Q & A with Diane MacEachern, Author of Big Green Purse: Use Your Spending Power to Create a Cleaner, Greener World

Diane MacEachern is a best-selling author, successful entrepreneur, sought-after public speaker, and long-time environmentalist.  She is the author of Big Green Purse: Use Your Spending Power to Create a Cleaner, Greener World, in which she shares her passion for empowering consumers -- to use their marketplace clout to protect the environment.

Diane's work has been featured in publications such as Glamour, InStyle, Plenty, Body and Soul,  Ladies' Home Journal, Reader's Digest, Good Housekeeping, and many more.

If you’re looking to be a little greener this year by way of your spending power – there’s no better person to learn from than Diane.
 

MindBodyGreen: Were you always passionate about eco-friendly living? Or did you have an a-ha moment? 

Diane MacEachern: My environmental awareness started when I was very young. I grew up in southeastern Michigan, and every fall, my father would take us into Ontario to watch the Canada geese migrate. When I got older, Michigan faced several environmental threats – in one case, all of our milk was contaminated by a fire retardant that the dairy cows had been fed instead of grain! My township was near the auto industry in Detroit, so for many years, we were warned about air pollution from manufacturing. All of these things contributed to my awareness that the planet was under siege, and, as a result, so were we!

MBG: Please tell us about the The Big Green Purse – why is the book’s message so important? 

DM: For almost 30 years before I wrote this book, my focus was on Capitol Hill. I worked with many organizations trying to pass legislation and regulations to protect the planet and our health. But it was a very frustrating process, since the companies we were trying to impact had so much money to defeat our campaigns. One day, it occurred to me that companies would always fight laws. But consumer spending is their lifeblood. If we use our consumer clout like a bright green carrot, we can motivate companies to reduce pollution, save energy, and protect endangered places and animals, and often make change happen very quickly. The purpose of Big Green Purse is to show people that the way we spend our money matters, and that we can use our money to protect ourselves and the planet.

MBG: Please tell us why the 7 principles are so important?  Could you elaborate on these principles? 

DM: The Big Green Purse Shopping Principles provide a framework so you can make an informed choice whether you’re familiar with a particular brand or not. They include actions like “Look for third party verification” of a product’s eco-claims. It’s meaningless if a company toots its own horn and brags about how green it is. But if a third party (like Green Seal or Sierra Club or TerraLogo) validates those claims, they’re more meaningful. Another principle recommends that consumers buy products with the fewest ingredients. Why? The fewer ingredients an item contains, the safer it is likely to be.

MBG: Does being greener relate to mind/body wellness?  

DM: For me, being greener has led to a simpler lifestyle that has given me more time to meditate, spend time outdoors, exercise and relax. I have greater peace of mind knowing I’m reducing the size of my environmental “footprint.” Plus, in this economy, going green is a great way to save money. Honestly, if I DON’T recycle, or save energy, or buy organic food, it sort of drives me crazy! 

MBG: What new companies or products are out there doing great things that we probably don’t know about yet…and we should know about? 

DM: The most wonderful innovations seem to be happening at a very small scale. Individual entrepreneurs are trying to green their own lives and as a result are creating changes that are being picked up all over the world. But one of the most promising new developments is in the expansion of something old:  farmers markets. It’s very exciting to see so many farmers markets cropping up all over the country. Given the negative impact industrial agriculture has had – from groundwater contamination to the loss of heirloom fruits and vegetables – the rise in farmers markets shines like a beacon in our very smoggy skies.


MBG: Are there any big companies out there that once got a bad rap that are trying to change? 

DM: Frito-Lay would be one! Whether you like their product or not, they’re making great strides to reduce the amount of energy they use, and they’re working with groups like TerraCycle to capture their waste snack packs and get them recycled. GE is another. They still have a lot of work to do cleaning the toxins up that they dumped in the Hudson River years ago. But their “eco-magination” campaign has led to the innovation of a lot of energy-saving products and helped motivate other Fortune 500 companies to do better.


MBG: Of all the Big Green Purse shopping categories – is one category ahead of the others?  Is one category way behind? 

