To Repair or Not To Repair...

In our system, imported items are cheap and American labor is expensive. Things break and it's "not worth it" to repair them, since the bill exceeds the value of the item, presuming the item is replaceable. With electronics, one generally replaces the item with something cheaper AND more powerful.
This calculus is predicated on the price of items, but sometimes this way of assigning value doesn't make any sense. I grabbed a skirt off a rack 2 seasons ago. It caught my eye because the colors and patterns delighted me, the style flattered (that alone is becoming a rare shopping feat), and I knew it would go well with many items already in my wardrobe. It was a steal, imported from India. It has sequins sewn on to the patterns. If that handwork were done in America, it would be sold in a craft fair, not a designer discount store. Everytime I wear it, it makes me happy. A few weeks ago, the zipper broke and I couldn't fix it myself.
I took it today to a local drycleaner who does alterations, owned by hard-working Asian immigrants. The charge for replacing a zipper is a realistic $25. I remember from my sewing days that zippers are a huge pain! So now the cost of labor exceeds the "value" of the skirt. But, it's not replaceable, and I love the skirt. In my opinion, it is a perfectly rational choice to pay someone fair value for their labor. The fact that the Indian factory workers who created the skirt were paid on in Indian payscale is not relevant, really. So I plunked down the money and will soon be able to wear this favorite skirt again.
Repairing something always feel more environmentally responsible than tossing it. Raising this to a spiritual level, it becomes personal Tikkun Olam, fixing one's world. Even if it's not, as they say, always cost effective....
What instincts and principles guide you when faced with these choices?

Treasure Each Day: Beverly's Bench

When you're friends with a blogger, you know that your conversation might end up as a post. Talking this morning to my friend Nancy (also a blogger, by the way), just such an anecdote surfaced . Nancy's mother Bev passed away last fall in her mid-70's. She was a lively, highly-accomplished dynamo who managed everything, including her death, in a no-nonsense way. During her last year the family gathered often and had many good times together.

Her family will soon have a ritual to dedicate a bench in Bev's memory from which to take in a beautiful view of her home neighborhood. The inscription, from Psalms 90, is wisdom Bev lived by: "Treasure Each Day". I love that her memorial is a so practical (as was Bev!), a bench, inviting people to sit down, take a pause, enjoy the scenery, and have a moment to do just that, treasure the day. To me it makes a lot more sense than a tombstone. One of my aunts is likewise memorialized by a bench looking over a Minneapolis lake; many sit, courtesy of Aunt Barbara, and enjoy some quiet serenity. I like that their lives invite others - most of whom never knew them - to take time out of a regular day and appreciate life. Reminds me of the annual soup kitchen dinner in memory of Reb Yeshaia Steiner. Great legacies!
If you know of other such practical legacies, do share them.

The bench photographed is made of Trex, recycled composite lumber.

Extreme Oil Prices: Good News, Bad News

As a long-time environmentalist, it feels like the mass media and the eco-press have pretty much merged. Huffington Post has a green page. The NYTimes has a green blog. Last week's issue of The Economist's is titled THE FUTURE OF ENERGY! Suddenly, really basic actions long advocated by environmentalist like decreased driving and using less packaging are news; this is great, as far as many of us are concerned. Banning plastic bags, recycling, and mass transit are all generating headlines. My heart rejoices, but the bad news is that it will hurt poor people, even though they are disproportionately lower consumers, the hardest. We are in for very tough times as our infrastructure and culture itself absorbs this new paradigm: fossil fuel energy is finite, dangerous, and shooting continually upward in cost (to the consumer as well as to the planet.) Cheap energy's, long pretty much invisible, morphing into a real cost factor will be manifest everywhere, as the cost of all goods and services skyrocket. From plastic packaging at the supermarket to the delivery of online purchases, the modest "fuel surcharges" of yesterday will look like great deals.
There have been a flow of articles detailing how people are changing their lifestyles: not driving their SUV's, being more efficient in personal errand running, checking out buses, trains, and car-sharing, buying in bulk- it all looks like a Sierra Club guidebook. Since the eco-crowd I hang with long-ago adopted these behaviors, I can't gauge if this is really meaningful, general change.
What I want to know is, do people connect the dots and link America's energy gluttony and obliviousness to the energy price crisis? I also want to know how people feel about their behavioral changes? Some of these new habits are actually healthier and contribute to general quality of life, like hanging out more at home with friends or walking places. Driving is very alienating.
What changes can you report on personally, or that you observe in your circles?

