Buy used. Reuse. Use again. Repeat.
Sep 17, 2009
3 Comments
We are inundated with "green" products everywhere, from local shops to the web. Friends have been sending me all kinds of web sites that showcase green products for review. I've seen "green" underwear, green dog accessories, green kitchen gadgets--my favorite is the plastic wishbone that vegetarians can snap instead of killing a chicken and snapping the real thing. To me, that's not very green. Rather gauche, I think. All the companies slap on labels such as "eco-friendly" and "natural." I call it greenwashing."Green" has become the new "free range" . . . you feel better about buying that product, reducing the guilt. I remember when "free range" was all the range, I mean, rage, a few years back . . . in Santa Cruz, there was a soul food restaurant that only had free range meat. Well, it turns out that "free range" or "cage free" means that the animals may be in a pen the size of a New York apartment. Or wait, more accurately, the size of a kitchen in a New York apartment. By the way, that soul food restaurant in Santa Cruz did not last long. The owners we barking up the wrong tree(huggers).
My response is to all this green jibber-jabber is, why buy something new in the first place if you can buy something that already exists? My sister, for example, scored clothes from thrift shops long before that was "cool." When I bought my condo in Benicia, exhausting my savings and stocks, I had to scrimp and save, so I bought a cast iron skillet at a Goodwill store for $5. My mother was mortified. That skillet is still in our kitchen, outlasting other gadgets we've purchased and received as gifts over the years. Yes, I admit we had a little shopping spree at the 5th Avenue H&M in New York over the weekend, but I can't remember the last time I bought a new jacket or pair of jeans: stores like Buffalo Exchange and Crossroads Trading have worked out well for me. And yes, that quiz going around on Facebook is true: I score high on the "How Armenian Are You" quiz, due to the fact that I save and reuse those 32-oz. yogurt containers again and again.
Many of us see living "green" as an inconvenience, a hassle, even elitist. I say it's easy. Stop buying stuff. Full disclosure: I haven't read Annie Leonard's book, The Story of Stuff, yet. Many of these books don't make my list simply because the author would be preaching to the choir. Just remember that when you're buying a "green" product, it still is using energy and raw materials while it's manufactured. Chances are there's something in your home or neighborhood that will suffice--and save you money, too.
On that note, Christmas is coming up (doesn't Costco start stocking holiday stuff after Labor Day--ugh!), so I've got a gift idea for your child or that child trapped in the adult with whom you live. Last weekend, while walking around NoLita (my new favorite Manhattan neighborhood), Ara introduced me to the world's best antique shop. Well, it's hardly a shop. The Elizabeth Street Gallery is more of an emporium of exquisite artifacts. Walk in, and your eyes are treated to an impressive display, from 18th and 19th century statues, to more recent folk art, with an old carved granite building facade displayed here and there.Why not buy this old Coney Island shooting range? The owner flipped the switch so we could watch it in action. I fell in love. This was the kind of reuse for which I wished I had the budget! Of course, the fuel needed to ship it from California would cancel out any green intentions behind buying such a cool toy . . .
Amen to that.
We recently had a baby (a surprise!) after an 8 year gap. Of course we didn’t have anything left over from the first two. 95% of what I have purchased to take care of the baby has come from consignment shops. Not only are these products almost like new, but I paid pennies compared to what I would have for straight out of the packaging products. For my older girls, we do the Goodwill circuit. I know what I donate to the store and it is really really good stuff. So in turn I get to have other people’s really really good stuff
Again, pennies on the dollar.
Thanks, Shawn. Funny–growing up in the 80s, I think shopping at Goodwill or Salvation Army was looked down upon . . . now it’s trendy. Well, it’s a trend I’m all for.
And on the fashion side, I’m sure the girls find satisfaction knowing that they aren’t dressed like everyone else in Gap or Old Navy.
Thanks for responding!
GGP
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