For anyone who wants to green their life — really wants to — I think there are 5 basic requirements … or, to make them sound nicer, we’ll call them ingredients.
Can you live a “green” life without one of these? Well, yeah, but it is perhaps a “light green” life, not a fully green life. Think of it like this: you need some basic ingredients to make a pizza — pizza dough, tomato sauce, and cheese (note that you can use non-dairy cheese, of course). Without one of these ingredients, you can call what you make a pizza, but is it really a pizza?
So, what are the 5 ingredients for The Green Life?
The Big 3
The first three involve things you do every day. Everyday activities have a profoundly stronger impact than once-in-awhile activities. That may be obvious, but it seems like we spend a lot of time talking about once-in-awhile purchases (clothes, furniture, kitchenware, laundry detergent) when talking about going green.
If you look at the top 3 contributors to global warming and climate change, they are undoubtedly transportation, electricity, and food (though, the order varies based on the assumptions and the location analyzed).
So, the top 3 things you can green, in no particular order, are:
- Your electricity.
You can green this by going solar; using small-scale wind turbines; paying for renewable energy instead of dirty energy from your electricity company; or using small hydro. - Your transportation.
You can green this by bicycling, walking, using transit, traveling by train, using an electric vehicle (especially a solar-powered one), or carpooling. - Your food.
Nothing relatively mainstream is greener than going vegan (or at least vegetarian), but eating local, eating organic, buying food in bulk, and avoiding unnecessary packaging whenever possible are some other obvious ways to green your body’s fuel. (Even Mike Tyson has gone vegan — don’t you think you can do something along those lines?) With perhaps 51% of greenhouse gas emissions coming from livestock production, this is a pretty hard one to avoid if you are serious about tackling global warming (& you know you should be).
Although those are the biggies in your personal life, there’s still something missing.
2 More Big Ones
Two more biggies involve your role in society. “No man is an island,” and we have societal influence and duties, all the more so in a democracy (or, ahem, a representative democracy or democratic republic).
Our world is governed by us. If we aren’t doing any governing, we aren’t doing our duty. And, of course, if we leave this governing for others, the question becomes, “who have we left it to?” (I think you can guess the answer to that one.)
What kind of governing must we do?
We should keep ourselves informed, know who the heck we’re voting for when we vote (know what they’ve voted for in the past or worked on in the past), vote, engage in political discussions and town hall meetings, and inform others of important matters and opportunities.
Sound like a lot? Well, it’s that or let a small minority of the population govern our country for their own benefit.
So, the additional big two are:
- Run for office or help those out who are running for office and have a strong green gene.
- Take direct action — it’s perhaps the most powerful way to influence those in office, no matter what their understanding of environmental issues happens to be.
Image: World on hands via shutterstock
that’s a funny article! thanks for sharing it.
I appreciated the grren spirit also in the small tiny stuff we do every day. Everything should start from there and from inside.
BYE http://www.casette-italia.it
Hi, I am a primary school teacher and have stumbled upon your website whilests teaching 8year olds about saving the planet and how they can make a difference. I have found, although very wordy in parts, your materials very accessible for primary age children. Apart from the above swear word ‘bastard’ when refering to ways to make a change, i think I will be using this website soley to teach about how the next generation van make change. Thank you for such a great educational resource.
Thanks!! 😀
Hi, I am a primary school teacher and have stumbled upon your website whilests teaching 8year olds about saving the planet and how they can make a difference. I have found, although very wordy in parts, your materials very accessible for primary age children. Apart from the above swear word ‘bastard’ when refering to ways to make a change, i think I will be using this website soley to teach about how the next generation van make change. Thank you for such a great educational resource.
Thanks!! 😀
“Run for office,” is a very interesting and unique proposition. It really hits the root of the problem when it comes to a lack of sustainable practices!
Thanks. Yes, outside the norm, but so important.
“Run for office,” is a very interesting and unique proposition. It really hits the root of the problem when it comes to a lack of sustainable practices!
Thanks. Yes, outside the norm, but so important.
on organic food..
The legal definition of “organic” is that the food was not grown using synthetic pesticides. Organic pesticides can be used, even though there are some organic pesticides that could harm the environment, and some synthetic pesticides that wouldn’t, or vice versa. Same with GMO- there are some GMO’s that harm the environment, and some that don’t, and non-GMOs that harm the environment, and some that don’t.
