Being green is no longer synonymous with patchwork pants, a lack of hygiene, and churning your own butter.
Today, being green means choosing a fuel efficient car, perhaps
installing solar panels or a solar water heater in your home, recycling
your aluminum, glass, paper and toys – and being a more mindful
consumer.
We at Live Green, Live Smart believe in practicing what we preach,
so I am going to make myself greener. My goal is to demonstrate that
being green can be done – and that it doesn’t have to interrupt your
life, but can enhance it. As a recent college graduate, I know green is the future. Now it's my turn to take responsibility for that future.
I suppose first of all I should mention a few things that I already
do on behalf of basic green-ness. I already walk or bike to work when
weather permits, and I am already a vegetarian (for nearly 13 years
now, in fact) who tries to eat locally and seasonally – and, since I
live in wintery Minnesota, this is not as easy as it may sound to a
Californian or Floridian.
But I still have to drive, since I
live and work in a suburban area hemmed in by freeways. And I still
live indoors and like to be warm enough and cool enough, and I love
great clothes and adore travel. So I'm not going back to threadbare griminess and I'm not willing to never leave my suburban haven. But I can add something more every
week to my green attitude, and I am starting now.
I’m going to
change three incandescent bulbs in my home to compact fluorescents.
These bulbs will cost three to four times what the cheap conventional
bulbs cost when I take them through the check-out – but I will save in
electrical rates, reduce the carbon my energy use tosses into the
atmosphere, reduce waste because the bulbs last a year longer than the
ones I’m replacing – and I will set a good example.
I feel greener already. Now, for the real work (and fun) of getting greener.