Making Sustainable Purchases

Melinda Epler is one of my favorite bloggers, author of One Green Generation. I especially appreciate Melinda's posts because we share many of the same concerns, except she's young and positive and energetic and hopeful. I'm hopeful, but I have a hard time staying positive when I think about the world I grew up in and the one today's babies will inherit. (I think this lack of sun is starting to get to me. Melinda talks about that here.)

Melinda also posts to another blog I follow daily; Simple, Green, Frugal. Her post there today is wonderful, from my perspective. She says all I want to say, but when she says it it comes out bright and bouncy and all-fellows-together, as opposed to my gloooomy tomes.

I'm going to quote a bit of her post on sustainable purchases and direct you to Simple, Green, Frugal to read the rest of the post.

Making Sustainable Purchases

by Melinda Epler, One Green Generation



I strive to be sustainable, because I don't think it's worth it to my self, my family, my culture, nor my world to be anything less. Sometimes the moment strikes and overpowers my senses and I want to forget my values, but at those moments I think of the past, the present, and the future.



As beings on this planet we have a role, and that role is not to destroy everything. As beings in a family we have a role, and that role is not to leave one another in more debt that we can overcome. As an individual living my own life I have a role, and that role is not to work myself into poor health or to live a life unsatisfied.

 For me, sustainability is an all-encompassing term that includes:

1. Economic Sustainability
2. Socio-Cultural Sustainability
3. Personal Sustainability
4. Environmental Sustainability

It's about lifestyle, it's about life choices, and it's about the past, present, and future. It's not something you can throw out of your life when it's inconvenient, it's something that sticks with you through every decision you make throughout the day.

Purchasing decisions are just one part of the sustainability lifestyle, but they're an important part. When we purchase things, those things come from somewhere and someone - probably a whole lot of someones - got all the materials together, made it (or grew it), transported it, stored it, transported it again, displayed it, and then sold it to you. And when we purchase that item, we are purchasing all that product's history and sustainability (or lack thereof). That makes us responsible.

So how do we make sustainable purchases? Here are the rules in our house...to continue reading this post click here.