One misconception that many people have about green living is that it is a lifestyle of deprivation. They picture someone who is eco friendly as a hermit living out in the middle of the woods, subsisting on wild berries and using local leaves as toilet paper (while compositing their resulting waste of course).
Green living isn’t about deprivation or a reversion to pre-industrial times. Rather is is a way of living responsibly and doing things differently in order to make our planet sustainable.
Sometime you can follow a green lifestyle by following basic green living principals, such as shutting off lights when not in use, recycling, buying locally grown and made products. Other times, green living may require a little bit more innovation, such as repurposing something that you already own instead of buying something new, or hanging your wash when you live in a small apartment in the middle of a city.
Be proud to be different, especially when you have a worthy cause behind you. And go ahead and get innovative. The next time you are considering consuming or discarding something, think about how you can do things differently either to create less of an impact on our environment, or to actually improve it.
Inspiring others to go green is a noble calling, too. Community outreach is wonderful, but you could also start with a good friend or two.
Once you have some basics of green living down pat, why not branch out into more areas. Take a look at the cleaners and chemicals that you use in your home, for example. Can you do things differently and protect or improve your health?
Try new things out, even if they seem strange. Many of the practices that we take for granted in civilized society (even such as using toilet paper) are relatively new.
You can read more blog posts by Mary Ann Romans here!
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