Sustainable Archives — Page 14 of 15

Freecycle.org—The SMART Living 365 Recommended Website for 11/7/11

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Sustainable, Thankful

Happy SMART Day Everyone!

This week is “National Recycling Week” in Australia and in honor of that we thought that it would be great to recommend a website named Freecycle.org. After all, it is good to know that other parts of the planet are encouraging SMART Living just like us, and Freecycle is a excellent way to turn your junk into someone else’s treasure. Instead of throwing it in the trash, Freecycle allows you to post your items, and anyone who wants or needs it can come and pick it up for free. Not only does it keep trash out of our landfills, you get the added benefit of being both giving and generous with your neighbors—and that is very SMART indeed.

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A Case For Simple Living; Or Why Shiny Objects Don’t Equal Happiness (Part 1)

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Aware, Rightsized, Sustainable

I recently read an interview of a man named James Roberts who is the author of a new book entitled, Shiny Objects—Why We Spend Money We Don’t Have In Search Of Happiness We Can’t Buy. It’s a great title and I’m sure there are very few people who would disagree with what it says. But while we may agree with that statement, most people continue to try to buy happiness every single day. Not only do a large number of people spend money trying to buy stuff they don’t need or oftentimes even use, many actually go into debt in the process. Others spend money so indiscriminately they might as well throw it out of a speeding car window. So, what’s the deal with money? And what are we searching for that we think money can buy?

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Using Earworms To Create A Happier Life!

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Meaningful, Sustainable

Happy SMART Day Everyone!

Earworms? Ewwwww! Just the thought of something creepy crawling around in your ear might send shivers down your spine. But whether you know it or not, there is a good chance that you have a bad case of earworms right now. And the earworms in your head are either creating a living heaven or a living hell on a regular basis. Isn’t it time you learned what they were and how they can help you live SMART 365?

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SMART Website for 10/24/11–Be Selfish, Be Generous–See Charity Focus.org

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Meaningful, Sustainable, Thankful

Happy SMART Day Everyone!

This week SMART Living 365 recommends two websites connected to each other. The first is CharityFocus.org—which encourages us to be “selfish” by being generous and kind to one another. The second sister-site is KarmaTube.org, which is a collection of inspiring videos accompanied by simple actions that everyone can take. These two sites run fully by volunteers, each attempt to put the statement made by Gandhi into practice when he said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

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Riding A Bike Turns A Chore Into An Adventure!

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Meaningful, Sustainable

Do you remember your first bike? That question was a big part of the presentation made by Dan Austin, author and founder of “88 Bikes” at the Palm Springs 4^th Annual Sustainability Celebration. The event, which featured an exhibit area of local green and sustainable businesses, groups and organizations focused on promoting another year of growing and learning about ways to improve our desert community. An exciting new piece of that puzzle would be an all valley bikeway from Palm Springs to the Salton Sea–a stretch of nearly 50 miles.

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Monday 10/10/11—KIVA.org Is A SMART Way To Help Others & Ourselves

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Meaningful, Sustainable

Happy SMART Day Everyone!

Did you know that one of the best ways to help yourself is to help others? Dozens of studies demonstrate that people who volunteer and aid others are themselves on the receiving end of both obvious and hidden benefits. That’s why this week we think it’s SMART to suggest one of our favorite “giving” websites—that website is Kiva.org. Do yourself a favor this week and help someone else. Kiva makes it easy. [Read more…]

Dear Costco—It’s Not SMART to Celebrate Christmas in September!

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Rightsized, Sustainable

Happy SMART Day Everyone!

How many of you have noticed that Costco and a couple of other big-box retailers have already set up their Christmas decorations—and September isn’t even over? That’s right, sometime during the month of September Costco began moving out the summer displays and setting up Christmas trees, neon-flashing Santa’s and boxes of wrapping paper, all designed to get you in the buying mood early this year. And while I’m normally a fan of Costco, I consider their Christmas push to be obscene. As a member of the “club,” this push is a great reminder that Costco’s, (and similar other retail store’s) primary agenda is not to serve customers—but instead to generate income. And that is something very SMART for each of us to remember. [Read more…]

Website of the Week—TED.com

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Meaningful, Sustainable

Happy SMART Day Everyone!

I’m taking a chance here that there are some of you who read SMART Living 365 who don’t already know about TED.com. But if you don’t, then it is definitely time you did. TED.com is mostly a website that posts videos of people who speak at TED conferences held annually around the world. The very best of those talks—called Ted Talks—are condensed versions. What is TED? TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. But a better way to think of TED is explained on their website where it says they are, “Ideas worth spreading. Or Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world.” How SMART is that?
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The New KISS—Keepin’ It Simple & Sustainable!

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Sustainable

A big part of living a SMART Life 365 is practicing simplicity and sustainability every single day. While the old KISS acronym is considered derogatory, let’s create a new KISS that is a daily reminder to arrange our life and circumstances in a positive way, make sustainable ongoing choices and habits, and develop a consciousness based on the SMART Living model. How do we do that? Let’s begin with the idea that is it fairly easy and that the payoff can be extraordinary. And guess what? The idea has been around for centuries. [Read more…]