Reduce – Reuse – Recycle
Aug 11th, 2009 by Naama
A profile article about a women who biked her way across America brought into my childhood, along with a relentless passion for traveling, the concept of packing light. That impressive lady explained how crucial it was for her success to have as little as possible to carry on her back. Every milligram mattered, so much so, that she even carved out the inside of her tooth brush.
Back then I was far too young to embark on my own adventure, but every trip I took, every class tour or family vacation turned into an opportunity to practice my packing skills. First I’d choose the smallest possible bag I could find, fill it with everything I needed and then remove about a third of the contents. Of course, what marks a truly gifted light packer is not the size of his bag but the fact that it contains everything he might need in the smallest possible pack. It is in fact, if you like, an exercise in minimalism, similar to writing a Haiku.
The funny thing is that this is it quite an addictive habit. After living happily on the road for months with just a small backpack you begin to wonder why it is that you need all of the stuff that is constantly cluttering your house. That is why my favorite part of the famous environmental slogan is “Reduce”,and there’s no better time than a financial crisis to reconsider the amounts we consume as individuals and as a society.
In this funny and informative video Toshio from IdealBite learns there are some major Eco-friendly advantages to losing his job:
