Being more Green has different implications to different people. I am not going to get onto my soapbox and start preaching because we all don’t believe the same thing and my goal is not to change your beliefs – it’s to provide information that you can choose to use. But being Green is important to me and, quite honestly (mini soapbox time, sorry), I think we should all practice some sort of lifestyle that actually gives back.
I studied biology and then environmental conservation in college back in the late 70’s. My degree is from the University of Colorado in Environmental Conservation and this was a very new major at that time. I took many, many classes in biology, geology, geography, astro-geophysics, zoology, anthropology and botany to earn the 72 hours required to graduate with this degree. I had professors who taught plate techtonics and one that refused to teach it (even though it was part of the curriculum) because he didn’t believe in it. I remember sitting in a particular class where we were talking about a new way of building communities that were designed for people to live, work and play all within walking distance. The two communities they referenced in class were Reston, Virginia and Columbia, Maryland! Well, being a D.C. girl, I knew both of those communities. It was kind of exciting to actually feel a part of this “new” concept. If you think about it, though, it isn’t new, but the automobile certainly did its part to allow us to gain distance between those things.
From George Perkins Marsh to Aldo Leopold to Rachel Carson to Garrett Hardin to Danny Seo to Stephen Hawking (and the list goes on), I think we are all beginning to understand just how closely we are all connected and that everything each of us does has an effect on something or someone. It’s no longer a theory.
If you understand energy you know that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, but it can cost you loads of money. That’s why going green can now be translated into greenbacks. It used to be that going green was just what environmentalists did. (Tree huggers!) But the harsh reality now is that consuming energy at the rate we are is costing all of us money. Aren’t you just sick of paying those utility bills and burning money in your tanks? If we adopt ways that utilize less energy, it will cost us less. If we find ways that make sense to become less dependent on products that are non-renewable, it will cost us less.
Whether your idea of going green is reducing your carbon footprint or merely saving bucks, it really doesn’t matter which driving factor makes us conserve, so long as we do it. Or, are we really the people our parents warned us about. Are we like those aliens in Independence Day?
Check back frequently as I post new information (or, even better, send me some links you think I should include) on my search to bring you sources to improve your life or your checkbook balance by Going Green.