Going Green Tip 1: Step Back

going green tip 1: step back

I’m going to start off this series with something probably a little unexpected. Before you get into specific, practical ways of going green, you have to have a good reason for going green in the first place.

There are practical economic and health reasons on the personal level that definitely warrant going green. Additionally, there are numerous world problems arising for ecosystems, animals, humans, and even society as a whole. But I think just focusing on all those details can bog you down sometimes. In fact, I think the overwhelming nature of those is often what deters people from going green.

You need to step back and think about things from a broader perspective sometimes to fuel your environmental engine. Here are some ways I’ve found to help do so:

  • Ask yourself, from time to time, what kind of impact you want to have on the world — on the human species, the natural environments you love, the animals you think are so cute, the great-great-grandchildren you will never meet.
  • Take a look at your life ‘as a whole’ — where did you start, where are you now & where are you headed, where do you want to be at the endpoint of your life?
  • Ask yourself where you fit in with regards to the broader whole — are you improving it in your life?

That’s it for now. Going green tip #1. If you don’t have this in your life, I think it will be hard to continue going green once you started and, thus, you probably wouldn’t make it back here to read the other going green tips that will follow.

If you’re interested in reading more along these lines, check out:


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Photo Credit: tryingmyhardest via flickr

5 thoughts on “Going Green Tip 1: Step Back”

  1. But can we really afford to turn people away?

    We need to turn the binge flyers green, the SUV drivers green, everybody needs to be green! Here it sounds like we are waging a loosing battle as the questions are quite tough. "Ask yourself where you fit in with regards to the broader whole — are you improving it in your life?" Is that not almost what is the meaning of life?
    My recent post Yeah But China Builds a New Coal Plant Every Two Weeks

    1. i don't think it's turning anyone away, but encouraging anyone who is interested in going green to take a step back & think about these things a bit. otherwise, in a week or two, something else may be more interesting.

      1. I am environmental and I think quite green, but feel that I could not answer these questions.

        I do think some people are suited to being green and others not. I just don't think the questions help people figure out whether they are going to be successful in their green ways.

        Do you think about your life sometimes and see waste and destruction? That is the first tip/hurdle to a green lifestyle.
        My recent post Extreme Views of Nature

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