Growing up, I could never figure out why my parents couldn’t “keep up” with the junk and crap strewn all over the house. As a parent myself, I feel I have done a fairly good job up to this point of maintaining order in my home. The key in that last sentence is “up to this point.” Perhaps it is because the kids are older, life is busier, and spending time with the kids takes priority.
Oh, and then there is the real junk – junk mail. All of that paper – solicitations, catalogs, bulk mail, advertisements, etc., etc., etc., takes up so much space in my mailbox, on my kitchen table, on my desk waiting to be opened just in case it is not junk, and in my life dealing with it all.
According to the Every Monday Matters book, “people will spend 8 months of their lives opening junk mail.” Wow, that irritates me. There is soooo much I’d rather be doing. Sleeping for one.
“100 million trees are needed to produce the annual supply of bulk mail – that’s the equivalent of deforesting the entire Rocky Mountain National Park every four months.” Shocking. I’d offer up other alternatives, but I, and most people I know, have blocked unsolicited junk phone calls, and I am already inundated, marking, and filtering out email spam, so I really have nothing to offer. No junk to offer. How apropos.
What can you do to help save 8 months of your life and quite possibly the rain forests? Ask the companies sending you junk mail to remove your name – this does involve a phone call so make sure your phone number is blocked so you don’t set yourself up for a round of unwanted calls. Write, “Please do not rent or sell my name” anytime you fill ANYTHING out. Contact the credit bureaus and Direct Marketing Associations’ Mail Preference Service and have your name and address removed.
Wouldn’t it be nice to actually discover and open a heartfelt, hand written letter meant just and only for you the next time you visited your mail box? Old fashioned, perhaps, but it is a little thrill these days and I’ll take whatever I can get.
Admittedly, I have been very nervous about getting my first DWP bill since the mandatory conservation rates and cut backs went into effect June 1st. Going from not thinking about my water usage to being inundated with information on what, when, where and how I should be using it caused a huge shift in my perception of this finite resource.
The little blue box with a white ribbon has been a favorite iconic reference among my women friends since I entered adulthood (17? 18?). That a Tiffany diamond would someday be inside of it was always a natural extension of the fantasy. What wasn’t part of the fantasy, but should be known by everyone, is that of all their well-known designs, Tiffany & Co. considers sustainability their most important design element. 
I had the pleasure of attending the Black Card Circle Speaker Series featuring Tiffany & Co and their own Century City store. My boyfriend, Michael, squirmed when, after a glass of wine and few delicious hors d’oeuvres, I meandered over to the diamond ring display case and was met by Jessica, a knowledgeable Tiffany’s associate who takes her diamonds very seriously. She presented me with an array of gloriously gleaming diamond rings in nearly every cut, size and style. And while all Michael could see was the down payment on a house, I indulged in and enjoyed the elusive Tiffany fantasy once again.
I am embarrassed to say that these benefits of being a Tiffany & Co. customer were previously unknown to me. But from this moment on, it will no longer be just about the little blue box (which, by the way, is made from Forest Stewardship Council certified forests). This level of environmental consciousness is being brought to the forefront in all aspect of our lives – from our land to our water, and now to our diamonds, precious metals and precious gemstones – all of which are finite resources. Tiffany & Co. is showing the world how to respect those resources of nature and still create a timeless, tangible sentiment that will take your breath away when presented in that famous, sustainable, blue box (which will, of course, be properly reused and recycled in the hands of this now enlightened Tiffany customer).
As we get to the end of the Jacaranda’s blooming season, I realize I will miss the way my garden looks bathed in small purple flowers. I will miss the cool breezes of spring and the gloom of June. I will miss what was, but I look forward to all that will be.
As if the economic recession has not dried up enough green (money) in Los Angeles, we are now being hit with more cutbacks that will dry up the entire city due to our wastefulness – this month it’s water that’s being cut back. Last month it was our public school teachers and essential school programs. The water recession, err drought, has caused mandatory water conservation (cut backs) to go into effect, as of today, June 1st. We have been sprinkled and drenched with information on this subject by the city, but the subject of our school crisis has been left out to dry.