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Look around and you’ll see going green slogans everywhere. For many, this mountain of information can be confusing and at times a little overwhelming. In fact, the post, A Practical Plan for When You Feel Overwhelmed, refers to overwhelm and its effect on our ability to make choices. “The more numerous our options, the more difficult it becomes to choose a single one, and so we end up choosing none at all. That’s what happens when we have too many things to do. We become overwhelmed and don’t do any of them.”
How can we create a green lifestyle that works for us? Navigating the green waters starts with getting clear on what it means to be green. Is it living off the grid? Living in a green house? Working at a green job? What exactly does it mean to be green – to you? At its essence, living green, refers to a lifestyle and set of choices that minimizes a person’s environmental impact. While living green embraces concepts of efficiency, organics, waste management, and so forth, the mindset is most important. Why? Because life is dynamic. Your life circumstances change so it’s in your approach to life that matters.
A primary aspect of a sustainable lifestyle is the recognition that every action is part of a larger whole and even the smallest change can make a difference. Explore the different ways of being green and see what fits for you.
• Discover what can be recycled and what cannot! Can you recycle paint? Hair? Crayons? Find out here. Better yet, discover recycling centers near your home by visiting Earth911.
• Discover the rewarding sensation of volunteering in your community. Not sure where to start? Visit VolunteerMatch and enter your zip code and area of interest to find a perfect volunteer match.
• Discover cycling as part of a sustainable lifestyle and as a rewarding personal adventure. Explore health, environmental, and cost saving reasons for biking to work and pick out your favorite resources to help you do it.
• Discover a new shade of organic makeup just in time for the summer months.
• Discover ways to decorate the eco friendly way with eco friendly materials, paints, and plants.
• Discover ways to green your routine. Pick a different day of the week to take eco action on different sustainability concepts. The thrill is in changing habits on a daily basis.
Follow your intuition. Listen to what inspires you to take action. Remember there is an endless number of sustainable possibilities from which to choose to respond to any situation. Discovering an option that doesn’t work, like riding a bike to work when you live 40miles away, only opens the door for other options. By allowing for the daily expansion of eco awareness and keeping open to the idea that there are multiple green choices available and could work for you, living a sustainable lifestyle becomes an easy and exciting journey.
Julie
Julie Urlaub is Founder & Managing Partner of Taiga Company, a sustainability consulting firm located in Houston, Texas dedicated to accelerating the integration of sustainability concepts in business. Today, Julie speaks, writes, and advises clients on a variety of issues related to the intersection between environmental stewardship, and sustainable business practices. Her writing has been featured in SocialYell’s Corporate Advice, the GreenEcomonyPost, the Business Exchange and, the ThinkGreenAlliance. Connect with Taiga Company on Facebook and Twitter. Also Find Julie on LinkedIn.
