Sustainable Minimalists

Maintaining a balanced life isn’t effortless. It takes constant adjustment and re-adjustment to remain steady. The good news? When our health, wellness, or happiness feels a little off, the solution is often as simple as a few tweaks to our mostly-working routines. It pays to take time to re-focus on the basics, and that's what we're doing today. Here's a preview: [6:30] Are you a Toyota, or are y...

Big tech trains kids to become consumers from ... well, birth. Child-targeted marketing is cringe-worthy at best and unethical at worst. It also undermines our children's healthy development because it robs them of opportunities to play, imagine, and learn freely without manipulation. Today I speak with  Dr. Susan Linn  about the ways in which technology exploits children (and what we can do about...

The enviro-news you need to know for Friday May 12, 2023: [00:30] An Alberta wildfires update [2:00] Unplugged and offshore: The risks associated with 14,000 unplugged oil and gas wells in the Gulf [6:30] Renewable energy and 266,410 square miles [13:00] A sneak peek into our electric vehicle future   Join our (free!) community  here . Find your tribe. Sustainable Minimalists are on  Facebook,   I...

Are you consuming the news, or is the news consuming you? While it's certainly important to be informed, there's a line in the sand between being adequately informed and over-informed. For many of us, regularly crossing that line leads to negative health and wellness effects. On today's show: how to protect your headspace while also staying informed. Here's a preview: [3:00] 5 reasons why it's so...

From an early age we’re taught that personal fulfillment is dependent on both our accomplishments and our possessions. Yet despite advancing in our careers and overflowing our homes, many of us remain unsatisfied. What's missing? According to today's guest, we are far too concerned with living from the outside-in when we should be doing the opposite.  There is indeed a reality in which yearning fo...

The enviro-news you need to know for Friday May 5, 2023: [00:30] Dear gas stoves, Buh-bye! Love, New York [2:00] Move over, Arabica: Why Liberica excelsa coffee may soon be in your mug [5:00] Harnessing the knowledge of indigenous communities to curb global warming [11:00] The world's leaders are looking to solar geo-engineering for quick, easy warming wins. Here's why   Resources mentioned:  Epis...

Nonprofit organizations work tirelessly for the better good and they depend on donations from you and me to fund their programs. But giving is not equally distributed: in 2021, just 3% of all donation dollars went to environmental and animal welfare organizations ( source ). While we do indeed have the power to use every dollar we earn for change, giving can be confusing. There’s a massive differe...

In the name of convenience, manufacturers sold us the promise that their products make life easier. And while such gadgets, appliances, and electronics have indeed taken over much of the physical labor associated with living, they have also eliminated many of the core competencies that once grounded us, connected us, and made us whole. It's no surprise that many of us feel like something's missing...

The enviro-news you need to know for Friday April 28, 2023: [00:30] Allergies, pollen, and climate change [3:00] Fellow wine lovers, unite! Benefits to lighter bottles [5:00] Enviro-implications re: SpaceX's Starship launch [11:00] Everything you didn't know you wanted to know about nuclear energy   Join our (free!) community  here . Find your tribe. Sustainable Minimalists are on  Facebook,   Ins...

Low waste living sounds great in theory, but in practice? Thanks to life's obstacles, it's much harder to commit for the long-haul. Add children into the equation and intentionally creating less trash can feel like a daily, uphill slog. On today's show I speak with blogger and life coach  Rebekah Lara  about recommitting to your low waste goals despite waning motivation. Here's a preview: [3:30] A...

We all have habits we’d like to banish, and often we believe our success or failure comes down to discipline and willpower. But discipline and willpower don't tell the whole story, and that's because the brain doesn’t make changes easily. Breaking a bad habit CAN be done, and today's show is here to help. Today's content is specifically framed around a listener's question re: buying on impulse, bu...

Welcome to Living On Purpose week! Living on purpose isn't about changing who you are; it's about rising up and becoming the best version of you. But amidst the chaotic rush of our days it's easy to get caught up in the “doing”. And when we hyper-focus on doing, we often neglect the important and intentional act of reflection. Today best-selling author  Tanya Dalton  brings us both cutting-edge re...

The enviro-news you need to know for Friday April 14, 2023: [00:30] From 7% to 67%: The EPA's proposed new EV standards [3:30] The dirty electricity turning point is here [5:30] Buh-bye, lithium? The rise of sodium batteries [12:00] 22K gallons for your swimming pool   Resources mentioned: Episode #260: The White Gold Rush Episode #131: 5 Fact About The Global Water Crisis Join our (free!) communi...

