The Virtuous Consumer is undergoing a make-over. Please check out all the great stuff that’s here…and keep visiting so you can check out its upcoming incarnation as lesliegarrett.com, which will feature not only The Virtuous Consumer and The Virtuous Traveler, but lots more about my book projects, speaking and magazine work.
Stay tuned. Good times, indeed!

Just wait til you see what we're dreaming up!

I figured it was the sound of progress.
But when Frito-Lay unveiled its new compostable Sun Chips bags, the applause was, perhaps, drowned out by the noise of the bag itself. And though the noise became part of the marketing strategy, apparently it didn’t do enough to quiet the critics.
Frito-Lay just announced that it will discontinue the compostable packaging for all but the original Sun Chips flavor until it can create a quieter compostable package.
I confess I’m a bit of a compostable materials sceptic. Most consumers will toss their bags in the garbage can, rather than the requisite compost heap thereby rendering any attempts to green the packaging all for naught.
It is, however, important to start the conversation; to let consumers know that alternatives are available and why we need to consider them. Regardless of how they’re disposed, a biodegradable bag (not to be confused with a degradable bag) is still a greener choice as it’s made from plant materials rather than petroleum.
But if no-one can hear you over the noise of their Sun Chips back, I guess there’s not much point in talking…

Good clean fun?

Shakespeare (well, a slightly misquoted Bard) sure had that one right! Bubbles – if they’re to be eco-friendly and non-toxic are a bit of toil and trouble.
But if, like me, you have kids who love blowing bubbles, it’s worth the effort.
Why not just stick with the dollar-store bubbles? Or, if you’re flush with cash, the super-deluxe toy store bubbles that offer up gasp-inducing rainbow spheres?
Well…the problem is that, like most sudsy stuff we find on the shelves, it’s chock full of chemicals we don’t really want our kids messing with.
Such as… parabens, those ubiquitous hormone-messing chemicals you’ll find in a ton of personal care products and, apparently, kids’ bubble mix.
What’s more, dish soap (and what are bubbles except glorified dish soap) is the leading cause of poisonings in kids under the age of six in the United States. Most dish soaps contain formaldehyde and ammonia, two chemicals that are best left uningested. And yes, I know that your child is far too clever to drink bubble solution…but if it’s something we don’t want in our children’s bodies, it’s likely something we also don’t want on our grass, or in our groundwater, or in our soil. Or on our kids’ fingers, the same fingers they’ll be sticking in their mouths momentarily.
Lucky for us bubble aficionados, it’s easy to create greener bubbles.
I offer up this simple recipe, widely available on the Web…and home-tested by me:
½ cup eco-friendly dish detergent (cut that amount in half if you use a concentrated formula)
5 cups of soft water of distilled water (distilled water can generally be found at grocery stores or drug stores…for a whole lot cheaper than a bottle of bubbles)
2 tsp light corn syrup (beware that corn syrup can attract wasps. You can substitute 2 tsp of vegetable glycerin…but I can’t vouch for that recipe)

Consider making bubble blowers from old wire hangers twisted into a big circle for super-sized bubbles. Or get creative and make your own from items you find around the house. Then…share them here.

I giggled self-consciously through most of Audi’s lauded or lambasted (depending on which media you follow) Green Police Superbowl ad. Of course, it’s intended to poke fun at the eco-fascism that many enviros are accustomed to being accused of. And it does make the point that much of the simple things we do are…well…harmful.

And it’s intended to be over the top. To show that being hip and green can start as simply as choosing a more fuel-efficient car. So why the nervous tittering from me? Well…I’m more like the Green Police than I’d like to admit.

I’ve been known to retrieve recyclables out of the garbage and demand to know who put them there. I’ve occasionally interrogated my six-year-old about whether she composted her banana peel or threw it away. I lecture my children about the perils of climate change when they whine about riding bikes instead of driving to school. In short, I’m (occasionally) a vitriolic eco-shrew. My daughter put it best the other day when she asked why she couldn’t just not care “and be happy like everyone else.”

Point taken, if grudgingly  If my green policing is making us all miserable (and I suspect it is, including me), then perhaps it’s time to take a page out of Audi’s playbook and have some fun. I can still compost. And recycle. And ride my bike. But I don’t need to issue citations and deliver lectures at every transgression. Note to self: The world has enough hot air. What it needs is a cool head.

