It is the time of year for giving gifts. A season when selling and buying—consuming—is measured and breathlessly reported as if the fate of our economy were buoyed by each sales transaction. As a lifelong practitioner of secular Christmas, I enjoy last-minute shopping. It's fun to try to find presents for family and friends, to walk amid crowds of holiday shoppers who seem happier than crowds in stores and malls usually are.
But as an environmental advocate, I sometimes feel guilty about all the consumption I'm responsible for, the packaging, the waste. Think of almost any product—clothes, electronics, food—and there is a hidden trail of often-harmful consequences that stretches back from your purchase to impact people and the planet. Depending on how you use that product and how you throw it out when it's worn out/empty/broken, you could be unknowingly adding to the cycle of harm. Annie Leonard's book, The Story of Stuff, is a useful resource for understanding the social and environmental impacts of the ways the "stuff" we buy is extracted, produced, distributed, consumed, and disposed of.
To read the full, original article click on this link: 11 'Green Consumer' Resolutions for 2011 - Eagle Rock, CA Patch
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