Lead by Example. Live Green When You're Out & About.
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The Top Toxic Parade Traditions we Need to Get Rid of NowWho doesn’t love a good parade? Earth. That’s who.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m a sucker for a marching band. Clowns are freakishly hilarious. People on stilts, street acrobats, clown cars...they’re the best. But parades are hotbeds for exactly the kind of garish waste and unnecessary pollution I spend my days campaigning against. They’re anything but green, and if we want to continue celebrating with community, we need to rethink how we put on parades so we can still enjoy them for another generation. |
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Make Friends. Get Dirty. Have Fun! Build Community...One of the easiest ways to deliver on your life of Radical Reductionism is to organize a neighborhood litter pickup.
It's free, it's hyper-local, and it can be super kid-friendly. I took my preschoolers around the block to clean up stray trash regularly for two years before I joined forces with some other mom friends to launch the official East End Litter Squad. Now we meet a few times a year, in different parts of the city, to pick up garbage. The kids love feeling like they're making a recognizable difference in their community, and the grownups love the fresh air, sunshine and chance to connect meaningfully. I never imagined getting dirty could be so much fun! If you're interested in starting a litter pickup group in your area, email me and I'll send you some B.S.-free tips on how to get started! |
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Why I'm Thrilled I Dumped AmazonFed up over excessive packaging and hidden fees, I kissed my Prime membership g'bye, and I couldn't be happier. Find out how I did it, and how much better my life has been ever since, over at the blog.
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Peppers Minus Plastic Equals You, WinningWhy do onions, cabbage and cucumbers get wrapped in cellophane when they already come cloaked in their own, natural packaging?
Too often, I see grocery store shelves filled with peppers that are snuggling inside plastic wrap on a bed of Styrofoam. They do this with broccoli and cauliflower, too. It drives me bananas! Read more on the blog about why to skip the extra packaging and learn what to use instead! |
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How to Exercise Restraint to Break the Impulse-Buy HabitWe have a clutter problem.
We can't seem to resist adorable trinkets. But we have to start exercising our Restraint Muscle by asking ourselves 8 essential questions before we buy. Learn more about what happens to our brains when we're inundated with flashy new products, how stores manipulate our psyches to get us to buy, and ways you can halt the buying impulse in its tracks. |
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5 Eco-Conscious Ways to Save, Spend & Invest Your MoneyCapitalism got you down? Corporate America harshing the mellow of your well-meaning sustainability crusade?
Fear not, fellow Reductionist. You don’t need to live off-grid, check out of society, or use twigs and berries in lieu of cold, hard cash. There are loads of ways to save, spend, and invest real money that won’t compromise your green lifestyle. In fact, you could even help the environment just by being a savvy consumer. In this post, I share five ways to do so. |
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The DIY Doggie BagNext time you go out to eat, try bringing your own containers to the restaurant to pack up your leftovers in. Then watch your server's jaw hit the floor. It's called pulling the ol' DIY Doggie Bag.
In this blog post, I tell the story of the first time I watched it go down, why I was so stupidly embarrassed about it, and how, over time, I grew to understand why reusing old plastic containers is actually freakin' awesome. |
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Stay Safe in the SunI had a patch of skin cancer removed recently. I'm Irish. I have more freckles than there are stars in the galaxy. People have asked why I'm wearing white pantyhose when, in fact, it had only been my bare, offensively pale skin showing. My kids are every bit as translucent as I am.
As such, keeping my family safe in the sun requires nothing less than the hardest of hard-core sunscreen. As a Reductionist concerned with exposure to fragrances and harmful chemicals, however, safe options are limited. Find out why in this blog post, and see which brands I choose to stay sunburn free. |
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Receipts Can Be ToxicI may have a tilted cervix, but I'm happy with my reproductive organs just the way they are, thank you very much.
And yet, BPA--that pesky, scientifically-proven endocrine disruptor that potentially messes with our nether regions and has been banned from many products--seems to keep cropping up everywhere I turn. It's even in that special paper so many stores print their receipts on. It can get absorbed into our skin from one touch, threatening to give my husband a mysterious third nipple growing out of his forehead. Or something...? What's being done to keep us safer? Industry has pretended to do us a solid by replacing some BPA with another chemical that's not any better: BPS. |
We're on to you, Industry.
Thankfully, some companies like Trader Joe's are switching to safer paper that's free of both harmful toxins because they're finally getting woke to the idea that their consumers would rather not get sick from shopping in their stores.
In the meantime, to stay on the perfectly safe side while you're shopping, we've got a Reductionist Bonus Tip for you: Just say no at the cash register. Don't take the thing with you. Set yourself free! After all, you'll survive without that little chit cluttering up your wallet.
To my cashier friends who have no other choice but to handle the stuff? I hate to say it, but you're in a bind, folks. A) May I suggest you write to corporate and explain why this issue is important to you? Try to start a conversation with your employer's higher-ups about going paperless. Suggest that they, too, ought to get on the BPA/BPS-free train and switch papers to keep their employees safe. B) I hesitate to recommend you wear gloves to protect your fingers, because vinyl and latex come with their own set of problems. More on that debate in a future post...
Bottom line, we live in a world that's teeming with toxins. Let's do what we can to minimize our exposure and keep ourselves and our families as safe as possible. If that means going one receipt at a time, so be it!
Thankfully, some companies like Trader Joe's are switching to safer paper that's free of both harmful toxins because they're finally getting woke to the idea that their consumers would rather not get sick from shopping in their stores.
In the meantime, to stay on the perfectly safe side while you're shopping, we've got a Reductionist Bonus Tip for you: Just say no at the cash register. Don't take the thing with you. Set yourself free! After all, you'll survive without that little chit cluttering up your wallet.
To my cashier friends who have no other choice but to handle the stuff? I hate to say it, but you're in a bind, folks. A) May I suggest you write to corporate and explain why this issue is important to you? Try to start a conversation with your employer's higher-ups about going paperless. Suggest that they, too, ought to get on the BPA/BPS-free train and switch papers to keep their employees safe. B) I hesitate to recommend you wear gloves to protect your fingers, because vinyl and latex come with their own set of problems. More on that debate in a future post...
Bottom line, we live in a world that's teeming with toxins. Let's do what we can to minimize our exposure and keep ourselves and our families as safe as possible. If that means going one receipt at a time, so be it!