Category Archives: Going Green

Does It Really Matter That You’re Just One Person?

The environmental movement has a lot of fans, but you get some negativity too, especially if you post a lot about what people can do as individuals. Naysayers go on about how what really matters is what we do as a society.

That’s a good point, but it shouldn’t be a criticism of individual action. Why discourage people from doing either?

Yes, governmental action is required to get things done at the level they need to be done. Businesses need to get involved. The effort required is, quite simply, huge.

But do you really think these things will happen if they don’t see individuals doing the small stuff? I don’t.

The small stuff is what I see as motivation for the bigger things. It shows that we care, that we believe in putting forth our best efforts to protect the environment.

Businesses won’t change their practices without financial motivation, whether it comes from governmental pressures or consumers. The government won’t change without pressure from the voters.

Living even a small part of what we’re asking them to do is creating demand for these changes.

Make your small changes.

Then start campaigning for more.

Pay attention to what’s coming out from the White House. They have a page on the site now on Energy and Environment. Encourage your Representatives to push for these changes.

But still, try to live a green lifestyle. If no one is doing it, our leaders won’t feel the pressure to make changes. We can’t demand action from them if we aren’t taking it ourselves.

I’m Enjoying Crockpot Cooking Again

The further along I get on this pregnancy, the better a friendship I’m developing with my old friend, the crockpot. I really love that thing.

It uses less energy than the stove or oven, doesn’t heat the house on warm days (it’s southern California, we are still getting warm days here), and I can fit pretty much all of dinner in it, except anything we want raw.

When baby is big enough, anything made in the crock pot is likely soft enough for the food mill, so she’ll be able to join in.

Then there’s being able to start dinner at whatever time works for me that day. In the morning when I have the energy, up to early afternoon when I realize my energy levels are sagging. I just have to pick a high or low cooking temperature.

As I drag through this last month of pregnancy, retaining far, far more water than I ever had before, this really helps. Lucky for me, far, far more water still isn’t an actual medical problem. I just didn’t retain much water at all in past pregnancies. Now my sandals barely go on.

Environmentalism the Lazy Way

Is there such a thing?

That depends on how you define environmentalism. There are so many levels to being green, and some really don’t go well with being lazy about it.

Especially if you really want to make a difference.

But if you don’t have the time to really focus on making a difference, but want to change your own consumption levels, there are things you can do. You can buy a book or get it at the library. Books such as The Lazy Environmentalist and It’s Easy Being Green cover some of the ways any of us can go green.

If nothing else, they’re probably great gifts for friends and family who don’t know how to get started.

Of course, the best thing you can do for the environment is to consume less. That may be one of the most challenging things too. It’s hard to break habits when you grew up in  a time where most people thought nothing of buying anything they needed or wanted, ignoring both the environment and financial common sense in a lot of cases.

Next best is to buy used when possible. That’s really not so hard, and some thrift and resale shops have amazing finds in them.

Using handmedowns counts the same as buying used, of course, except you don’t get to shop around.

We do this a lot in my family, and are working on being more deliberate about it. We’re talking toy and movie swaps between families, because, let’s face it, between Christmas and birthdays, friends and relatives, kids these days get way too much stuff. We can decrease the amount of stuff we as parents buy with appropriate trading and handing down.

Steps keep getting bigger as you go, but for many that’s the way to start. You do the lazy things first and then realize that some of what you thought was too hard is starting to make sense.

Are You Doing Too Little?

This whole mess with CPSIA has me thinking about what people are doing to encourage others to be more green. Are you doing enough?

Green activism can take many forms. It can be persuading less green relatives to do things like bring reusable bags to the store or to tell them about things they can recycle. It can be contacting your representatives on topics that matter to you. It can be participating in local cleanup efforts. It can be teaching your kids to pick up the trash they see as they walk home from school.

However much you do, it’s entirely possible that someone else will tell you that you should do more. That you should get rid of x,y and z from your home because they’re terrible for you and your family. That you’re shopping at the wrong store or paying attention to the wrong cause.

I firmly believe that these are deeply personal decisions. It’s tough finding ways to do all the things you feel are important, never mind what others find to be more important.

Can individuals make a difference anyhow?

Yes, absolutely! It’s more challenging, and the average difference is smaller than when businesses and government gets involved, but who gets those going in the first place? Groups of individuals.

If there are things you wish you could be doing, but just don’t have the time and/or resources to manage it just now, take note of them. Just because the time isn’t now doesn’t mean the time will never come.

What Are Your Goals for the New Year?

It’s New Year’s Day. Have you set any goals?

I’m not much for New Year’s Resolutions, as such. I prefer to have goals to try to meet, often extensions of ones I’ve been working on for a long time.

The trouble with resolutions is that too many people are really not ready to follow through with them. I consider this a good time of year to think over goals and figuring out how to improve my efforts.

Making big changes all at once is so much harder than taking things step by step. Set a goal that you can work with for a long time. Improve the things you aren’t quite doing as well as you’d like to be. But remember that most resolutions aren’t followed through on for very long, and keep things realistic.