December 08

Love Earth Now/'Tis the season to eat, drink . . . and waste less

'Tis the season to eat, drink . . . and waste less.

Hello, holidays! My favorite time of year. Every excuse in the world to partake and pay it later. That's how I feel about pecan pie, egg nog and sparkling beverages, that is.

NOT so much when it comes to all the WASTE. When I think of all those shipping boxes full of plastic or Styrofoam packaging, miles of discarded wrapping paper, and those 1.6 billion plastic gift cards that I love so much (NOT! See "GIft Card Grumble". . . .), well, let's just say that all bums my holiday high.

And let us not forget all the the resources devoted to creating the latest plastic junkola, so much of which never gets used at all. Does anyone really need a pizza night light? A yodeling pickle? A talking toilet paper spindle? Just what happens to all those gadgets that are gifted and tossed? All hail thy ignoble landfill.

Bah humbug.

HOLIDAY RESOLUTION
This year, I I resolutely refuse to allow my eco-angst to zap the glow of my holiday time with loved ones. I have made a vow to reduce the eco-impact of all my festivities, so I can return to my regularly-scheduled Season of Celebrating, guilt-free (or as near to it as I ever get).

COMMIT AND WIN.
I invite you to JOIN ME. I've listed a few ideas about how we can all reduce waste below. But, if you've read LOVE EARTH NOW, you know I'm not here to tell anyone what to do. Allow your own heart (perhaps aided by Siri or Googlia) to guide YOU to do YOU.

DRAWING DECEMBER 28
If you email me back and share YOUR commitment to reducing waste this holiday season, I'll enter your name into the hat. The winner of the drawing on December 28 will receive a free, signed copy of Love Earth Now, shipped to you OR your loved one—in plastic-free packaging, of course.

Who's IN?

Waste-Less-Holiday Ideas

*Use gift bags or eco-friendly wrapping paper like these
*Mail in your old, broken holiday lights for recycling
(and get a discount on energy-efficient LEDs)
*Make your own DIY gifts, shop Etsy.com or local artisans
*Ask party guests to bring containers to share in the leftover food

For more ideas, see this and this.

Better yet, go for a walk in nature.
Listen and discover for yourself
what is yours to GIVE this holiday season.

Thank you, Hosts

Thank you to all who invited me in to share the LOVE EARTH NOW message around the upper Midwest in November. It was an honor and pleasure to chat, commune, laugh and even shed a few heartfelt tears with all at the 13th annual Earth Conference in Mankato, Minnesota, with Sue Rindner and friends all around La Crosse and Organic Valley, with Christine Schultz and friends in Milwaukee, and with the students of Janet Colson in Lansing, Michigan.

Click here to find out more about all of the Earth-loving programs at the Living Earth Center.

LOVE EARTH NOW

THE ROAD SHOW

Want to know how to bring LOVE EARTH NOW to your neck of the woods in 2019? Email Cheryl ASAP . . . calendar is beginning to book up. Events in West Virginia and Virginia TBA soon.

THE LATEST FROM THE
NOT-FIT-FOR-PRINT BLOG. . .

Have you ever felt like you just can't do it all? That doing everything you can to better the planet is a recipe for eco-insanity? Me, too. That's why I decided to give myself PERMISSION....Read more

ECO-PEACE

“Because trying to do everything that the go-green documentaries urge, the climate change experts prescribe and the latest “Top Ten for the Planet” recommendations is my personal recipe for crazy making . . ." Read more

Authors

Cheryl Leutjen