If last year brought the promise of change, I hope 2009 will see the wave of personal empowerment continue by benefiting the greater good. Whether in the name of sustainability or social entrepreneurship, making decisions that consider our planet and our communities can also have positive effects on our waistlines and wallets—plus they make for more enjoyable promises than the illusion of running ten miles a day. Unlike your resolutions of New Years past, some of these ideas for ’09 may even last beyond February 1.
I’ve taken the liberty of tweaking the U.S. Government’s list of popular American resolutions (yes, USA.gov really does list these) to make them more ’09 friendly. And while you may already feel like January is slipping away from you without much happening, doing your part feels pretty good once you get to it.
Be Book Smart, Help Others Read
Contrary to Steve Jobs’ recent comment about Americans not being interested in reading anymore, many people think books are still worth buying and spending time with, thank you very much. Purchasing novels and biographies from an outlet that works to encourage literacy and protect the environment, not just their profits, is a great way to change your one-click ordering habit on Amazon. Online retailer Better World Books sells new and used books to raise money for global literacy while also saving millions of books from the landfills. Reading John Wood’s autobiography Leaving Microsoft to Change the World about starting the organization Room to Read, which publishes children’s books in local languages around the world, is another good way to jumpstart externally aimed personal resolutions.
Turn Trash into Treasure
Composting food scraps and switching your incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) are cost-efficient ways to make your house or apartment easier on the earth. But what if someone actually rewarded you for your good deeds? Recycle Bank, a new award program that gives incentives for curbside recycling, aims to do just that. Once you sign up for an account online, the amount you recycle is recorded, and you start earning reward points from participating companies, including the natural skin care line Kiss My Face and organic yogurt producer, Stonyfield Farm. Helping myself by helping the earth never seemed so easy!
