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We all know that one famous frog who said, “It’s not easy being green.” But was he right in an eco-sense? I’ve got pals and family who say it’s too hard to go green all the flipping time. Am I the only one who thinks it’s easy? Easyish anyhow.
Going green might be hard if you go gung ho, try to build a solar/wind powered/off grid home, pledge to buy only organics and cook purely from scratch, make all your own cosmetics and cleaning supplies, convert to a hybrid car or only ride your bike 100% of the time, and homeschool the kids so they get a real eco-education. However, this is not realistic green.
Realistic green means what to you? To me it means making smarter, not harder choices and spending less not more money. To me realistic green doesn’t mean making grand green gestures but does mean that many small steps when branched together create larger changes in the long run.
Going green – not so hard as you might think. Certainly not as hard as I hear. There’s a learning curve for sure, but that’s why it’s important to start slow, learn as you go, and to try and not to let other people dictate what shade of green you’re comfortable with.
I’ve been living green for a good long while and blogging at another green blog, Tree Hugging Family for almost two years now. Those two components when mixed with the people I know and the emails I get from readers means I’ve pretty much heard all the excuses there are as to why someone feels they can’t go green. “Because it’s too hard” is only one excuse I hear. Following are all the major excuses I’ve heard and some reasons why these excuses are not only wrong, but make little sense. If you’ve been feeling like green is too hard or feeling like you just can’t get going with green living the following posts should help you over the hump:
All the excuses:
- I don’t matter
- Global warming is a crock
- Going green is too expensive
- I’m not a damn hippie
- I don’t have time
- I have no idea where to start
Have you heard any other excuses lately? Let me know which excuses you think are valid or total bunk in the comments.
[image via stock.xchng]
822 days ago
[...] is the top factor preventing people from being more “green.” Which is lame IMO because it’s not expensive to live green. Accessibility to recycling and knowing how and what to recycle were the other major recycling [...]
I hear that! I think that it is very region-dependent. I live in Oakland, CA, and it’s hard NOT to be eco-friendly here! The city will even pick up your “green waste” for compost. But there are so many places around the country where you have to struggle just to find an energy-saving lightbulb or a recycled-paper notebook. (Actually, that last one can be a struggle even here. Why are stores so resistant to carrying them?) Even here, I’ve heard people say that it’s too complicated or too expensive.
I’m starting an online store (Save the Purse) that will have wholesale prices on eco-friendly products for a low monthly membership fee, because I’m tired of eco products being so expensive and hard for people to find. My dream currently is to have a part of it where people can sign up for recurring deliveries – like to get two months’ worth of recycled unbleached toilet paper delivered every other month – so that they have an automatic eco-friendly lifestyle. Or at least as much so as possible! Plus I will pay for carbon offsets to take care of the pollution from shipping.
What do you think? Does that make it easy enough for those naysaying friends and family members, or does it really come down to people just not wanting to? I think that at least for some people, it’s hard to go green because they’d have to admit that what they’re doing now is harmful to them and the earth.
hi,
that was really gr8……….m a college student i’ve participated in a debate
on, “is green living expensive or not”. actually i m very much agree to the fact tht it is not at all expensive bt i’ve to speak against the motion m nt able to find anything please help me out……….asap. if possible mail it to me it’ll be a great help to me plz ……..
-Kanishk
Thank you for sharing this post. Going GREEN is easy and not expensive.
-purchase some $1.00 green bags from your local grocery store; keep them in your trunk
-reuse plastic water bottles, or buy aluminum bottles
-RECYCLE
-walk or ride your bike, if you can
-I even reuse the cup sleeves from my local ‘coffee shop’, no need for a new one every day
The little things go a long way … especially if more people ‘jump on the bandwagon’
~Mysticle