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:
- Daily Habits — Is Anything More Important, Is Anything Harder to Change?
- Personal Sustainability: The Path to Worldwide Environmental Sustainability
- Goals and Rejuvenation: Realizing Our Dreams
- Environmental Degradation and the Self: The Link between the Two
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Photo Credit: tryingmyhardest via flickr
