Being a Conscious Consumer - Eating Ethically

Last Sunday I was at Harris Teeter looking for a whole chicken to make for dinner. Recently, I've been only buying organic free range chicken vs factory farm chicken which I grew up on. While at HT, I was surprised to see the organic free range chicken on sale - on sale being around $9.50 for a 3 lbs chicken vs $11.50. When I checked the price on the factory farm chicken it only cost $6 for a 3 lbs chicken. Now money is tight with the recession and I literally stood there comparing the chickens and thinking about the price for a good 8 minutes. I came close to buying the factory farm chicken, but then I thought about the video I saw below a year ago that made me go vegetarian for a whole month.

WARNING!!! Watch on an empty stomach!


I try to eat organic foods as much as I can, but with prices rising it's hard to stay within budget or even justify a 25%-50% difference in price. I guess I'm going to have to eat less meat this year. When eating meat think about the how the animal died and how it's meat is prepared for your consumption.

The Story of Stuff

I've forwarded this video to many of my friends in the past and now have included a link to the full video on this blog. It's a 20 minute video on consumerism and sustainability which walks through the process of sale, use and disposal of products and its effect on communities. Now I'm guilty of buying "stuff" and replacing it with the latest gadgets, but this video makes you think about how you are contributing to global waste without even knowing it. Anyway check out the clips below and the full video at www.storyofstuff.com.

Planned Obsolescence


Consumer Treadmill

Reel Mowing Sucks!!!

So in an effort to go green around the house and in my garden I purchased a Scotts 20" reel mower to replace my electrical mower. My electrical mower works great, but I wanted to get something that was cordless and didn't rely on gas.



Long story short...The Scott's reel mower requires a lot of work, which includes keeping the blade clean and keeping your lawn short. This means you need to mow your lawn about twice a week. Now who the heck has enough time to mow their lawn twice a week. Needless to say, I returned the Scott's mower to Home Depot and continue to use my electric mower. Also, the reel mower busted after the fourth and last time I used it.