Cool! Start here!

[fudge stripe cookays]

To get everyone started shopping progressive, make sure to bookmark the following:

http://www.boycottbush.net/
http://www.fundrace.org
http://www.responsibleshopper.org/
http://www.opensecrets.org

And these threads:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=180&topic_id=6382&mesg_id=6382&page=

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=2600099&mesg_id=2600099

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=2587076

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2648691

And the newly-launched Progressive Pages, waiting for LOTS of input:
http://www.globalblogs.com/progressivepages/index.html
(I've been entering stuff for days, but I think Sapph has been a little busy!)

Glad to see everyone!
Welcome!
Now let's Starve the Best!

Fudge

[kayell]

1. Books and other printed resources

(Read them at the library, check with inter-library loan, borrow from a friend, check at used bookstores and library and literacy council book sales)

Some of my favorites:

How Much Is Enough?
The Consumer Society & The Future Of The Earth
By Alan Thein Durning

Walden
By Henry David Thoreau

A Reasonable Life: Toward a Simpler, Secure, More Humane Existence
by Ferenc Mate

Living More With Less
A Pattern For Living With Less…
By Doris Jantzen Longacre
There is a religious slant to this one (Mennonite) but the book is so GOOD, and such a classic, that it should not be overlooked.

Clutter Control
Putting Your Home On A Diet
By Jeff Campbell

Your Money Or Your Life
Transforming Your Relationship With Money & Achieving Financial Independence
By Joe Dominguez, Vicki Robin

The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World by John Robbins, et al

Fast Food Nation
by Eric Schlosser

[Lorien]

4. Hi Kayell

could you start a thread devoted to a reading list for Progressive living? I've got a few titles, and I know that others do as well; it would be nice to collect them all in one place.

Thanks!

:hi:

[Lorien]

2. Hi Fudge Striped Cookays!

Could you post a thread JUST devoted to Progressive Pages submissions here? I think it will keep the idea fresh in everyone's mind.

Thanks!

:hi:

[fudge stripe cookays]

7. Hi Jen of the gorgeous kitties....

Will do.

Fudge :hi:

[kayell]

3. Links to More Web Resources

http://hgic.clemson.edu/linksotherresources.htm#OTHER%20EXTENSION%20SERVICES
Links to your state Cooperative Extension Service
Info on growing it yourself, do it yourself pest control (look for the cultural control methods), home finances, cooking, preserving and food safety, environment, all kinds of great info.

http://www.attra.org/index.html
National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service

http://www.sustainabletable.org/home/index.html
Sustainable Table
This site is a wealth of information on food related issues. Among many other features on this page http://www.sustainabletable.org/shop/ there are links to Community Sponsored Agriculture, farmers markets, and food coops.
Part of the GRACE Factory Farm Project http://www.factoryfarm.org/

http://www.vegsource.com
One of the best things you can do to cut out supporting some serious environmental damage and human rights abuse is to go vegetarian.

http://www.earthday.net/footprint/index.asp
Take the ecological footprint quiz. Be prepared to be shocked. Try the quiz with different choices to see what changes you can make in your consumption patterns.

http://www.coopamerica.org/
If you have to buy something their green pages list 10,000 good places to start.

[StrongbadTehAwesome]

10. wow - that footprint quiz is disturbing

I thought I was doing really well in my answers, and I do have slightly less than half the footprint of the "average American" (11 vs. 24), but this...


WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 4.5 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE ACRES PER PERSON.

IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 2.4 PLANETS.

Yikes.


Edit: speling funetikly is bad.

[Lorien]

14. What's really scary

is that the population of America and elsewhere is EXPLODING. China's standard of living has shot up, so there's a billion souls who are ready to consume like Americans. I think the World Wildlife fund said that we have about 50 years worth of resources left, at CURRENT consumption rates!

[Lorien]

5. And don't forget all

their's lots of links to related threads within the thread links Fudge Stripped Cookays has posted! Lots of info there (hmmm..maybe we need some volunteers to sift through all that information and organize it...)

[kayell]

6. I'll go hunt down more books in the threads

[mom cat]

8. This is great. One sugestion. Turn down the heat. Mine is at 54 and

is moving towards 50. I have become used to it and feel fine. At the price of fuel oil, I don't have much choice.

[Lorien]

9. I'm in the same boat

I just got a small oil heater last year. I can keep the rest of the house at about 50, but my studio stays warm and toasty, so it doesn't seem so bad!

[sherilocks]

11. Do we have any home heating and cooling experts on board?

For instance, I use electric heating about two months of the year. My home is very well insulated, with a two zone system. Is it better to set the zones at 50 degress and use a space heater where I happen to be or to set the thermostats to one bearable temperature and forget it? I use natural sea-breeze air conditioning for about four months of the year. But the other six months are air-conditioning only. Is it better to set the A/C to one temperature and forget it, or to turn it off at night and open the windows, close the windows in the AM and turn the A/C back on? (In Florida, there is no choice, A/C is always on in July and August).

These questions may seem silly to some, but my electric rates are going up and heating and cooling are a large part of my budget.

[mom cat]

12. It is not a silly question. For air conditioning, I open the windows at

night, First thing in the morning (preferably before the sun rises) I close the windows and the shades and drapes. Old fashioned awnings help, but nothing beats a shade tree on the south side. when it starts getting too warm, I turn on a fan. I only turn on the AC when I really have to. This worked well for me when I lived in Houston. I have also learned a trick that a friend from Sweden taught me. Basically it boils down to dressing to acclimatize your body for the next season. For example, It is late fall now where I live in Boston. Everyone else is wearing heavy jackets and warm shoes. I am still going out in my Birkenstock's and no jacket By mid December, I put on a light jacket, but still wear my Berk's without socks unless there is ice on the ground. Then I use overshoes with tread. My the time hard winter comes, my body is ready roe it. When it dips below twenty, I put on socks and the down jacket. I then dress warmly through the late spring and am wearing a jacket when everyone else has shed theirs. That helps the body tolerate the coming heat much better. It took a while to get used to doing this, but I can now tolerate a greater temperature range than I ever could before. Maybe I am the one who is extreme, but I want to wean myself from most fuel intensive comforts and use fuel only when the temperatures are extreme.

[sherilocks]

15. Thanks for the advice

The idea that I particularly like is to close the windows before the sun comes up. I usually wait until I can't stand the humidity anymore and then I have to listen to the A/C go on for what seems like forever to get the temp down a few degrees.

I also use the " conditiong the body method" and it works well for me. I wait until the humidity reaches unendurable heights before I use the A/C at all in the late spring. In the winter, I don't use the heat until it is so cold, I can't get out of bed. At that point I do a lot of cooking and cleaning the oven and drying drapes and other things that I don't usually wash.

I still have to balance everything with the humidity which can literally peel the ceiling coating off. I also have to keep everything in the fridge or the freezer between the air conditioning season and the heating season. I guess I should be grateful that I don't have to buy fuel oil this winter and stop complaining.

[mom cat]

13. That makes so much sence. Why heat rooms that you are not using?