Leslie Garrett

Leslie Garrett is an award-winning author, journalist and mother of three children who frequently send her to the mall in search of snow boots, underwear or whatever else they’ve outgrown. Tired of coming home with stress headaches, she began researching how to shop with a social and environmental conscience. Convinced she wasn’t alone in her desire to make smarter, more earth-friendly purchases, she developed The Virtuous Consumer, a syndicated column about socially and environmentally responsible choices, that appears regularly in newspapers throughout North America. Her book, The Virtuous Consumer: Your Essential Shopping Guide for a Better, Kinder, Healthier World (and one our kids will thank us for!) was released in July 2007. Leslie is the "green" correspondent for the A Channel's morning show and award-winning co-host of CHRW radio's "GreenWorld." She is a sought-after speaker who has presented at The Green Living Show, Cottage Life Show, Illinois Renewable Energy Fair, The GreenMom Show and many others. The Virtuous Traveler, her column about socially and environmentally responsible travel choices, appears on the website of NBC travel editor Peter Greenberg and in the Toronto Star. Visit Leslie at virtuousconsumer.com

Yellowstone National Park, of which I’m a huge fan, recently launched a really exciting venture. Its Mammoth Hot Springs General Store has been re-created as an interpretive center to educate the public about climate change and the implications of consumer purchases, recycling, conservation and more. The store’s products are identified accordingly as fair trade, organic, renewable, locally-made and so on. Consumers can then make their choice based on a true understanding of the product’s value.

Perhaps stillness comes naturally to some people. I, however, am not one.

Rudeness is on the increase, according to recent research revealed by the University of Florida management professor, Amir Erez. “People are experiencing rudeness more and more. It’s everywhere,” he said.

I hate fitness clubs. I hate the smell. I hate the zillion television sets. I hate the cost.

However, I love exercise. Not the 12-sets-of-10-reps kind of exercise, but the kind that makes me feel like a kid again. Riding my bike through the woods. Running along a river. Kicking a ball around in a field. Diving into a lake.

I’m not really a party pooper. I love cake. I adore Pin the Tail on the Donkey. I can even be cajoled into wearing a little pointy cardboard hat. But balloons? Grrr…

Why do I loathe balloons? An unfortunate “pop” in my childhood? A bizarre fear of brightly colored objects? A latex allergy?

As much as it pained me to admit, meditation was not changing my life. I’d been curious about it for years, imagining that I would magically morph from a Type A, prone to loud laughter and occasional drama, into an ethereal entity whose “problems” would dissolve in the face of age-old wisdom. I would wear long, flowy clothes and speak in a gentle whisper. I would never sweat. Or swear.

I always thought that a simple equation for living green was thus: Fake = bad; real = good. For example, fake food (Twinkies), bad; real food (apples), good. Simple, right? Turns out … not so much.

There comes a time in any mother’s trajectory when she can clearly look back and see when she lost her mind. My moment of insanity occurred last week. My six-year-old and I were enjoying a lovely morning outside — me poking around in my garden while she, bug bucket in hand, sought out toads or creepy crawlies to examine. I was mentally congratulating myself on my perennials, which (if I do say so myself) are looking quite spectacular.

Although green is the new black and the stereotype of environmentalists as the socks-and-sandals crowd is fading, many of us still don’t identify ourselves as environmentalists. We’re not going to abandon our style, and we don’t believe hip equals green for the average Jane.

But if you think about it, being a virtuous consumer can actually make you more beautiful — and not just on the inside.

When one of my editors for whom I write “The Virtuous Traveler,” my column on sustainable travel, asked me to visit Yellowstone National Park this past January, I was — how shall I say? — less than enthused. Surely, I suggested, they needed a story on Tahiti? Kenya? Lebanon?