Seven Days to Green Your Life
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08.15.06
TreeHugger believes that everyone can do something every day to make our world a greener place; there are hundreds of ways to do this, so where should you start? Donnachadh McCarthy, one of Britain's leading expert in green living, believes seven days is all it takes to cast aside the bad habits of a lifetime, and he's written down a week's worth of ways to go a little greener every day. Considering what he calls "the seven deadly eco sins" -- transportation, energy, water, waste, work, pollution and food -- he lays out a week's worth of actions for each "sin," showcasing all the ways that we can all start (or keep up) changing for the better, starting tomorrow. These include simple things that we've trumpeted many times before; taken separately, they seem small and inconsequential, but added together, especially into the course of just one week, seem to make a much bigger difference. From going vegetarian for a week to bringing your own shopping bag (and counting how many you save) to cutting disposable products out of your life, they are all small changes that are easy to start and replicate over a lifetime. All are worth a read at ::The Independent via ::Hugg
I feel Hugg-ed! It's a really good article with some practical and fairly painless suggestions for a greener your.
It is a great article. But I believe it pushes to hard for the common person. The person who wants to lessen their impact, but doesn't want to suffer for it (too much). I put together a yearlong plan of similar actions. In the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, the author points out if you can concentrate and be calm on that one day of working on your motorcycle, maybe that will carry out to your other 6 days.
I just think, like a rigorous workout schedule, something with such a short time span burns people out, and then they go back to how they were before.
Just a little guiltier.
I'm writing to respond to Tim's comment on this article.
I love your workout schedule analogy. I, too, recognize that there are many "light green" consumers out there that want to leave a smaller footprint but find it overwhelming. Ideal Bite (www.idealbite.com) is addressing this exact issue through their "tip" service. Check it out!
Cheers!