Something struck me as I re-entered the U.S. this time around. I cannot pin point the change, but somewhere around the first chapter of Hot, Flat and Crowded and while grabbing one more bottled water, I became increasingly committed to living well on Earth - i.e. making my carbon footprint shrink in size. As a learner at heart, I usually focus on a particular subject and dive into it for a season. This seasons topic - going green. The environment and how to interact with it well has become my new study subject, and the subject of the majority of the eight library books stacked near my bed with bookmarks scattered through them.
In the last weeks we have started recycling at my house, cut energy consumption, driven fewer miles and begun buying fresh fruits and vegetables at local farmers markets instead of corporate groceries. These are small steps in my personal movement towards protecting the earth.
As I have jumped into the Green Scene, it has become increasingly difficult to not get bogged down with all that is amiss in the way we (Americans) shop, live, dispose, consume and erode. Thankfully, a few authors have made the way much more feasible by making it simple. In 50 Things You Can Do To Save the Earth, the Javna's present easy to remedy consumption issues and solutions that can be worked into almost any life. For example, number 13 in the book is Think Globally, Eat Locally. The goal: Support farmers in your area by eating locally grown food. Pretty simple, especially in the summer when the farmer's market is on every Saturday morning and there is nothing like Rocky Ford, Colorado cherries, anyway! Or number 40, The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea with a weekly challenge to not accumulate any more plastic bags - not even from newspaper delivery. (Go ahead, just try it.)
One of the sub-topics that have really interested me deals directly with consumerism - voting with your spending power. This is a huge deal in the U.S., and as I have already bucked the system with the career and education decisions I have made, why not jump into spending habits that may flow upstream, but will keep the steams flowing. If you want to know how much power there really is in being a mindful consumer, check out Big Green Purse by Diane MacEachern. In an organizational style I have loved, MacEachern has created a reference with has Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down sections, telling you what to use, where to shop and what to avoid. She also gives tips and alternatives to what is already being used and consumed to move you in the right direction.
The Green Movement may sometimes be frusturating and seemingly impossible to live up to, but stop holding your breath, there are ways to get on the boat and plenty of organic, biodegradable life rafts available - possibly even made out of corn.
1 comment:
I'm a fan of going green, but I also think we need to find some better alternatives to certain things. For instance, E85 fuel means that corn is produced for vehicular consumption. Farmland is used for our cars and not to grow food for us to eat. It can drive up the costs of food, partially by reducing availability. I think we're on the right track though in that we are at least beginning to think more collectively as a culture about preserving our environment. The next 20-50 years should hold some amazing innovations.
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