KeepGreenGoing

Many of you may have, like me, reached a point where you’ve become to feel more than a little bit inundated with green this, green that, mountains of green marketing and green buzzwords. What do we do with it all? How are we to delineate between when we are being sold a trend rather than embracing a truly positive green lifestyle? In this day of battery powered Mercedes, carbon offsetting, and fair trade organic everything, it can be tough. With that in mind I thought I might put my best effort into putting together a few simple rules to cut through what I have dubbed “Green Noise” and get back to what really matters, living a sustainable, respectful life.

Here we go:

Green Noise Reduction Principle One: Do it as simply as possible.

Do we need a Prius to reduce our travel related emissions? A $4000.00 washer and dryer to save energy around the house? Certified free trade organic meat and produce to green our diet? I offer that we don’t need any of these things in order to live a more sustainable earth honoring life. Instead of a Prius, how about pumping up the tires on your Schwinn you have sitting in the garage. Commit to biking to all destinations within 5 miles. Make working and living within biking distance a priority. Instead of taking out a loan for a new washer and dryer, try wearing your clothes until they need to be washed (undies and socks are the exception). Certified foods? Try talking to the vendors at your local farmer’s market. You’ll be surprised at how many smaller farms practice organic but can’t pay the outrageous fees to become certified by the USDA. Fair trade? Try locally grown. Your money is going directly to the hard working farmers that helped harvest that delicious corn or tomato you are enjoying.
What’s the point I’m trying to make here? I think you know. Treating the earth with respect and living more responsibly doesn’t take a tremendous amount of work. In fact, it can be simple… and it should be.

Green Noise Reduction Principle Two: Some is better than none.

This principle piggy backs on the first. Don’t let yourself be tricked into complacency by the many lofty and seemingly impossible green ideas out there. Do things simply and realize that even if you can’t afford to buy all new high efficiency bulbs for your home, you can still have an impact by dedicating yourself to always turn the lights out when you leave the room, or turning down the thermostat and donning a sweatshirt now and then.

Green Noise Reduction Principle Three: More is better than less.

Another piggy back. So you’ve got your Schwinn up and running? You’ve been riding to all destinations within 5 miles? Why not step it up to all destinations within 7 miles? 10 miles? All destinations? You finally got that raise? Why not invest in the high efficiency washer dryers so that after your clothes are sufficiently dirty you can wash them as responsibly as possible. The point being that a lot of green solutions are marketed to us and have the appearance of impossibility… that doesn’t make them impossible or any less useful; they may just be impossible for now.

Recap

Principle one: Do it as simply as possible. The idea: Green doesn’t necessarily have to be a new car; you can get pretty far with a new mindset.
Principle two: Some is better than none. The idea: Green is something that anyone can do by being proactive and becoming aware of their impact on the planet.
Principle three: More is better than less. The idea: Green can be incremental; if you’ve got one earth saving principle down why not add another. Baby steps add up.