SHOPAPOCALYPSE!?

Shopping is fun.

I remember living in the Czech Republic almost ten years ago and no one was shopping. There were lots of other fun things to do, like drinking, and going to concerts, but there was something essential missing from Prague's city streets. When I visited Paris during that same time, I felt the streets buzzing with activity, people going in and out of different stores, a variety of everything-fashion, cheese, avante garde furniture, whatever-tons of stuff we don't need. Now Czech people shop a lot at H&M, Tesco, McDonalds, and Starbucks :(

So, my feelings towards shopping is mixed. Shopping has serious consequences for the world. As an environmentalist, consumerism is one of the great evils. There are many other reasons to be wary of shopping fever, it costs a lot of $, $ we probably don't have. If you visit Reverend Billy's great website, you can enlighten yourself about the sins of shopping.

But what if you shop responsibly? For example, I recently turned 30 (hooray!!) and received my own seltzer maker from my parents. This may not sound that exciting, but I love bubbles but hate bottles, so this is a perfect gift and it reduces the amount of plastic in our waste stream. I also received a coffee maker from my husband, so that I would stop spending all of our money on stupidly expensive cappuccinos and using tons of coffee cups a day (although you should use your own mug). There are tons of gifts like these that you can buy at Green Depot located on Bowery and Prince. It's a great store. You can also check out Tree Hugger's Holiday Gift Guide for more ideas. Of course none of these stores or websites will have the best gift, and that's the gift you make yourself for someone you love.