|
“A” could also be called Attitude!, or even Awaken! For A is simply paying attention to the little things.
When considering how to green your home, people’s first reaction is often: it’s hopeless, I don’t recycle enough, I still pollute, I threw away a plastic bag yesterday instead of washing it out. I drove to the store instead of biking. I’m not worthy.
Green Home encourages you not to sweat the details. Not to be intimidated by the hard core environmentalists. If you make the decision to be sustainable, and do it with good intent, with a smile on your face, day in and day out, you have saved the earth. Sheer numbers alone aren’t going to get us there, but a willingness to try; that’s what gets the job done.
So the toughest, but actually easiest, step to take is to simply self-identify as a person willing to make sustainable choices. Sustainability is a choice. You still have free will, and willing it makes it so, because there is no higher authority in these matters. The switch goes off: I’m green. I’m sustainable. Because I’m committed to it and I’m no longer afraid to say so.
Once this shift occurs, you no longer have to keep looking at a checklist to know what to do. You’re just paying attention, being awake, whereas before you kind of sleep-walked through the day. And you get an energy boost when making this commitment. To realize to oneself: “Wow, I joined this green thing,” provides a tremendous lift! And then when you start doing these little things like reusing something you would have thrown away, or turning off the lights or the water when you’re done, you just feel great!
So keeping Aware that this is something of value for you, keeping that attitude, waking up to it every moment, is almost the entirety of being green all wrapped up in one simple concept.
B – BE Less Wasteful
C – Don’t CONTAMINATE
THE GREEN HOME ABC’s
|