DM: It’s so easy to say, “everything matters” and it does! For me, my priorities start with products that impact my health and the health of my family. I pay a lot of attention to what we put on our bodies, and what we put in our bodies. So I buy soap and lotion and shampoo free of parabens and phthalates and made from organic ingredients. We eat organic food. We avoid clothes and sheets that have been treated with fire retardants. We use fragrance-free cleaning products, and absolutely no aerosols. On a community level, I focus on saving energy, because in driving less, foregoing leaf blowers and gas powered lawn mowers, relying on energy-efficient appliances, and using mass transit, I hope protect the air and water.  When it comes to global issues, reducing climate change is at the top of the list. Again, I do my part to save energy. I have also cut meat consumption way back, since raising animals generates so much methane, a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

MBG: Spring is just around the corner.  Any tips? 

DM: How can anyone think of spring without thinking of gardening? If you haven’t done so before, make this the year you plant native plants, put in a butterfly garden, or start composting. Get your hands a little dirty! It will free your soul.

MBG: Who inspires you? 

DM: Nature is my primary source of inspiration: a spectacular sunset, a gorgeous beach. I’m always heartened by a powerful snowstorm that shuts everything down and sends the message: “See? I’m still in charge!” I’m absolutely giddy in the spring. Here in the Washington, D.C. area where I live, the first bulbs start blooming the end of January; the crocus come out in February; the early trees bloom in March; the cherry trees and Barlett pears flower in April…every new bloom makes me smile and gives me hope. That said, I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the brave work being done by so many activists to protect their communities. Those folks fighting mountain top removal in Appalachia?  They’re real heroes in my book.

MBG: Guilty Indulgence? 

DM: The New York Times. I still get it delivered in paper format, though I’m about to go to the electronic version. I love doing the crossword puzzles with pencil and paper, and curling up with a cup of tea on my sofa to read the news. I’ve bought a book of crossword puzzles so I can still do them offline, but I will just have to read the news electronically from now on.

MBG: Any predictions for 2010, 2015?  

DM: I hope we’ll see the rise of clearer environmental standards so companies have higher goals to aim for. I think even more eco-products will show up online and in stores. I think we’ll see more organic products in conventional supermarkets as consumers continue to show their preference for safe and healthy food. Nontoxic cleansers and personal care products are on the rise and will continue to compete successfully with the nasty stuff. What I’d really love is for people to embrace the steps they took to reduce consumption during the recession, and realize that simplicity is the key to satisfaction. 

MBG: If it was your Last Supper, what would your last meal be? Where would the meal be? Who would you like to be there (past/present/future)? 

DM: My last supper would be a savory vegetarian meal made primarily with organic ingredients from my local farmers market. It would start with a colorful salad that included at least three kinds of lettuce, heirloom tomatoes, small but juicy cucumbers, a variety of sweet peppers, plus a couple of loaves of crunchy homemade bread perfect for sopping up the balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing that would be left in the bottom of the bowl when every last bit of salad was eaten. It would be followed by a hot and bubbly ratatouille made from eggplant, more tomatoes and peppers, onions, and several kinds of zucchini and squash, and of course, more bread. Because I operate on the theory that there can never be too much dessert, this feast would also include apple crisp made from locally grown JonaGolds, a pear tart, a peach pie, and a fruit salad so we could have a little bit of all the other delicious fall fruits heaped in one bowl. Everything could be topped with ice cream made from the milk sold by the local dairy. I’d have my feast in September, so I can walk three blocks to my local farmer’s market to buy everything I need from farmers who’d harvested their crops the evening before they were sold. We’d eat on my back porch, which gives out on a variety of trees that are often filled with song birds. I’d be surrounded by my children, my sisters and brothers, my recently departed mother, my 92-year-old dad, my favorite Aunt, and my wonderful friends. I’d invite Mother Nature, too, who is a part of our past, present and future lives, and who is the only woman on Earth who can wear vines and leaves and look like a million bucks.

For more on Diane MacEachern and Big Green Purse:
BigGreenPurse.com

 
 

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