Go Green!

It’s done.  I’ve crossed the line and there’s no going back.  I’ve gone GREEN!!  For many of us this is still a relatively new term.  Just what does it mean to “Go Green”?

To me, it means being aware that I have a responsibility to help preserve the Earth and its resources.  It means making choices to do something every day, even if it’s something small, to make a positive difference in the environment in which I live.  It means changing some of my “bad” habits into habits that will benefit the planet as a whole.

I have always recycled, for as long as I can remember.  When I was a child my family collected, crushed, and recycled aluminum cans before it was even popular.  I’ve always felt that if something beneficial can be made out of something I’m going to throw away anyway, I might as well send it to the recycling facility rather than the dump.  Sometimes it is an inconvenience, especially when I’m not close to home and can’t find a recycle bin, but in these cases I just hold on to the item until I see a recycle bin or take it home with me.  It’s really not that difficult to do.

Even though recycling has been a part of my life since childhood, I have to admit that much of what I’ve learned about preserving the environment has been in the last 12 months.  Now I am always on the lookout for things I can do to help out.  For example, I recently purchased some of those eco-friendly shopping bags from my local grocery store.  I leave them in my trunk and make sure to carry them in with me when I do my grocery shopping.  I will never again use a plastic bag from the grocery store.  They clutter and poison our landfills (that is if they even get that far…how many times do you see these bags littering the roadway, a parking lot, or a local park?)  I hear that San Francisco has banned plastic bags from their stores and I hope the rest of the country follows suit.

I am also more conscious of the products I buy and the ingredients in them.  I want to make sure the cleaning products I use are non-toxic and the food I buy for my family is safe (and all-natural if at all possible).  If you’re looking for some great eco and earth-friendly products for your home click here.

I believe that most people understand the importance of helping the environment, but perhaps they just don’t know what they can do to help.  There are so many good resources on the internet which list hundreds of things we can do every day to help conserve energy and protect our natural resources.  There are some things that are easy to do and cost nothing, such as recycling your disposable plastic water bottles or keeping unnecessary lights off in the house .  Others might require more work (planting an organic garden) and might cost some money (installing solar panels on your home – although this actually saves you money in the long run), but they are all worth the effort.  In my opinion any thing you can do, whether it’s big or small, makes a difference.

If you’re still not sure what you can do to help the environment click here for some ideas to help you get started.  Or, if you’d like to take it a step further and learn more about gasoline and elecricity conservation, solar energy, or organic gardening, click here.