. By making a commitment to one category, you can save money. In this case, in steps (1) – (3), you are saving big on your clothes budget so that you can afford to buy eco-friendly, sweatshop-free, labor-friendly clothes. Plus eco-friendly clothes don’t need dry cleaning – more budget savings! And it becomes easy – once you identify your favorite thrift stores and eco-friendly clothes stores, online and in your community, you can turn to them in the future for your clothing purchases.
Other categories that people can look at “to green” are: 1) home energy use; 2) transportation; 3) investing; and 4) food. Start with the area where you are most motivated!
(BTW, if you find category thinking as easy as we think you will, pat yourself on the back for your smarts. The eco-experts call this “systems thinking” -- seeing how things are interconnected. Rather than isolated thinking, like “I can’t afford one of those cool organic cotton shirts,” you take a look at your whole system – or category -- of buying clothes. Then you find that by focusing on the whole way you buy clothes, you naturally become more intentional about it and save money by using the clothes in your closet more, swapping, thrift stores, fewer impulse purchases of clothes you’ll never wear, and less dry cleaning. And now you’ll find that you can afford to buy that cool organic cotton shirt – making you truly hip and helping the environment at the same time.]
Hugs and Stuff Girly <3
~love hugs and stuff~ I'm just very selective about the reality I accept." - Calvin and Hobbs{=}{/=}{=}{/=}