Cool places to discover: Ekoplaza, the plastic-free aisle in Amsterdam

Ekoplaza is a Dutch organic supermarket, located in Amsterdam and soon in The Hague as well, where customers can find plenty of plastic-free goods packaged in glass, metal containers, cardboard, and other compostable biomaterials. 

It sounds like a very good shopping solution for every person interested in ethical consumerism, minimalism, downsizing, and environmentally friendly stores.

If you are in Amsterdam, check it out and feel free to let me know what you think!

Tags: Ekoplaza, Plastic-free aisle, Shopping, Amsterdam, Minimalism

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Why decluttering one's life, one day at the time, could be the most important thing you will ever do - Introduction 

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Where to start, if you are new

Why decluttering one's life, one day at the time, could be the most important thing you will ever do - Part 2. Minimalist living - How this shapes my life every day (#5.-6.)

In the previous post of this Minimalism series, I explained how long-term shopping, meaningful spending, decluttering and downsizing add value to my life, one day at the time.
Here you can find two further elements that define what minimalist living is for me:

#5. Eating nurturing food of good quality on a daily basis. 
Whole foods, paleo diet, low carb, high carb, ketogenic diet, traditional cuisine, halal, kosher, your grandmother's recipes book...

The mileage may vary depending on someone's age, physical and health conditions, geographical area, blood type, religious or spiritual belief system.
In my opinion, every person should go for food that helps them to feel happy, fit and able to deal with their activities and with their lives in the best way possible. What works for someone could not work for someone else.

[Saisonal, fresh and tasty ingredients, 

perfect for a yummy salad bowl

Image credit: ISO Republic]

To me, this means:

'Euro-leaf'? It's a Veg Logo!

From July 2010, according with European Union's Law n.271/2010, all pre-packed organic food produced in any of the EU member States who comply with the necessary standards, will display a new Logo, 'Euro-leaf', created by German Design student Dusan Milenkovic and voted in a online competition promoted by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development.

The new Logo will be optional for imported items and it will be allowed to display pre-existing national Logos for organic food next to 'Euro-leaf'.

But for me, the most important thing is that 'Euro-leaf' is basically a 'Veg' Logo: in it, the European Union takes shape of a leaf, or to be more precise of something that is green, absolutely vegetable and, above all, environmentally friendly and ethical.

'Avatar' by James Cameron (USA/UK, 2009)

Only a 'visual genius' like James Cameron could entertain the biggest audience of the cinema history for almost three hours with a beautiful, poetic, cinematic and really touching metaphor about politics, genocide, pollution and endless greed: in fact, absolutely powerful and tragic topics but not popular at all, not able to upset a crowd. Until now.

Over and above the past (the genocide of Native American, to give an example...), if we talk only about the present, our present, it's happening right now in every corner of the world something very similar to what happens in the movie and we don't have a second planet that we can colonize, destroy, devastate. But 99% of people simply don't want to think about it, they refuse to consider or to believe it.

They refuse to consider that they're involved, in something like this. During the projection, I simply could not stop to think about Amazonia. It was impossible, for me.

Avatar is visually perfect, full of cinematic quotes - from Werner Herzog to Stanley Kubrick, from Clint Eastwood to Francis Ford Coppola, from Peter Jackson to Jean-Pierre Jeunet, from Mel Gibson to George Lucas, from John Boorman to Cameron itself, with his 'Alien's' saga chapter, and so on... - and it's a kind of movie that you have to watch for the first time on a big screen, definitely in 3D, in original version if possible.

Update: 
Have a look at the comic by The Oatmeal Avatar: How to choose a Banshee

Tags: Avatar, James Cameron, Directors, Amazonia, genocide, pollution, metaphors

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