Thoughtful Hiatus

Dear Readers,

The Thoughtful Consumer is going to take a break from blogging.

This is my 115th blog post since the blog's inception on August 3, 2006.

I've written about everything from the small house movement to the effects of advertising on our consumer habits to the problems charities are facing in these difficult times.

While researching my posts, I’ve learned about guerrilla gardening, blood diamonds, the global water crisis and many other topics that I’ve found fascinating.

I’ve even been inspired to create the 365 Item Toss Uncluttering Challenge – and I am following through with it! [3/14 update: I'll report my progress periodically in the comments section of that post.]

I've thoroughly enjoyed sharing this blog with you and I want to thank you for the support you've given to it and to me. A special thank-you is due to those of you who subscribed and formed the core of my readership. All of your comments and e-mails have been greatly appreciated and have reassured me that the blog has served a useful purpose in your lives.

However, recently I’ve had to re-examine the ways in which I use my time. As regular readers know, I’ve been writing occasional radio essays for “Experience Talks” on KPFK-FM in Los Angeles/Santa Barbara. I’m now exploring further opportunities to write and produce for radio. I have other writing projects that I'm pursuing and artwork that I want to create. I’m also continuing to teach writing. There aren’t enough hours in the day for all of this!

So, because it’s important to me not to short-change the quality of "The Thoughtful Consumer" blog posts, I've reluctantly decided that it’s time to give blogging a rest.

If you’d like to be informed in the future about what I’m doing, please go to my website at http://www.cynthiafriedlob.com/. The "radio" page is updated whenever a new essay is scheduled for broadcast. I also have a "news" page on the website to let you know of any other interesting developments.

If you’d like to be added to my mailing list so that I can contact you directly, please e-mail me at cynthiafriedlob at yahoo dot com (that’s the “spam-bot avoider” version of my address!).

Thank you again for reading this blog. It's been a great experience writing it!

Best wishes,

Cynthia Friedlob

[3/14 update: I will continue to respond to comments on any of the blog posts, so please don't hesitate to share your thoughts. You can scroll down this page to see all of the previous posts listed by category. Please search through them and enjoy!]

Photo credit: Kirill Kurashov

Thoughtful Education

There are times when we may feel that the whole world has landed in a hand-basket and it's headed . . . south. The darkest of those times also may make us feel that we're powerless to do anything about it. Of course, that's wrong.

Margaret Mead said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Those of you who read this blog are part of that thoughtful group, a group which has gathered a sizable number of members over the years and continues to grow as we learn more about sustainable living.

For most of us, the first step we take as members of this group is unloading all the excess stuff we've acquired that we now realize we don't need. Recently there was an article in Real Simple online that provided a number of basic suggestions for places to donate used goods; it's worth a look in case you're not familiar with a few of the charities mentioned. I'm working on my own 365 Item Toss uncluttering challenge, so about once a week things get hauled away to be donated or trashed.

But sometimes cash is king, as they say on Wall Street (fewer people are left there to say much of anything now). And sometimes very little cash is all that's required to get very important things accomplished.

I'm particularly concerned about the horrible state of our school systems. Here in California, the situation is positively dire, but I know there are schools throughout our country that are insufficiently staffed and have few or no resources for students. This is ridiculous, in my mind. But in addition to us voting out the people who put such a low priority on education, there are many charities that give us an opportunity to help teachers and kids directly with small donations. Here are just a few:

Donors Choose

RAFT - Resource Area for Teaching

Adopt A Classroom

If you want to reach out internationally, investigate these charities:

One Laptop Per Child

The National Christina Foundation

Please click on these links to see what wonderful work these groups are doing. There are many other worthwhile organizations devoted to education, some undoubtedly in your local area.

We need well-educated children who will grow up understanding how to keep their life priorities straight, how to live in a global society, how to think creatively, how to be thoughtful consumers.

Then, in the future, maybe the world won't have to take another ride in the ol' hand-basket.

© 2009 Cynthia Friedlob
Photo credit: Steve Woods

Alternative Housing: Unusual Choices and Emergency Shelters

I've written in the past about small houses and alternative housing structures (see: Small House, Big Benefits; Prefab and Modular Housing: Solutions to the World's Housing Crisis?; and Alternative Housing: From Small to Quirky). Here's more information I'd like to share with you.

WebUrbanist has an eight-part series on "Crazy Houses" that includes a few small homes we've already seen along with others we haven't (rev: see credit below for photo at left). The series includes links to some "Crazy Condos" that are worth a look. A search through their architecture archives will turn up some outrageous homes of all sizes and shapes. Not all are suited for the socially and environmentally conscious builder or buyer, but it's always interesting to see extreme houses and take away the ideas that could work for the rest of us. The post on 16 Excellent Temporary Emergency Shelter Designs should be mandatory reading for any group or agency working on housing people after a natural disaster.

A post on Gizmodo features a five thousand dollar "paper" house that accommodates eight people in about 400 square feet. Nigeria and Angola have placed orders for the house. The blog refers to it as "the world's swankiest hobo pad" and many who commented made fun of the feature that allows for slaughtering animals on the veranda. Reading the comments revealed how little many people know of the housing needs in third world countries (and, sadly, in some rural parts of our own country).

But the concept of alternative housing goes beyond innovative design or unusual building materials. During this time of economic crisis, several generations of a family may end up living together; people may rent out rooms in their homes to get extra income; and some "planned communities" are now more appealing because of the extra emotional and financial support they offer. We'll explore these options further in another post.

© 2009 Cynthia Friedlob
Photo credit: Kriss Szkurlatowski
"Smallest house in the world, Wernigerode, Germany"