All right, confession time: As much as I [heart] being an earth-worshipping hippie, I can’t wait for March 1st. There are many, many things I’m going to keep up after completing this challenge, but for the first 24 hours after it’s finished, I’m planning on indulging in as many sins as possible: Public transit? Puh-lease — I’m renting a Hummer, driving to the corner store and back at least eight times, and refusing to carpool. Cook my own food? As if! It’s called delivery — and I want each and every one of my ethically corrupt California rolls to be individually packaged in Styrofoam.
OK, so that’s exaggerating somewhat. But I am hosting a big un-greening party (it’s doubling as a housewarming party), and that means sending out invitations. The irony, of course, is that I have to send these out while I’m still being green, which brings us to today’s post.
Now, back on Day 162, I promised to buy eco-friendly greeting cards, like the ones made from recycled paper with wildflower seeds embedded into them. That’s cute and all, but they are also expensive, and this is an UN-greening party, so it’s kind of inappropriate. In the end, I decided an electronic invite was the best way to go.
So recently, I created an event on good ol’ effbook, uploaded the above photo of me giving the finger to my stupid CFL bulbs (I freakin’ hate those things — and don’t even try to tell me about the kinds you can get with “soft” lighting because you clearly don’t know from lighting; fluorescent anything is inherently evil), entered in all the vitals and sent it off. Next up will be a straightforward e-vite for all the people who aren’t on my friend list, like my Mom (love ya, Mom, but you’re not allowed to read my wall).
In this day and age, everyone has an email address, or at the very least access to the Internet, so there’s no one I’ll be leaving out. And while I do think there’s something old-school and romantic about real, tangible invites to things, it’s not like this is my wedding day or anything — it’s just a house party (and although I can’t invite all you amazing readers, believe me, you’ll be there in spirit, reaming me out for the countless glasses of Veuve I’ll be downing).
January 16, 2008 at 2:08 pm |
You can actually incite non fbook friends to fbook events now. Just put in their emails addresses. Also, see:
http://valleywag.com/tech/web-apps/what-to-use-instead-of-evite-and-five-other-popular-but-terrible-websites-312169.php
January 16, 2008 at 2:08 pm |
and, uh, I meant invite, but I suppose you could incite them as well…
January 16, 2008 at 2:47 pm |
So you hate your CFLs? Have you heard of Fiber Optic Lighting powered by the sun? You should check out http://www.light-beam.net ! I heard about this company on Invention Nation, a new show on the Science Channel here in the states. Im not sure if you are allowed to watch TV or if you gave it up completely. If you are still watching television, this show is completely worth it as they show all of these extremelly eco-friendly projects that are done at both the home level but also on large scales to see what everyone can do if they just think about what their potential impact on the earth would be.
Also are you going to buy an I-TV from apple? It makes perfect sense for you, as you can just download all of your favorite movies without having to a) travel somewhere to get the product and the product isn’t manufactured so you don’t have to worry about DVDs and the plastic wrapping they come in, the distance they travel to reach you, or the assembly process. Its also a great excuse to make a fun purchase!
January 16, 2008 at 5:16 pm |
I did e-vites for my recent housewarming party too. Although I didn’t do those ones where you make people rsvp on a website–I just sent out a good old email and asked for replies.
One cool, newer thing I have noticed on those evite sites (or one of them?) is the ability for party goers to coordinate a carpool together. I thought that was cool and promising, although the functionality of that tool was NOT that great. Maybe you can blog about it sometime!
January 16, 2008 at 5:22 pm |
gawd your hands are small.
January 16, 2008 at 6:06 pm |
Even if it were your wedding, you could green your invites. My new hub and I sent out postcards (aka small bits o paper) and had people RSVP online at theknot.com. Some folks missed the many pointless pieces of tissue paper that come in a wedding invitation, but above all, people thought it was clever.
And, oh yes, we gave out CFL bulbs as our favor and our get-away car was biodiesel, but still no one flicked us off
.
January 16, 2008 at 6:12 pm |
Yeah yeah, Em, I know… one of these days I’m gonna get finger extensions or something
January 16, 2008 at 6:14 pm |
Ok, apparently I now know you’re disdain for CFL’s, but don’t they have some that have tinted glass? Tinted bulbs would somewhat eliminate that K-Mart department store glow that flourescent bulbs give off.
January 16, 2008 at 6:18 pm |
Also, if you are going to consider getting a car, just get a diesel. They can easily be converted to running off of grease. The oil/fuel is FREE and environmentally friendly! Just arrange a pickup time with the fast-food establishment of your choice. Best of all, your cars exhaust smells like french fries and not putrid deisel fumes.
January 17, 2008 at 3:54 am |
Hang in there Thistle. You’re soooo close. Green Idea: Put your nail clippings and hair from the hair brush into the compost! At least it’s something and you’ve accomplished so much that a little something can’t hurt:)