As our famous amphibian friend says, "It ain't easy being green." It takes time, effort and dedication to establish a way of life that will help promote well being for everyone on the planet. But is it oh-so-ever-worth it.
In today's world, I know I can't do everything, but I do what I can to contribute to a healthy environment, not only for our local community, but for our global community as well. Whatever we can do at home benefits everyone. There are little things that you can do that will make a tremendous difference. Like recycling. We have specific containers and fill them with paper, cardboard, cans, plastic and whatever else can be recyled and once a week take them to the local recyclling center. Yes, it takes time out of our busy schedule, but helping one another is what its all about, yes?
You can start out small (or all at once if you are inclined and inspired), to convert your lifestyle to one that will benefit and help all beings and future generations. We must leave our children a healthy legacy to continue the cycle of life.
To make a positive impact on the environment, you can start out by shutting down and unplugging all electronics when not in use, wash your clothes in hot water, recycle, use refurbished electronics (you can often find these at incredible prices), swap CD's and DVD's with your friends or a business that swaps CD's, DVD's and books, start using reuseable shopping bags instead of plastic or paper, and use energy saving light bulbs. If you don't think changing your light bulbs will make a difference, consider this: If everyone changed just ONE light bulb in their home to the more energy efficient ones, it would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes a year resulting in a savings of 600 million dollars a year in energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.
Other ways we have added to our green lifestyle are using environmentally friendly cleaning products, starting a compost pile for our organic garden, setting the thermostat lower, and instead of buying bottled water, we have installed a really good water filter in our home.
There are so very many ways one can contribute to the health and well being to our beautiful planet. There is an old saying that goes, "Sayin ain't doin." We can talk about going green all day long, but until we actually do something, even if it is a tiny step, it doesn't really do much good, does it?
Being green to me means keeping our planet healthy and beautiful for the benefit of all beings and future generations. It means creating an environment where all can grow spiritually, emotionally and physically healthy - loving, living, and being happy - the way it was meant to be. A healthy environment means a healthy and happy soul.
What does being green mean to you? Please leave your comments so as to benefit and help others in this ongoing effort to help our planet and one another.
