Monday, April 6, 2009

April


Do you know what April 22nd is? Why it’s the birthday of Prokofiev, Bettie Page, Aaron Spelling, Jack Nicholson, John Waters, Ryan Stiles and of course, Laurie Hendler - Julie from Gimme A Break.

It’s also Earth Day. This from Wikipedia: Earth Day is one of two observances, both held annually during spring in the northern hemisphere, and autumn in the southern hemisphere. These are intended to inspire awareness of and appreciation for the Earth's environment. The United Nations celebrates an Earth Day each year on the March equinox, a tradition which was founded by peace activist John McConnell in 1969. A second Earth Day, which was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in in 1970, is celebrated in many countries each year on April 22.

Etsy Bloggers asks “What do you do (or what can you do!) to make your Etsy business or home, a little bit greener?”

Many of my past crafts have been a result of not wanting to throw things away (this is indicative of both my wish to be green and my cheapness…I mean frugality.) I still make candles using recycled wax as chunks. I used to spend hours folding little boxes from recycled papers and pictures.

It’s a great sadness to me that I have, thus far, not found a way to recycle, reuse and repurpose in my jewelry making. There are people that have managed beautifully and I admire them greatly. Creatively, I am just not there. But I hope to be visited by the recycling muse someday.

Though my pieces aren’t ‘green’ I do recycle much of the packaging that my supplies come in. Those little Ziploc bags the beads come in? The labels peel righ off, cleanly most of the time, and I never throw those away. The tubes that some of my seed beads come in? Never throw those out, they make great bead storage. Padded envelopes? Re-label for mailing.

At home, I recycle, conserve water wherever possible (it’s a desert out there!) watch my use of electricity, gas (car and home,) buy almost all my clothes at thrift stores, Freecycle…

It’s not much but I’m always aware and wherever possible, take the path of least consumption.

4 comments:

  1. Thanks Elayne for a reminder to try to be "green". In my home and office we recycle and try to be conscious of the needs of the planet but I agree that it's tough in the studio. I do recycle most shipping and packaging and of course metals. I'll keep working on it.
    Lois
    http://www.abeadedaffair.com

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  2. Oh, I never can have enough ziploc bags and padded envelopes. And always try to save any water for my plants. It's important that anyone does a bit of recycling, although these only seem to be very small things.

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  3. you sound like me - recycling all the containers things are shipped in. When it becomes unmanageable, I'll take a trip to the recycling center! I used to feel a bit cheap, sending out my jewelry in recycled bags, but not anymore. I think everyone understands, that's the way to go!

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