It is becoming increasingly more important to me to be "Green." Unlike Kermit the Frog used to sing, it IS easy to implement some small steps to becoming a greener person.
On Monday, I attended a talk held at my church by a guy who wrote a book for city planners for the post-carbon era. He shared some of the tactics cities like Portland have taken and shared the statistics that forecast an impending energy crisis with oil production dropping and consumption increasing.
Being Green has become a topic of conversation at my office, too. Since I moved here in August, they have added recycling bins for paper, plastic and aluminum, and we have scrap paper printers. (I go around turning off the lights in empty conference rooms, too!)
My sister Jennifer and her husband Anthony are inspirations to me in this area. They have their own compost, solar panels and wind generators. They recycle everything they can and have shared these values with their kids.
After Jennifer told me about a blogger's experience of carrying around the garbage she created for a 2-week period, I have become even more aware of what I throw away. The large piles of garbage bags that can be seen around NYC also serve as a reminder.
In addition to turning off lights when they're not needed and unplugging appliances, I've recently bought some handkerchiefs to reduce my tissue consumption and I now wash and reuse plastic water bottles, rather than purchasing bottled water. (Fortunately, NYC has some of the best tasting tap water in the country, and my apartment building is Culligan filtered.)
What do you do?
4 comments:
Good for you! I often feel like the difference I make is negated quickly by thoughtless people. But then I realize that I do make a difference by being an example. People around me see me making green choices, and then feel like they can make a few.
A few small changes at a time can amount to a sea change.
We had a neighbor just the other night knock on our door and had question after question regarding lowering their energy consumption. We began talking about more efficient air conditioners and ended up talking about benificial bugs. They really directed the conversation, and I was happy to impart the little I know about the subjects. They explained we all are going to have to be "environmentalists" or there will be drastic changes for our children and the way things are going, maybe even us. They said they came to us because of our obvious outward green appearance. I was glad to be an example.
Think globally, act locally.
We over here labeled as BIG OIL are noticably left out of the accolades in the green department. That's fine, but life is not black and white. Shades of gray. Happy to support the industry that provides the energy you need while we all look for ways to make a smaller footprint.
I swear my footprint is getting smaller too! I can't believe I wore those buckskin shoes to church this morning. They used to kill me and now in my 7th decade, they don't. What other wonders of old age can I tell you about?........ Nah, you probably wont believe me. But ask Nana.
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