Earth Day

Earth Day 2010 marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, yet we find ourselves in a situation where climate change has become a nearly unstoppable reality and human rights abuses related to the exploitation of resources now abound.

I finally realized that when people say “we need to change the way we live” they meant ME. I also realized that the human rights of women and women worldwide will be secured in full only once we get a handle on our environmental degradation; until we stop exploiting land and resources, we will continue to exploit the people whose land and resources we “need” for our consumer products.

So here I am. I have never really considered myself an environmentalist per se, but I have decided to take a year to just hit “pause” and see what it is like to live without packaging for a year. This also means that I will do what I can to engage in other practices for sustainability – reduced energy and water consumption, decreased consumption of animal products, eating locally grown organic foods, biking and walking. The focus of my effort, however, will be around living packaging-free.