Saturday, April 18, 2009

How Green are we Willing to Be?

We hear a lot of talk about the threat of global warming…saving the planet…being green…it’s unfortunate that so many people ignore these conversations. And some folks are aware of this ever-present topic, but they assume that it’s up to someone else to do what it takes to save our planet. We need to make it a part of our daily habit to reduce, reuse, recycle. Americans have made some efforts to gradually change their ways over the years, but we really have a long way to go if we want to reverse the effects of our wasteful, damaging ways. Sadly, laziness plays a big part in people’s habits, but think about how little effort it really takes to make a difference. Turn off light switches when you leave an empty room. Reduce the amount of paper products and water that you use. In fact, reduce the amount of food that you purchase, consume, and throw away! Keep scrap paper on hand when a whole sheet of paper is not necessary. Print documents on both sides to use half as much paper. If we aren’t willing to lessen our impact on the earth now, when will we take it seriously? When summertime temperatures regularly go above 130°? When one or two of our coastal cities have washed away due to higher ocean levels? When our national parks become garbage dumps? When we have to pay $10 a gallon for clean drinking water? Forgive the preachy nature of this, but conservationism is a cause that’s always been very important to me. Let’s green it up!!