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Downshifting causes a gradual slowing that over time and distance has a substantial effect. In 2008, our family of six has gone from two to one vehicle. This has been good for the environment by using less resources and creating less waste. It is good for our health by forcing us to walk for trips under a mile and a half. It's amazing how much of your neighborhood you miss when you drive past it every day. Foregoing that extra car is also good for our household economy. You'd be amazed at how much it really costs to run a car! What about when we really need that extra car? We have a Zipcar membership that comes in handy in those crunch times. The change was, of course, noticed immediately, but the benefits have taken time to surface. But as time goes on and we are farther away from two-car dependency, we are noticing many improvements in our lives. We're glad we did it and the downsizing of our transportation fleet is creating a paradigm for other downshifting in our family's life.

It's interesting that "going green" is becoming such a trend, but it's a great trend! I applaud WFM for taking it steps further and offering sustainable business resources, compost, etc. I'm in north Tarrant County so I don't get to WFM often...ready to take a trip this weekend to check out the new initiatives...and get some of those bright colored reusable bags! Keep up the great work! Happy Earth Day, April 22!

One easy way I've learned to cut back on emissions and gas use (and tickets!) is to downshift -- literally. Cut your speed back to the speed limit (which is, after all, supposed to be the maximum, not the minimum speed!). Driving friendly--not racing around slower vehicles or sudden braking and accelerating, saves more than nerves. It's greener, safer, and more civil!

To downshift we have taken to raising a couple of fiber animals. One is an angora goat and the other a sheep. We hand process the fiber ourselves and hand card it and hand spin it, and hand knit it. So we only get sweaters from the wool they give us. This means having less clothing but they are done in classic styles, they are made well and last a long time, there is an appreciation of the animal that helps us, and because the family spends so much time from start to finish to get the sweater I find my family takes real good care of the sweaters. Knowing it will be another year before they can get another one.

My husband and I recently switched to BioBags for our dog's waste. We just couldn't stand the idea of throwing away a non-biodegradable plastic bag just to collect her waste! We are also really big on using our own canvas bags for grocery shopping... even if the bagger gives me a dirty look, I don't care! Not going to use those plastic bags anymore!

For a while now I have been working on "downshifting", by listening more, speaking less and moving slower. So often life is run on automatic and when on automatic I act without thinking and end up acquiring that which is not recyclable, healthy or productive (especially so if I have to make a repeat trip to return). I found by practicing "downshifting" I am less stressed and sleep soundly ...who would have thought! DL

Downshifting Rocks! when I go grocery shopping,I always take my Whole Foods Market reuseable bags no matter what store i'm in.I think that it's taking other stores to long to catch on so i'll just help them out,and it's great advertisement to.

I'm very impressed. However, I have a very simple suggestion: just teach your employees to pack 10 items in 1 bag instead of 2. Also, anything that has a handle, e.g. milk gallons does not need to put in a bag! Every time I go shopping, I try to bag my items myself. I also have no problem rebagging my items and give some of the bags back to the cashier.

Aside from the canvas bag, the wax paper bag supplies and the great organic selection, thanks to WFM I never use plastic water bottles anymore, only my SIGG. Great display of SIGG aluminum bottles, even my 5 yr old has one. It takes more time to think ahead, but well worth less plastic on this earth. Going green may take more of our energy, but it will save Earth's in the long run. Keep up the great leadership WFM.

Hooray for Green Girl! I, too, have been trying to get the office I am currently working in to think greener, but it is taking a while to catch on. I am trying to recycle as much as possible and to that end have found three addresses that I would like to share with the readers of this blog. The first is The Printer Ink Warehouse at http://www.ink-refills-ink.com/. This company not only sells very reasonably priced printer and toner ink cartridges, but also takes back any printer or toner cartridges, even brands it does not carry or cartridges not bought from it. It will send you prepaid shipping labels that you can affix to your box of cartridges and have the delivery service pick up, if you like. The second is The CD Recycling Center of America at http://www.cdrecyclingcenter.com/. This company will take CDs and DVDs for recycling. All you need do is package the items and send them to the company. A third is DuPont at http://envelopes.tyvek.com/en/science/versitile/vers_recycle.shtml. DuPont will take back Tyvek products. The Tyvek product I am trying to recycle in particular is the envelopes made of this material. My community recycling and the grocery store will not take them, but DuPont will. The shipping instructions are on the Web site. Number 5 plastics are also not wanted in most community recycling programs. However, Stonyfield Farm (10 Burton Drive,Londonderry, NH 03053) and Brown Cow (Brown Cow Farm Cup Recycling, 3810 Delta Fair Blvd., Antioch, CA 94509) take back their own yogurt containers and send you coupons for free products if you send these containers to them. The value of the coupons covers the majority of the cost of the postage. Hope this helps you make your year greener.

We have two family lop eared bunnies in our backyard in a pen. We injoy giving them some of the veggies they love instead of composting it all. The children injoy spending time petting and caring for them. As a family, we spend more time together at home because our backyard is our cottage, so we are spending less energy driving north for the weekends. Signed Backyard Cottagers.

Going Green is something that I believe in wholeheartedly. I recycle everything and as a result, only take my hgarbage can to the street once a month. I am the office manager for a new dr's office, and thought we should 'Go Green' in the construction, set-up and daily running of the office. The dr agreed. Now, the build-out is using renewable or recycled materials, the computer system is COMPLETELY paperless and what little paper pts need for receipts, etc will be recycled. The coffee bar will use organically grown coffee and all the cups will be ceramic. We have found that while the budget may be slightly higher in the beginning, we will actually save quite a bit in the long run ... just as good habits are good for your personal health, going green is good for your Mother's (Earth's) health!