Why, Exactly.

Pretty much the same reason as everybody else. I like this earth thing we're spinning around on. And baby animals. And the study of genealogy.

I've spent the last couple of years trying to reduce the number of planets that show up at the end of my ecological footprint quiz. But I like designer jeans. A lot.

...And shoes. And handbags. And table dressings. When I started trying to use sustainability as a metric for my buying and living decisions, I found it was all these...things...that were the hardest habit to kick--and the place I was least likely to check content and origin labels.

I was--I am--addicted to buying. Not in a manic, FICO-plummeting sort of way, but in the everyday way so many Americans are. Most of us blessed with disposable income seem to think we "need" a whole lot of disposable stuff.

So in 2008, I want to see what truly conscious consumerism is like. I'll do my best to do without, and you can do your best not to laugh at me. Deal?