What the FDA really needs to do is classify foods and pesticides based on whether they harm the environment, consumers, and/or workers, not whether they fall into a particular category of “natural” or “organic” or “non-GMO”. Those distinctions don’t help people make better choices.
I don’t disagree with you.
I heard “organic” legally merely meant “carbon-based” from the “organic chemistry” field?
Asphalt, plastic bags, paper, lady-bugs, and warship-grade steel, are all “organic” because they all have carbon.
on organic food..
The legal definition of “organic” is that the food was not grown using synthetic pesticides. Organic pesticides can be used, even though there are some organic pesticides that could harm the environment, and some synthetic pesticides that wouldn’t, or vice versa. Same with GMO- there are some GMO’s that harm the environment, and some that don’t, and non-GMOs that harm the environment, and some that don’t.
What the FDA really needs to do is classify foods and pesticides based on whether they harm the environment, consumers, and/or workers, not whether they fall into a particular category of “natural” or “organic” or “non-GMO”. Those distinctions don’t help people make better choices.
I don’t disagree with you.
I heard “organic” legally merely meant “carbon-based” from the “organic chemistry” field?
Asphalt, plastic bags, paper, lady-bugs, and warship-grade steel, are all “organic” because they all have carbon.
The five points are truly the most important ones a person can really change in his life. Even though meat overconsumption and waste is a big problem I wouldn’t agree becoming a vegan or vegetarian. From our natural diet we humans are not exclusively made for only eating vegetables, fruits and wheat. http://yourgreencity.com
The five points are truly the most important ones a person can really change in his life. Even though meat overconsumption and waste is a big problem I wouldn’t agree becoming a vegan or vegetarian. From our natural diet we humans are not exclusively made for only eating vegetables, fruits and wheat. http://yourgreencity.com
Yes, not eating a lot of beef would help the planet. However, my son is vegetarian; I can’t be vegetarian because I am lactose intolerant, I need meat for nutrional reasons, since milk can’t be a major part of my diet. Rather than be vegan or vegetarian, I see that eating other kinds of meat is an answer. When will someone invent “befe,” a posited meat that tastes just like beef, but is actually mutton, lamb, or horse (horse meat is quite delicious — I had opportunites to eat some of its dishes when I lived in France). Since they seem to pre-sauce up our meat in the stores anyway, why not make it taste like “befe”? Then we could all be perfectly satisfied.
I understand your concerns, but there’s really no reason you couldn’t be vegan. Carl Lewis (yes, Athlete of the Century last century) was vegan while winning his many gold medals. Plenty of other top athletes are as well. If you need information on any specific part of that, I’m happy to help.
Yes, not eating a lot of beef would help the planet. However, my son is vegetarian; I can’t be vegetarian because I am lactose intolerant, I need meat for nutrional reasons, since milk can’t be a major part of my diet. Rather than be vegan or vegetarian, I see that eating other kinds of meat is an answer. When will someone invent “befe,” a posited meat that tastes just like beef, but is actually mutton, lamb, or horse (horse meat is quite delicious — I had opportunites to eat some of its dishes when I lived in France). Since they seem to pre-sauce up our meat in the stores anyway, why not make it taste like “befe”? Then we could all be perfectly satisfied.
I understand your concerns, but there’s really no reason you couldn’t be vegan. Carl Lewis (yes, Athlete of the Century last century) was vegan while winning his many gold medals. Plenty of other top athletes are as well. If you need information on any specific part of that, I’m happy to help.
I’m not saying that her being lactose intolerant means that she can’t be vegan (being vegan wouldn’t include lactose, after all), but not everyone can healthfully be vegan or vegetarian. I was a strict vegetarian-borderline-vegan for a decade, and I was making myself really ill in the process. I followed all the nutritional advice, read lots of books, consulted with PCRM, etc., etc. I really, really wanted to make it work. Finally after years of arguing with my doc I assented to try a little fish, and see if it made a difference. I felt so markedly better, it didn’t take long before I saw what I had been doing to myself and gave it up. I am a thousand times healthier now. Yes, there are plenty of folks that can be very healthy on a vegan or vegetarian diet, but some of us have conditions that make our needs different than other folks. So now I try to go with local, grass-fed, humanely raised meat sources and wild-caught fish (I even discovered that Whole Foods has a rating system in place for this if you shop there). Nutrition science is really still in its infancy, as are many other facets of the human body and health; I hesitate to issue any blanket advice for everyone when every body is different. If it works for you, fab. But it really doesn’t work for everyone.
Thanks.