Sustainable Holiday Gifts: Give the Gift of a Living Plant
The holidays are here, and chances are that means gift exchanges. We know that some postconsumers don’t participate in traditional holiday gift giving, but we’d also like to remind you that postconsumerism is about finding your own way and your own comfort zone. For many, the spirit of gift giving of the holidays is special and unique and they want to participate. But as we’ve often talked about on the Postconsumers blog, participation [...]
The Carbon Footprint of Your Christmas Goose (Or Turkey, as it May Be!)
Ah, Christmas (or your choice of warm winter holidays). It brings to mind many joys and traditions, but among the most popular (at least for many of us) is the delicious taste of your holiday turkey. Ok, perhaps you prefer the traditional holiday goose (we all have a little Dickens in us). Or maybe you’re a vegetarian and opt for the meat-free version. If the latter is true, then the numbers below don’t [...]
Sustainable Ideas for Holiday Wrapping Paper: Creative and Personal
As the holidays approach, even if you’re avoiding holiday shopping like the Black Plague, chances are that you’ll be exchanging gifts somewhere along the line. You may opt for non-material gifts like donations to organizations. You may decide just to do cards (and we’ve got eco-friendly alternatives for those as well). But there’s no shame in wanting to embrace the holiday festivities and “go for it” with gifts. However let’s be honest – [...]
7 Tips for Getting Used to Reusable Bags
More and more people are trying to make a positive environmental impact by switching from single-use disposable bags at the grocery store to reusable cloth, canvass or even heavy-duty plastic bags. We think that that’s great (and important). However, like any habit, getting used to ditching the single-use bags for reusable ones can take some getting used to. If you’re on a mission to ditch the single-use bags for reusable, eco-friendly bags, here [...]
Five Gifts to Help Your Friends and Family Save Energy (and the Planet)!
With the holidays just around the corner, gifts are on just about everybody’s mind. Whether you avoid holiday gifting on principle, embrace the holiday gift giving spirit entirely or find a middle ground between the two, we’re sure you’ve had a discussion about the role of gifts and the holidays. We support any choice that Postconsumers make about how many and what type of gifts they want to give. If you’re planning to [...]
50 Things to Do Other Than Shop on Black Friday
It’s that month, again. No, we’re not talking about the month where you spend a good portion of the month being thankful for everything that you’ve got (though that’s important to do). We’re talking about the month where for almost an entire four weeks you’ll be bombarded with messages about Black Friday, Cyber Monday and everything in between. Want to take a stand against the consumerist (and sometimes even violent) message of Black [...]
The Postconsumers Glossary
It dawned on us that we throw a lot of words around without truly giving you definitions of what they are. This month, we decided to focus our energy on putting together the complete Postconsumers glossary for the mainstream. Take a scan, we think you’ll find it useful and fun! Of course, sharing it and adapting it for your own perspective is always appreciated. Addictive Consumerism - a term used by medical and other [...]
Our Favorite Halloween Quote
“Proof of our society’s decline is that Halloween has become a broad daylight event for many.” Robert Kirby […]
The Consumer Culture of Beauty: Fighting Through Media Messaging
We’ve spent a good deal of the month talking about how to make more consumer and eco-friendly choices about what you put into your medicine cabinet, but we haven’t spent much time talking about making choices about how much you put into your medicine cabinet. When it comes to beauty products like skin care, makeup and nail polish, there’s a huge opportunity to break away from the consumer culture that’s built up around [...]
Our Favorite Quotes: Jimmy Carter on Consumerism
“Too many of us now tend to worship self indulgence and consumption.” Jimmy Carter […]