Graphic by © Paul Dallgas-Frey

Microfinance: It's True, Money Changes Things

Now that I'm working in MicroFinance (YAY! I love it!), I have heard the basic explanation countless times, from Muhammed Yunus on down: small sums of money lent to hardworking poor women can increase their productivity enough to help them move up the ladder out of the cycle of grinding poverty, and bring their kids along with them. Today I heard an engaging presentation by Preeth Gowdar from the Lok Foundation on their microfinance work. These talks are always inspiring, but I especially loved today's. Preeth told us about a woman who scratched out a subsistence income by buying flowers, weaving them into garlands like the ones pictured here, and selling them to visitors to the Temple near her stall. With a tiny loan, she was able to purchase a small plot of land and flower seeds, allowing her to grow her own flowers, instead of buying them. Pretty soon, she was able to pay back the loan and take out another, expanding her flower gardening. Now she has a few employees to manage the garden and has hired her husband to take inventory to other Temples on his motor scooter! [The only downside of this story is what happened to the flower vendor who supplied her? Hopefully the MFI is working with her, too!]
Then Preeth summed up the daily experience of microfinance brilliantly:
"In microfinance, the extraordinary becomes ordinary."
Yes, that little infusion of money changes everything. And it's no more than you'd spend on dinner out....

TableSharing: A New Trend at the CoffeeHouse

Unclear how we ever lived without The High Point, our indie coffee house. Great pastry, coffee, and ambiance. Part of the coziness is that it's a tiny space. Since it's booming, this can become frustrating, but enlarging isn't an option and moving could kill the whole thing, since it's near our food co-op, independent bookstore, environmental home store, and yoga studio - all the necessities of a proper progressive lifestyle.
I just noticed little signs they place on a few of the larger tables, designating them "Shared Tables". As in, at these tables you can't keep empty seats out of circulation while others are waiting. This is an interesting form of social engineering. Clearly there is no requirement that people at shared tables interact - they can plug in their Ipods, read their NYTimes, or power up their laptop and zone out. But I imagine folks do occasionally connect, and it seems like a great departure from our privatized American life. I also find it interesting, from a social psychology standpoint, that people actually abide by the policy an establishment makes up, though I imagine enforcing the policy for non-compliers gets a little dicey. Now I wish they would ban plastics from The High Point, simply refusing to provide disposable cups, or at least charge a whopping surcharge for them. Maybe by next year.
What policies would you like to see instituted? Last week I wrote about Costco providing preferential parking for HE cars. Whole Foods IS phasing out plastic bags. Smoking is banned in most public places now. How else can we improve quality of life in the commons, now that so many of us are techno-nomads?

When the Top of the Pyramid Works with the Bottom of the Pyramid.... Changing the World!

This morning an article in the NYTimes reports that Ivy League schools are becoming concerned that nearly 1/4 of their classes are heading into investment banking, hedge funds, and consulting - is this really the best way to use the privilege of a topnotch education? Check out another elite institution's best and brightest: Amy Smith at MIT runs a lab devoted to designs which solve real-world problems, especially those of the people who make the Bottom of the Pyramid on planet earth. This is a totally inspiring video on what happens when top minds work not on Enron type schemes, but on sharing the goodies more fairly. It's long, but take a little time and watch it - it's wonderful.

Meat as a Treat, not an Entitlement

Back in the day, Frances Moore Lappe's classic Diet for a Small Planet preached the Gospel of vegetable protein being nearly sufficient for most people. A generation later, there are billions of more people on the planet, 2/3 of Americans are overweight, and global warming is the issue of our time. So her message is as timely as ever.
This summer I plan to go vegetarian. My intent is to eat fish once a week. It's pleasant in the summer, with so much fruit and vegetable abundance, but still, it's not simple to eat a simpler diet. Eating out is a challenge, and I find that if I'm hungry when I'm traveling, finding a healthy, relatively low-fat snack is next to impossible. It also seems to me that the more upscale the restaurant, the fewer the vegetarian choices; clearly meat is still seen as the definition of luxury. But I do see a huge difference than a generation ago, when we all relied on Mousewood for vegetarian cuisine. Lots of chains offer vegie burgers, and a typical supermarket now offers a huge variety of "meat substitutes".
One question in our house is finding nomenclature for these foods. "Vegie meat ball" just doesn't do it.
What's your favorite quick vegetarian dinner?