We Americans are notorious for making our unwanted stuff someone else's problem. Part of the reason has to do with our desire to be altruistic: We tell ourselves we're helping the less fortunate when we pass on our perfectly decent items. But the reality is much bleaker: Both our recently-decluttered donations and our down-and-dirty trash create problems for the people and places that get stuck wi...

Our culture's messaging angles household labor as unimportant and uninspiring. And while work within the home is largely undervalued, the sad reality is that the chores, cooking, laundry, and everything else simply must get done.  Here's something that's not often discussed: there's a quiet joy to be found in tending to the home. Today I speak with podcaster and homemaker extraordinaire  Lisa Bass...

The enviro-news you need to know for Friday April 7, 2023: [00:30] Changing tornados and tornado seasons [4:00] Amazon.com and the problem with climate "pledges" [5:30] Paris's electric scooters problem [10:00] Big Oil in the Niger Delta   Join our (free!) community  here . Find your tribe. Sustainable Minimalists are on  Facebook,   Instagram  +  Youtube . Email me and say hello! MamaMinimalistBo...

Chances are we've all been influenced to buy something at least once before. But the rise of influencer marketing is a different beast that has fundamentally altered the way brands sell to consumers.  On today's show I suggest 5 ways to be influenced less.  Here's a preview of the tips we're discussing today: [13:00] Think of influencers not as friends but as salespeople [15:00] Look for these FTC...

After losing a loved one, deciding what to do with their possessions is a complicated process. We humans tend to attach sentiment to physical things; it's no surprise, then, that many of us find ourselves suffering over not just the loss of life but also over the perceived loss of memories embedded within their belongings. Today's conversation offers insight into decluttering through grief.  Krist...

The enviro-news you need to know for Friday March 31, 2023: [00:30] iPhone's new eco-feature [4:00] Bee brains [7:30] Kids v. Montana [12:00] Why is Duluth, Minnesota suddenly popular?    Join our (free!) community  here . Find your tribe. Sustainable Minimalists are on  Facebook,   Instagram  +  Youtube . Email me and say hello! MamaMinimalistBoston@gmail.com. Our Sponsors: * Thank you to LifeStr...

"I wish you would do an episode on TerraCycle . They have been in the news about not truly recycling the items they collect [and] their boxes are expensive. Am I wasting my money?"    Here's a preview: [3:30] The Number One difference between TerraCycle's sponsored waste program and zero waste boxes [7:00] Have you seen the that cool infinity logo on products? Here's what it means [13:30] What hap...

Furniture and decor trends can be tempting. But trends peak then inevitably decline; after just a few years, our choices re: side lamps, accent chairs and everything in between often become (gasp!) outdated. It's true: hopping on and off the trend bandwagon can leave us broke and wasteful. On today's show interior designer  Betsy Helmuth  first offers this spring's biggest decor trends, then toget...

The enviro-news you need to know for Friday, March 24, 2023: [00:30] Potential PFAS regulation? [3:30] The planet's enduring fever [8:30] 'Slow burn' television [12:00] We want what we want when we want it: Our love of off-season produce   Resource mentioned:  Episode #264: Forever Chemicals Join our (free!) community  here . Find your tribe. Sustainable Minimalists are on  Facebook,   Instagram  ...

Goody bags, Easter baskets, and other junk culture opportunities: Revisiting the cheap plastic toys conundrum. Here's a preview: [3:00] Everybody hates goody bags, so why are we still giving them? [8:00] The history of gifting: 4 reasons why humans are wired to give gifts [20:00] Words of encouragement for listeners reluctant to go against the grain [27:00] 5 things to consider re: hosting a no-pr...

Life is noisier, messier, and more complicated than ever. In our quest to keep up, we can try to do it all—with mixed results. Instead of life passively happening TO us, we each have the power to create the life we want to live. On today's show: A conversation with author  Elisabeth Sharp McKetta  about figuring out what matters most and hitting delete on what doesn’t.   Here's a preview: [7:00] B...

The enviro-news you need to know for Friday, March 17, 2023: [00:30] Lab-to-table dairy [4:00] Norfolk Southern's dioxin problem [7:45] A failed levee and aging infrastructure [12:00] Bumpy flights and climate change [14:30] Cooking oil jet fuel?   Join our (free!) community  here . Find your tribe. Sustainable Minimalists are on  Facebook,   Instagram  +  Youtube . Email me and say hello! MamaMin...