Robyn Landis

Eco-Shopper Robyn Landis has many interests and vocations. They overlap on the topic of enjoying life while living with integrity in a healthy and sustainable manner. Whether with food, medicine or material consumption, she is a living example of how taking care of ourselves and the earth need not mean deprivation, scarcity and hardship. In fact, just the opposite. In words and deeds, Robyn strives to show the natural marriage of simplicity and satisfaction.

Robyn is the best-selling author of BodyFueling and Herbal Defense--written when she was in her late twenties, and still in print 12 years later--and many articles on natural healing and nutrition. In her life, Robyn devotes much energy to encouraging and teaching others to live and consume sustainably, environmentally, intentionally and consciously. She writes and calls her Congresspeople regularly, gets letters to the editor and op-eds published routinely, and has typically given 2% of her annual pay to nonprofits of her choice. She maintains websites, volunteers with activist organizations, and is a powerful and convincing role model of health, fitness, and integrity.

While she is well-read and well-versed on a diverse range of issues--including those relating to the environment, animal welfare, natural resources, peace and social justice, natural health, fair trade, organic agriculture, alternative energy, ecology, land preservation, art/music, progressive politics, and social services--she has a special passion for the concept of “voting with your dollars” and the power of the individual to shape a better world through conscious spending. After years of expressing this personally as a lifestyle, andsupporting others informally, she has turned this passion into a service she hopes will eventually make a significant impact on Western consumption.

"The Eco-Shopper is meaningful and gratifying work that directly reflects my goals and values, where I can use my considerable skills to have an impact on issues I care about deeply. Helping other people express their values is a way of expressing mine.
"My desire to support people both in consuming less and in consuming smart stems from an abiding passion and compassion for the environment and for all sentient beings; an impulse to protect people and animals alike from needless harm; and a vision that our children and their children can inherit a safe and viable planet--something that current mainstream habits cannot ensure.

"I get joy from helping people shop this way. I love sharing these possibilities--making people aware of options they didn’t know existed and of the urgent importance of making better choices. If I can be the conduit for people to choose delightful natural and healthy products, I will be doing work that brings me joy and that contributes to peace, health, and social and environmental justice."

Robyn has been "eco-shopping" for many years as a way of life for herself, and as a challenge --"I’m known among friends as the go-to person for anything 'eco.' My favorite question is 'Hey, do you know where to find a…?' And I do. While others loathe searching, I take delight in finding items like these. And I’ve been doing it for so long, I have a depth of knowledge and a wealth of resources at my fingertips. I know my way around that arena."

In December 2004, Robyn's well-loved annual free Guide "50 Eco-Shopping Ideas for the Holidays" was excerpted on the Center for A New American Dream website. In 2005, the same Guide won PETA's "You Did It!' Activism contest, as mentioned in their Fall 2005 Issue of Animal Times.

Robyn's diverse professional life has made use of many talents. As a performing musician and songwriter, she literally uses her voice as an instrument of change as well as entertainment. Her acoustic folk duo Short & Sweet won many accolades for songwriting in the 2005, the first year of its first CD. For example, her song While Trees Fall--an eco-political expression of anger and sorrow--won first prize in the William Robert Abate Songwriting Competition in 2005. This contest, in conjunction with the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, awards songs that promote peace, love, community, and/or speak out against violence, war or hate, and only one winner is chosen in each category.

Robyn also has 22 years of experience writing, designing, editing and managing publications. She was a public information officer for the consumer advocacy division of a state agency, a freelance writer and journalist, a health workshop educator, senior writer for a public affairs firm, and public relations manager for a large corporation. She shines at distilling complex concepts for lay readers and listeners, and excels at writing to inform and to inspire.

But no "work" brings her more pleasure than surprising and delighting someone by helping them find and replace an earth-UNfriendly item with a better, cooler, and more sustainable one. One person at a time, one item at a time, she believes this can change the way America shops and thinks about consuming. And THAT really could change--and perhaps save--the world. She hopes to play a small but crucial role in that consumer shift.

Many would say that, in her little corner of the world, she already has.

CONTACT The EcoShopper!