Weekend Hippie: Sustainable and Simple Living

Upcycling: May Madness in Montecito

 

Give mother earth a break: upcycle something old into something new to you.

Santa Barbara's biggest Flea Market -- held annually during the first weekend in May -- gives you the chance to upcycle everything from art to clothes to goods of all sort. Held in Montecito (5 minute drive from Santa Barbara) at the Music Academy of the West, May Madness features clothes, furniture, art, kitchen wares.... well you name it, its there at rock bottom prices.  While rummaging don't forget to check out the Treasure House -- filled with antiques and fine collectibles.

1% Percent for the Planet: The Weekend Hippie Way

 

One Percent for the Planet: The Weekend Hippie Way

When I conceptualized Weekend Hippie it was Yvon Chouinard’s 1% for the Planet model I had in mind, but on an individual scale. If my friends, and family, and distant friends, and future friends and supporters of Weekend Hippie could just give 1% of their time….it could really make a difference for them, and for mother earth.

When Chouinard hatched his brilliant idea, 1% For The Planet, in 2002, he asked corporations and non-profits to give 1% of their annual sales to environmental groups around the world. Just 1% was all he asked. Years later we can see how it has all added up: Chouinard’s 1% for the Planet now has nearly 1300 hundred business members worldwide that give 1% of their annual sales to just under 2000 environmental groups.  One percent can make a difference.

And that’s how you can be a Weekend Hippie.  Dedicate just 1% of your time, your life, to making a difference.  Go ahead, make a small statement—change your light bulbs, wear TOMS shoes, give a micro loan to a Kiva entrepreneur, travel eco-mindfully, shop at your local farmers’ market, pick-up Patagonia clothes made from recycled plastic or an organic cotton t-shirt from Weekend Hippie!  It works.  Each small statement adds up… It is not important what you do: just do!

Want to join Chouinard’s 1% for the Planet, here’s how you can help.

Own a business? Start giving 1% today.

Work for a nonprofit? You can give too, find out how.

A consumer?
Search 1% Members, and shop where it matters:

Search businesses.  Search nonprofits

For you—and your friends, and their friends—that 1% will add up pretty quickly, and eventually you’ll find yourself living the Weekend Hippie lifestyle not just 1% of the time, but 100%.  The Weekend Hippie way!

Upcycle: The Weekend Hippie Way

Antique Pharmacy Jar: Now Holds Sea Glass as an Art Piece

Moving on Up. Give Throwaways a Second Life

Old to New. Take your well-worn, destined for the dumpster discards, and give them a second life. Transform an item’s colorful history, its varied back-story, its one of a kind persona into a masterpiece—whole or by parts. Save it from a long life at the land ill.  Upcycle It!

Coined by William McDonaugh and Michael Braugart in their book, “Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things”, upcycling in the simplest terms is taking something that is disposable and transforming it into something new. It’s a sustainable practice that should happen weekly, if not daily. But what does it mean to you—to me—in our daily lives. How do we upcycle? How to we practice cradle to cradle to make a more sustainable future. Follow these simple tips:

Buy Upcycled Items

You won’t find what you need in your local Home Depot (you shouldn’t shop at Big Boxes anyway), so you’ll have to expend a little elbow grease to find a short list of upcycled items. But it’s worth the hunt from both a utilitarian perspective as well as the evolving the back-story of your new find. Before you purchase an item, look for an item that is equal in functionality but created from the parts of something old.