Greetings from Alison Wiley here in Portland, Oregon. I'm a writer/doer/thinker who lives happily by putting people, nature and God ahead of accumulating more stuff. Read more →
Last Sunday I posted on the Habitat For Humanity fundraiser I attended. I felt it was dominated by bright shiny objects, and was straying from its mission of affordable housing, co-built by people of all income levels, with materialism and elitism. Not surprisingly, some commenters (fellow attendees and friends of mine) had a differing opinion. So [...]
Tags: auction·Christianity·consumption·critical thinking·fundraising·Habitat For Humanity·Kim Klein·mission·religious fundamentalism·value judgments
If you’re like me, it’s easy to pay almost no heed to the war in Afghanistan that started in retaliation for the 9-11 attacks of 2001. But with the eight-year anniversary a few days away, I’m going to look at it. This war is being fought allegedly to protect me, and also you, if you’re [...]
Tags: Afghanistan·Bob Herbert·Chris Hedges·consumption·hubris·President Obama·pro-life·war
One of the lovely, intelligent women writers I met at the BlogHer conference is Sandy, of the award-winning blog Momisodes. I quote her: . . . . . . I cannot help but wonder if the idea behind BlogHer is really for me. Perhaps it was the endless swag attendees clamored to get their hands [...]
Tags: BlogHer·commercialism·consumption·debt
We have a winner of the contest for the best new link for our Resources For Good Living page. A reader named Allison (same first name as mine, but spelled differently) receives a $50 gift certificate to Powells Books (or other non-chain store of her choice) for suggesting we add Perelandra, a site on nature [...]
Tags: consumption·contest·happiness·Machelle Wright·nature intelligence·Perelandra·Powells Books
My sidekick Hanmi Meyer and I are pleased to be posting this morning our new page Resources For Good Living. It’s a set of links, well-labeled and organized, to cool sites that help us increase our happiness and lower our consumption. While this opening date is a bit behind schedule (the summer solstice had been [...]
Tags: bicycling·carbon footprint·consumption·contest·energy conservation·family·fun·gift certificates·green living·happiness·life·links·Oregon·outdoors·religion·renewable energy·resources·thrift·water
1.) Ads. Don’t want ‘em. I’m jonesing for readership, not dollars. 2.) Hatchet jobs on anyone or anything. I’m here to be constructive, not tear things down. I’ve angered some people with some measured criticism, but at the same time I’ve suggested a positive path they might consider taking. I’ve even rewarded someone who took [...]
Tags: ads·cars·consumption·fun·green living·happiness·life·rich and famous·technology·thrift·water
As some of you know, I struggle not just with a weakness for Haagen Dazs, but some clothes-horse tendencies, as well. While I can proudly report 17 days of abstinence today from any ice cream (and I don’t feel deprived, I feel fine), I confess to a little shopping episode at Patagonia before I left [...]
Tags: clothes·consumption·Go Green With Jean·green living·Jean Baumann·Naked Lady Party·Rex Burkholder
My consumption habits are definitely still a work in progress. Not only has Carpool Guy pointed out to me that I’m crazy to do a 100 mile commute three days a week (something I had actually admitted up front) but I have a pathological relationship to Haagen Dazs ice cream. Here is the deal, and [...]
Tags: addiction·bicycling·Carpool Guy·consumption·Haagen Dazs·ice cream·Oregon
I got a valuable comment from Bob Johnson on my post The Fun Of Being In Training. Of course, your life style seems wonderful and enviable. It is truly admirable that you are working to reduce your carb0n f00tprint. But surely you realize that your way of living is completely inaccessible for most of humanity. [...]
Tags: Bangladeshians·carbon footprint·consumption·elitism·life·Oregon
The other week I had the pleasure of taking Katy Wolk-Stanley of The Non-Consumer Advocate, out for coffee. She lives in Portland, Oregon like me; we’re even both in Southeast! We talked about our shared passions for blogging and reducing consumption, and we decided to do guest posts for each other. Here is Katy writing: [...]
Tags: consumption·frugality·green living·Katy Wolk-Stanley·The Compact·thrift
Read via RSS reader of your choice (for example, Google Reader).
Subscribe