I live in Japan where supermarkets and local governments are taking steps to reduce the amount of plastic that consumers take home, throw away, and municipalities dispose of in either incinerators or landfills.

My martial arts teacher always tells us to flow with nature. Don't fight it.

Isn’t it annoying that even when you take the care to bring your own cloth or reusable shopping bags for grocery shopping, you come back home with your bags filled with little transparent shopping bags?

It sure bothered me, so I created something to solve this problem worth telling you about, if I may. It’s called Moukinets. They are very light & durable reusable mesh bags, specifically, but not only, for fruits, vegetables and bulk foods. They have drawstrings and are very easy to use, wash and re-use over and over again. If you want to know more, have a look at my website:   www.moukisac.com  tell me what you think.

After watching a documentary on Walmart I decided I would never shop there again.  Why you ask?

Walmart may not be a socially responsible company.  If you shop there you could be contributing to a company which has closed almost every store which has tried to unionize, it treats its suppliers suspiciously.....I'll explain in a bit, and says its a good company by reducing prices everyday.

I'm the consumer queen. You know how everyone has one weakness or another where they overspend? For some people it's clothes, for others food, books, music, electronics, home furnishings, kids' stuff, pet stuff -- everyone has some area where they overaccumulate.

For me it's ALL of those categories. Which is why I find myself thinking more and more about my personal consumption and how it conflicts with my values and beliefs about social and environmental sustainability.

Compact fluorescent lighting (CFL) technology has advanced tremendously in the last several years. We can all save energy, money and pollution by changing our household lighting to CFLs.

People used to complain about CFL's light quality, the spiral-shaped bulbs and non-standard fixture fittings. No more.

Higher quality CFLs, like those made by Panasonic, are far superior in light quality and longevity to the cheaper spiral-type bulbs you see in the grocery store. These lights are instant-on with no flicker or hesitation and do not interfere with cordless devices.