A recent UK ad is under fire for scaring children about climate change. It depicts a father reading a story to his child, which raises issues of rising waters, drought, epidemics and so on.
While I tend to walk a fine green line with my own three kids – to empower them to make smart choices, while trying not to scare them with the urgency – I’m not convinced it’s working. While I don’t want to terrify my children, or anyone else, I’m feeling increasingly agitated by what seems to be dangerously slow progress.
With the Copenhagen Climate Conference taking place in December, the world’s eyes will be on our politicians. Can we count on them to create a global mandate – and distinct goals for each country – that goes far enough? As Bill McKibbon has pointed out, we must get greenhouse gas emissions down below 350 ppm. We’re currently at 390 and gaining. We have no time to waste.
We’re beyond worrying about who we’re scaring with this reality. Of course, we don’t want people paralyzed with fear, but we do want the world to recognize that we simply don’t have many more tomorrows in which to get this right. Our leaders can’t let us down. Climate change is THE critical issue of our time, encompassing health, economy, civil rights, tourism, trade.
We should all be scared… Very scared.

To all those who think that little acts don’t make a difference, it’s important to look at how those “little acts” add up.
Check out this article on the incredible impact of eschewing meat just one day a week:

http://www.alternet.org/water/134650/the_startling_effects_of_going_vegetarian_for_just_one_day/

In the April issue of Canadian Living is an article, written by me, based on my family’s 30-day consumer detox, during which we tried to avoid any purchases that weren’t considered necessary — ie. perishable foods and medicine.
You can read it in the magazine (at your library, doctor’s office or hair salon — please don’t buy it. It’s not necessary.)
I received this letter in response:

LOL. I was about to write a comment that reflected my disgust with this artical. Then I saw the dates of the comments, April 1. You got me. And saying that your “Husband” was in finance was the cherry on top, seeing as people in finance these days are seen as the very people who caused the current “economic downturn”. Playing the part of the Stepford wife was genius. A whole 30 days and you couldn’t even do it. So close. And the longing for designer cloths but writing a cheque instead…it brought a tear to me eye. I guess thats why it’s called charity.
You really don’t get it, do you? Your “expeariment”, that you failed, is how most Canadians live. Try raising your kids on less then $28,000 (gross) a year for 15 years then write about it. My Mother did it by her self. Tell me, in your 30 day stint did you only have potatoes for dinner because they were $.99 for 10 lbs? When your family has to do that twice a week inorder to make ends meet then you can write about “living on nothing”. Until then you should really just stay inside your bubble and keep your mouth closed. Most people live off of what your husband pays in golf memberships. But they don’t get to write it off as a tax deduction. I don’t care that you and your husband make six figures. Good for the two of you. but YOU shouldn’t “try living like the little people” just so you can make your deadline. You have offended many people. Thank you for reinforcing our image of “The Haves”.

While I take issue with some of the letter writer’s assumptions (Stepford wife? M’mmmm….don’t think so), it has made me wonder if my social experiment, aimed at making us all more aware of how many meaningless purchases we make, seemed an arrogant comment about our lives of privilege.
I’d love to hear others’ comments. Please weigh in with your thoughts…

It always bugged me that some of the examples of irony in Alannis Morrisette’s song weren’t ironic at all. However,here’s a perfect case of irony – a line of t-shirts, mugs, buttons and bumper stickers that instruct us to “Consume Less”. However, if you’re more of a “do as I say…not as I do” kinda person, check it out:

http://www.cafepress.com/artlifestore/5495496

There seems to be a lot of confusion about compact fluorescent lightbulbs — those twirly lights that we’ve all been browbeaten by environmentalists into installing.
They’re more expensive, though they’ve decreased dramatically in price from the days when my husband bought them at about $10 per bulb. They’re also much better at producing a glow that doesn’t make us all look like we’re battling the flu.
However, CFLs seem to suffer from consistently bad public relations. No sooner does even the most resistant climate skeptic finally concede than headlines blare “CFLs contain mercury!” Um, yes, they do. Which is why you can’t just toss them into the garbage when they (finally) lose their light. But, what the anti-CFL brigade doesn’t mention is that burning coal ALSO releases mercury into our air. A CFL will result in roughly 1.2 mg of mercury entering our atmosphere from coal-fired power plants providing the energy needed; an incandescent will result in 5.8 mg of mercury being released. You don’t need a calculator to figure out that CFLs mean cleaner air.
Another recent scare regarding CFLs is the radiation they ostensibly release – leading to a U.K. warning to not be within 30 cm of a lit CFL for more than one hour.
What is missing from this warning is that it is precautionary – in keeping with the EU’s approach to take steps to prevent health issues. Perhaps the radiation from CFLs warrant this. But to date, there’s no evidence. However, it’s wise advice.
The answer isn’t to stop using CFLs, it’s to use them judiciously.
For more info, visit http://wwf.ca/takeaction/blog.cfm?uNewsID=2440

If, like all other rational people on the planet, you think that the environmental nightmare that is the Tar Sands is certifiably insane, join others in sending your message to Prime Minister Harper and (swoon!!) new President Obama. Visit http://www.forestethics.org/ and sign your name to a letter persuading (begging!!) these two leaders to create an energy policy that won’t leave a blight on our planet and sentence those of us complicit to eternal damnation.