Pushing Sixty, one day at a time!

  BRANT ROCK BEACH  When I think of Brant Rock Beach, I time travel fifty years. It is located south of Boston, on the bay side of Cape Cod. Nesting Brant gulls inspire its name.  During my childhood, my grandparents would often take my siblings, cousins and I there for a marvelous summer afternoon or even a whole day. We’d leave their house in Pembroke, Massachusetts, assigning the role of house security agent to Tinkerbell, their yippy Yorkshire terrier. Tinker expressed her disagreement with this role as we piled into two cars. “Yip, yip, yip!” Ten people filled the “yellow bird”, a big yellow Chrysler, and a nickname less blue Pontiac. Off we’d go. Twenty minutes or so later, the swamps outside the window announced the arrival of salty waters. Beach-related businesses, such as scuba shops and kite stores, dotted the routes and we asked if we could stop for ice cream. “Certainly not now, maybe at the end of the day,” was Nana’s response. In the parking lot, we’d ...

What kind of doublespeak is this? Less is more?!! What on earth could that be about? A hint: ecology. Ecologists tell us that we have too much waste. Reducing it is the first step toward a healthier planet, and therefore, healthier people. Freddy Schmid and Julie Garrigues, co-founders of “Less is More,” are not only trying to sell us beauty products, but to join a movement of conscientious consumers. Have you looked at the list on your shampoos and gels? What is often the first ingredient? Water, of course. Would you be surprised to learn that, on average, 5% of beauty products’ value is the active product, and the rest is water and packaging? Suppose you could buy a product where they cut out that waste and concentrated on value? With less waste, you have more of the active product. More value. Substance over appearance. I interviewed Freddy Schmid, the co-founder of Less is More, on a late April after morning in Paris. An unusually warm week, the timing was right to talk a...