Giving Green: Part One

You won’t believe it, but I’m really making progress on the wall color situation. Look at this new color I found! It’s called “rich cream.” It’s made by Benjamin Moore, and no, they’re not paying me a cent to say that. 

I started putting it on the wall, and loved it so much I went out and bought two gallons, in the Aura paint, which is environmentally, you know, happy-making. Makes you happy as it doesn’t release toxins, makes the world happy because it’s harvested from organic paint-bushes or something. Plus, you need less of it, rather than more, so in an ironic, shocking twist, it actually costs less to do the right thing. 

I started putting it on, and just as I was hitting the wall of painting fatigue, wondering why I was doing this instead of doing my own work, the phone rang. It was a friend of a friend, saying he is a painter between jobs, and our mutual friend had said I may need someone…. 

So he’s coming today to finish it off. 

You can see here that I’m still somewhat undecided about the hallway.



Now, this Aura paint, combined with the Holiday Season which now has us in its grips, got me thinking about to do if you’re in a gift-giving, party-throwing, card-sending frame of mind and yet you quiver at the thought of those polar bears up north going without ice next winter? Yes, I’m talking climate change. And I’m talking waste.  

Becoming aware of these two things doesn’t mean you have to live in a state of deprivation. It’s been proven time and again that deprivation and negative reinforcement doesn’t work---you know that when you go on a diet that requires no sweets, the first thing you do is rush to the cookie box.  

And God knows I’m the last one to ban, for example, parties.

 

But the madness has to stop!  

And you can do this with a generous, positive outlook, by giving green---and no, I don’t mean doling out cash to everyone on your list. You can think about how you’re actually doing something to help stave off the utter destruction of the planet. And, like with buying Aura paint (really, they aren’t paying me to say that) it actually can save you money. 

One place to start would be with a new book on making wrappings that are environmentally friendly. In Simply Green Giving, Danny Seo offers suggestions that will soothe your soul while cutting down on wasteful paper use. 

 

For me, I find that just the good, old-fashioned method of wrapping gifts can work two ways: by reducing the tremendous wave of useless paper that washes into the house each day, and by not buying more paper with which to wrap gifts.  

Here’s an example: the calendar I just got in the mail from my bank. This isn’t the tacky bank calendar with bad photos of kittie cats and puppies, or static shots of barns and beaches.  This one has gorgeous photos from around the world. It’s really nice.  

But I don’t use a wall calendar. I use a desk calendar. And I don’t want this thing on my wall. I don’t really want it at all.  

But these photos would make terrific wrapping paper. 

So here is the calendar, before: 



And here it is, after, in its new life as wrapping paper: 



If you have any other bright ideas on how to green up the holiday, please write in. Those polar bears need all the help they can get. 

Comments

[Manga Indo]

Whoa, nice info. Thank you! :)