Since deciding to change the scope of my blog to include a more diverse range of "green" topics, I've been feeling a bit like...
Where to start? There are many things I'd like to talk about, but maybe I should just start from the beginning and tell you how I got to this point.
My earliest memories of being environmentally aware are from high school. My family recycled. It was the late 80's. Recycling was a huge pain back then. We had to separate everything...paper, plastic, green glass, clear glass, brown glass, etc....lots of bins in the garage. Then we had to drive it all to a drop-off site to be deposited in huge bins.
After high school, I worked for American Eagle Outfitters. I loved that job. But I used to get upset about the fact that every single article of clothing we received arrived in a plastic bag that we then dumped in the trash. Often, there was a plastic hanger involved too.
In college, I created a fictional company called Visions for a fashion marketing class. I used an icon of the earth for the "o" in the logo. The concept behind Visons was that we were a visionary company selling earth friendly apparel made from organic cotton, tencel and other "new" earth-friendly textiles. Wish I still had that project...would be fun to look back at it now.
After college I worked for the now defunct Kids R Us. I can remember being horrified about all the plastic waste we generated with each truckload of shipment we received. Every single garmet arrived on a plastic hanger, wrapped in plastic bags...the bags went straight into the trash. To their credit, KRU did have a large stash of collapsable reuseable totes that they used to ship smaller products to and from the distribution center.
Finally, in 1996 I opened my own boutique. It was called Indigo. I carried all kinds of vintage and recycled goods long before it was popular. Some of my best sellers were recycled license plate and bottle cap products from Little Earth. There was the bottle cap belt made from recycled bike tubes and bottle caps with a seatbelt buckle. License plate photo albums and purses were also a hit.
Flash forward 15 years...my fascination with sustainable living has grown steadily, so I make it a priority to push the green envelope a little bit further each day. I am constantly evaluating my lifestyle...looking at waste, trying to reduce and reuse as much as possible.
Being super green is not something I planned, nor did it happen over night. It's taken years of baby steps to get to where I am now and I know there will be many more steps to take before I feel as if I'm doing everything humanly possible to leave this world a better place for my daughter and her children. I know that not everyone has the same level of dedication, but if I can leave you with one thought...every little bit counts. If you start making small changes now, it eventually adds up and before you know it, you're having an impact. Be inspired! XOXO, Cindi
