By Michelle Carr
Today is Earth Day!!!! The day that we all remember how fragile our home really is. It is often the day we tell ourselves that we are going to do a better job of trying to be GREEN. Though our intentions come from a very pure place, we often fall back into our regular patterns as the days progress further and further from the celebrated GREEN day. I know I am guilty of such actions myself. I have the strong wish to be better but with the craziness that life brings I end up telling myself that it’s too hard to go all the way. That I just don’t have time to do the things that I should be doing.
I have always wanted to be that person that recycles or reuses everything. That lives clean and GREEN. That grows my own veggies and uses everything I have until it is impossible to do anything else with it. I want to be that girl that walks or rides a bike to places that are near., and keeps her footprint to a minimum. But alas, no matter how often I walk behind people and turn off the lights there are always some that I have missed. My recycle collection doesn’t ever seem to make it to its designated home. And as much as I love walking, I live too far from the store to walk or ride a bike. I don’t have a green thumb, and try as I might,my gardens never seem to thrive. Every time, I start to think that this time will be different, my plants start to die. I am literally proof that not everyone born in Indiana was destined to be a farmer.
But in my never ending search to learn new things, I stumbled upon a book called It’s Easy Being Green by Crissy Trask. Now I’ve only just started this book, but I’ve already been opened to a new way of thinking when it comes to being GREEN. Here’s the secret… you don’t have do it all at once!!!! Like losing weight it’s not about dieting… it’s about life changes! Making adjustments here and there, tweaking the things you do and how you do them can make all the difference. Some things you may even been doing already and just never even thought about it, ie using a reusable water bottles versus buying bottled water. And the amazing thing is, that even small changes can really make a difference if you do them continuously over a long period of time.
We all know that riding a bike versus driving a car is an excellent way to be GREEN, but isn’t always the easiest if your destination is far. But if you need to go a reasonable distance it can also be a great form of exercise too. There are also things as simple as remembering to use recyclable cloth bags instead of paper or plastic when you go to the store can really help. I have a bad habit of using them for a while and then forgetting to take them with me once and it’s done. I know it’s not easy to remember, but in the effort of change, I’m going to work really hard to remember to take them back out to my car each time I’m done. Reading about the effects that the making of paper and plastic products has on our planet, I know that we need to limit how much we use both these items. And not only just recycle said products but look for products made from recycled items such as recycled paper.
What I have learned is that I don’t have to jump completely into being GREEN right from the start. This knowledge makes it seem so much easier than I had previously believed. That it is ok to make the gradual changes. Remember that the smallest of changes can make a difference as long as you make them a habit. There is no being a hypocrite when trying to be GREEN, it’s ok not to change everything at once. It is that fact that you are making an effort be better that is what matters. Just remember not to ask people to do things that you yourself aren’t willing to do. Goodness knows, I am the forever work in progress. This is something I feel I really need to work on. I promise to do my very best to be the change and I hope you will too. Let’s challenge ourselves this year to not only try to be GREEN today but to do so from here on out. Find some changes you can make and put them into practice. Because if all of us work together we can make all the difference in the world. It really is easier to look after our home than we believe it to be. Please join me in being the change.