Prefered Parking for Gas-Sippers (in Theory...)

This shot was taken at a new Costco near the New Jersey shore. What is it about "fuel efficient" that these SUV drivers don't understand?! I love that Costco striped these parking spots in bright green and marked them "FUEL EFFICIENT CARE AND CARPOOL PARKING", right near the entrance. (I recently read that this past year only one new mall was built in the USA, but that's mostly because big box stores have edged out malls....)
These goodwill green policies are hard to enforce, but they're effective conscious raisers. Though they can create bad news, too. If I drove my Prius there and found these tanks in "my" spot, I would certainly be annoyed. Wonder if Costco would do anything to enforce this? Of course driving a fuel efficient vehicle is its own reward, but it's fun at long last to see the United States retrofitting its systems, as well as its thinking.

A Soup Kitchen Banquet: A Rabbi's Legacy

Last month I read a lovely story in the NYTimes about Masbia, a kosher soup kitchen in an ultra-religious neighborhood in Brooklyn. "Masbia" means satisfying. Once a year there's a steak dinner provided at Masbia, and let me tell you - kosher steak is expensive. The occasion of this gastronomic largesse? The yahrtseit, the anniversary of the death, of "Grand Rabbi Yeshaya Steiner of Kerestir, Hungary, who died in 1925 and who was known for feeding the hungry and other acts of charity." The story focused on the diners - proud people, down on their luck, grateful to have a great meal. It also highlighted the logistics of soup kitchens, which get meals on their tables 52 weeks a year.
My take-away is what a wonderful way to celebrate a person's life and recall their legacy. Yes it's nice to name a classroom, a scholarship, or event after someone, to honor their work. But I think feeding the poor at an annual feast like this is a particularly impactful way to be remembered. I would love to know how, more than 80 years after his death, Rabbi Steiner's legacy endures. It's already several generations past people having known him personally.
It is possible to leave an endowment in one's will for this sort of thing. Seems like a better way to be remembered than a big tombstone! Or how about taking a piece of a wedding budget for an elaborate, over-the-top meal that most people eat just a fraction of, and

Costco and UPS Team Up to offer Electronics Recycling

Since I've canceled most catalogs, I now actually read some of the corporate glossies which arrive here. Whether they're from an insurance company, accounting firm, or a health provider, you can guess they're going to have an article on environmental issues - at long last, people are paying attention. Gas at $4 a gallon, oil at $140 a barrel, heat waves + tornadoes + earthquakes all seem to be combining to get mass media attention.
I was pretty amazed to read in the UPS glossy that Costco has an electronics recycling program where UPS will pick up your old computers (and other items like cameras, faxes, & IPods) for free. Costco foots the bill. You input the information about your product and it tells you if there is trade-in value. If so, you get Costco credit. If not, your items are recycled at no cost to you.
It seemed a little too good to be true, so I dug a little. Why would Costco pay the shipping for products for which it gets no value? The Costco spokesperson for the program, Lani Lock, told me a typical trade-in is a relatively new laptop, at $30-$50. Costco of course gets the float on your Costco credit until you spend it. Most items have no trade-in value, though, and her explanation is that Costco is looking to upgrade its sustainability, especially in light of its big box store's rather gargantuan eco-foot prints. This program offers value to its members. Probably UPS gives them volume discounts. It creates a lot of good will - for example, I am devoting a blogpost to singing Costco's praises. So maybe it comes out of their advertising/PR budget, in part.
I also spoke to the recycler, GreenSight. Their policies sound very well-monitored. They do not off-shore their collected items; they do downstream recycling (deconstructing the electronics) in their warehouse in Florida and sell the components as replacement parts as well as raw materials. Green jobs! Marc Gunther reports that BestBuy is instituting a similar program.
Full disclosure: I own stock in both UPS and Costco. (I guess UPS makes money on this deal and Costco loses it.) I think both of them are great companies which have been paying attention to environmental issues for quite some time. So if you're a Costco member and have a lot of electronic detritus cluttering up your house, here's the answer.
By the way - I've been blogging less because I have an exciting new part-time gig. I am Director of Special Projects at GreenMicrofinance. Talk about a dream job!