GOING GREEN
Things You Need to Know
What Is It?
What exactly is green living? Really, it comes down to one basic
idea: the earth's resources need to be replenished at the same
rate that we're using them. That means caring for the
environment by taking steps to save it.
If you start to look at all the different kinds of resources we
have - fossil fuels, lands, wildlife, forests, oceans, and air -
you can see that everything is interconnected. Since that's true,
what we use today impacts what we have available for use in
the future.
Going green is about making different choices, choices that
will make us and our planet a better place now and for
generations in the future. We have a window of opportunity
that we can use to start healing and repairing and restoring
our ecosystems, from oceans and rivers to rain forests and
grasslands.
There is danger in reckless change; but greater danger in blind conservatism
- Henry George
Change is the price of survival.
- Winston Churchill
Why Is It Important?
Edgar Mitchell, an Apollo 14 astronaut, spoke about it this way:
" In the 20th century, we accelerated with the power of science
and technology into a non-sustainable civilization - our most
immediate threat is what we are doing to ourselves because of
our ignorance and unwillingness as nations and individuals to
confront the environmental problems. To confront the
excesses of our civilization, of nonrenewable resources and
pollution, threats of garbage piling up and our oceans being
polluted. The big problem... Is our consumption patterns; more
is better and money is the only real value that can make you
happy. We have to change our thinking patterns and our
approach to this if we are to survive."
Did you know that it took nature 100 million years to create
the energy that we as a world use today in one year? I'm sure
that you do know that asthma, cancer, and many other
diseases are more prevalent today than ever in history. Many
experts relate the increase in disease to the changes in our
environment.
Lucky for us, we do have time to begin to change our
environment. Each one of us needs to be responsible for the
choices we make. Each one of us decide things every day that
can have an impact on the entire planet. Many of these choices
we take for granted, such as driving to work instead of taking
mass transit, or buying packaged food instead of fresh or
organic. Decisions like this may seem minor to us, but they are
anything but minor, especially when multiplied by the billions
of people on this planet.
Living green can help restore the planet, and it can also help
you in many other ways:
• Saving money - We are in the habit of consuming much
more than we need. If we consume what we actually
need, whether it's electricity or water or clothes or some
other item, we will save money. Specific example? For
every 1° central heating is turned up, the bill increases
by 8%. Here’s another: Putting a water filled bottle in the
toilet tank decreases water consumption per flush by
30%.
• Community support - If we support the stores in our
community that foster green living, we help those
institutions stay profitable, we act in an environmentally
and socially responsible way, and we send a message to
less responsible companies that they need to change.
• Health benefits - If we live green through cycling or
walking more often instead of driving and through
making greener choices with the food we eat, it will
improve our health in every way.
Many people don't know how to begin living green, but it isn't
difficult at all. It's really a matter of making different choices
about the way you do things every day. By the end of this
book, you will have all the information you need to begin living
green in every area of your life.