Tomorrow is Black Friday and Buy Nothing Day. I already know what I’m planning on doing. Have you decided? If you’re leaning toward Buy Nothing Day, but still need a little help deciding what you can do, here are some activities you can try tomorrow…

Find a BND event.
Do the obvious – hang with the family, have a cookie baking day, play games, go for a walk, plant a tree, play dress-up, sing, make some crafts, it’s a great day to find a family activity.
Go to a store, but not to shop, instead stick one of these up quietly.
Get started on …read more

You may remember the popular BYOB Challenge – the bring your own reusable bag challenge and the Paper Towel Challenge. In any case, we haven’t had a green challenge in a while here at Tree Hugging Family, but this month, it’s on.
Your green challenge, for November 2008, should you choose to accept it, is…
To buy nothing on Buy Nothing Day 2008.

Steps to take:

I asked Michael recently why he thought cashiers who were bagging my purchases seemed to always asked me questions like, “Is it OK if I put these things together?” OR “How do you want these bagged?” OR “So, you want your stuff in these (with quizzical look)”? It’s even been so bad that some cashiers stop several times during the checkout to ask me if they’re doing OK with the bagging. Weird, though this happens less frequently at grocery stores than at stores like Target.

The cashier questions and hesitation really puzzled me. I never got asked those questions before I …read more

A recent post over at Melanie’s blog bean sprouts put into words several things that I’ve been thinking regarding buying green. The post is called Save the Planet – Stop Shopping.
Responding to a reader email, Melanie writes:
“It bugs me too that so much green advice seems to boil down to “spend a lot of money, buy all this ‘green’ stuff”. ‘Green’ is not a lifestyle choice. It’s not a sort of fashion that is only available to the rich. The greenest people on earth are the poorest. They don’t cause as much pollution, carbon emissions etc as we do because …read more

Remember the post 12 Items You Should Always Buy Green – well, I was looking for your ideas about what got left off the list. Here’s what people said…
Marye – “Meat and dairy… commercially produced meat of all kinds is unethical, unhealthy, bad for the earth, and downright nasty. Genetic manipulation, hormones, antibiotics, canabalism, unethical treatment…the list of why not goes on and on..AND not only that but the studies that show commercially produced sanimal products have a much higher proportion of Bad Fats than those raised in stress free conditions.”
Rachel – “Cleaning products!”
dh – “I always buy organic …read more

I don’t know if you’ve seen this article, “Things You Should Always Buy Green” at Co-op America, but it’s pretty interesting.
It lists 12 items and if you’re watching your green spending, I’d say this is a good place to start. It can help you to zero in on the best ways to spend your green dollars.
Here are 6 of the 12:

Produce
Coffee
Transportation
Paper
Batteries
Light bulbs

I agree with the list. I was trying to think if there was anything I might switch out for something else, and I can’t think of anything. I think they nailed it. Maybe gardening gear should be in there, …read more

Deb from Simply Thrifty sent me a heads up about this ultra cool and easy to use new green shopping experience website. The site, called EVO reviews and rates green products in a way that makes it easy for consumers to make quick and green decisions. It doesn’t look like you can buy anything at their actual site but they refer you to a company’s site after you look at the rating.
The EVO rating system works like this…
They consider “What it’s made from, how it’s produced, the distance …read more