There are many benefits to going green. Planet Green has an excellent article, Why Go Green?, talking about the big picture, including Top 10 Tips and By the Numbers for those of you who like statistics. Below is my top five list of the benefits of going green. I find that at least one, and usually all, of these are true of every green thing I do.
- reduce impact on the environment - this is the main benefit of going green. Everything we do affects our planet and we're slowly using up all our natural resources. The Story of Stuff is a great look at this.
- incidental exercise - biking to work or walking to the store not only saves you money on gas and helps reduce pollution caused from car emissions (such as carbon dioxide) they are a great workout!
- reduce waste - recycling, or better yet reusing, keeps excess waste out of landfills. Sadly, not everything we recycle stays out of landfills so being mindful of the packaging and reusability of the things we purchase goes a long way.
- eat healthier - eating green is healthier for us because they are natural and unprocessed, keeping more of their nutrients, which also means they require less resources and money to produce and transport them. e.g. most processed foods have extra sodium to help preserve the food longer; restaurants also use a lot of added sodium and fat (e.g. butter) to make things taste better even if they are not of the best quality from the start.
- save money - most things that we do to conserve the earth's resources also help us save money, e.g. tap water vs bottled water; biking vs driving; opening windows vs light bulbs or A/C; cooking vs eating at a restaurant.
How about you? Why do you go green?
5 comments:
I'd have to say my reasons pretty much echo what you said above. That being said, I know that I am NOT green when it comes to household cleaners. I'm guilty of using bleach - I'm a germaphobe and I haven't been able to let go of it yet. I was reading that eucalptus oil is a great natural disinfectant but mentally, I feel more secure with bleach (not to mention the fact that it's pretty cheap, too).
I can't stand bleach even before I was into being green. The smell makes me gag and it can ruin fabrics. I am still not that green when it comes to cleaning, but I'm getting there. I use vinegar for a lot of things, including fabric softener. The thing about being green is that you can always do more. So even though I know I do quite a bit, there is still I don't because I don't think about it or I am lazy or it seems to be more expensive. All we can do is take it one step and day at a time.
I do my best to be "green," but I know we can always do more. And, I too hate bleach. Ick!
Also, you have been given a blog award: http://shannonchenoweth.com/blog/?p=631
:)
I would love to be more 'green' like riding to work, eating more locally, etc., but our new move to a new house has kinda put us back wards. I now have to commute farther and have no one to car pool with. :0(
We do what we can though.
htabby, it's hard when life and work get in the way but you just do what you can. I used to live 2 miles away from work and would bike to work 4-5 times a week. We now live almost 15 miles away by bike, so we can only do it 1-2 times a week.
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