Speaking of Stuff...

In this blog, we strive to highlight products and services that do a double-duty, both serving your need (or want) and giving back in some way. But the bigger question is how to exist in the world all day, every day, and do the most good possible, and the answer comes back to lowering your net impact.

Making responsible shopping choices is important, but it's not everything. Many of these sustainable, eco- and people-friendly products are unfortunately a drop in the bucket, far outpaced by our careening into global warming and resource exhaustion. What we need is a revolution.

From a recent Fast Co.Exist article on Radical Sustainability:

First, we need a revolution in innovation, focused on designing products, services, and experiences that cost less, deliver more, and drive net-positive impact. Second, we need to re-define the relationship between people and the things they buy so it’s less about stuff and more about relationships, participation, community, and fulfillment.


The Story of Stuff is another great synopsis of why we need a movement, and not just a few lifestyle adjustments: 


And finally, from an interview with Susan Osgood by Womenetics:

...our economies’ growth is dependent upon producing, selling and consuming ever more “stuff.” Our current business models are reliant on the ever increase of sales of “stuff’ to generate revenues. This “stuff” requires natural resources, and we are running out of many of them.  

We are often living beyond our means, not just financially but in our consumption of non-essential goods, services, and resources. Just because we can have it all does not mean we should: and it's going to take more than responsible lifestyles to turn this ship around. Bottom-up changes must meet top-down system and policy shifts. One cannot succeed without the other.

Speaking of turning things around, watch for shifts in this blog coming soon...

A better burrito bowl

This summer, TIME Magazine published an article called The Fast Food Ethicist about Chipotle's startlingly forward-thinking methods and choices. I keep thinking about this article when I see outposts of the widespread chain. The article has given me a warm, fuzzy feeling about a joint that used to be somewhat interchangeable in my mind with Qdoba and Five Guys. Not that I really eat fast food anyway- but I do live in Manhattan and keep a packed schedule, so feeling good about Chipotle's ethics and values has opened up a new burrito-bowl option on-the-go.

The short of it is this: Ellis is a chef, and wants to 'destroy fast food.' He also believes that he is doing much more than selling burritos: that he is saving the world. He places high value on all the ingredients of his company's operations: high-quality, ethical, and sustainable meat, produce, and people.

Almost as amazing is that we didn't know any of this before- or at least I didn't, and neither did my friends. These shared values were not the core of their marketing campaigns, they were the core of their business. And now, as it sneaks its way into the media and our consciousness, it's that much more effective because it feels real.

And real is just what we need in our food options these days.  The salt, sugar, and fat-packed meals and treats of the past few decades seemed too good to be true because they were. We can't get away with that kind of eating anymore (we never could), and Chipotle represents the next wave of responsibility (relatively speaking: depending on your grocery store, it's still better to cook).  Thank you, Ellis, for showing the world that it can be done, and you can become wildly successful doing it.

image from TIME Magazine online