First published February 2010, updated December 2011
I’ve spent over 5 years working on Green Living Tips and while it’s been a very rewarding experience, it’s also been quite a confronting one. Working on this site has opened my eyes as to how un-green my life was and in some ways, continues to be.
As I’ve mentioned in other articles such as “Green happy medium” and “Greener than thou“, sometimes the journey can seem awfully slow and not much progress is being made compared to other folks I know. It’s those times I try to think back to the changes I’ve made over the last 12 months.
Sometimes we may not have time to make big changes, or the resources. But we can keep moving forward with little changes – some we perhaps may not have thought of before.
With tens of thousands of people visiting this site each month; I’m sure there are also many “mini-greening” ideas I’m yet to discover that I and other readers could benefit from.
This is where you come in.
I’m inviting you to share one green change in your life in the past 12 months with other readers using the comments feature below.
It can be a huge, complex change, or a tiny, simple green action. It can be a tip already mentioned elsewhere on this site. It can be a change that is cheap, expensive or free. It can be a few paragraphs or just a couple of lines; mainstream or “out there”.
The goal of this is to generate a single thread of brief, easy to digest tips people have implemented in their own lives and that can be a source of inspiration to others. Even if your change seems very basic, it’s not uncommon for people to miss doing basic things while pursuing more complex changes.
A few guidelines:
– Please read the comments below first before contributing yours. If someone has already mentioned a change you have made, share another one not already mentioned.
– Feel free to mention types of products, but not product names. The reason for this is to prevent merchants participating just for the sake of getting their brand mentioned.
– The thread is for ideas only – not for comments, questions or criticism of the contributions of others.
– Maximum of 150 words. There’s no word minimum, it just needs to observe the general format
– Please only mention one green change you have made. This allows more people to participate :)
Format and example:
Basically the format should incorporate the concept of the challenge, the solution you chose and the environmental and other benefits.
To explain this better, I’ll kick this off with a personal example.
EXAMPLE STARTS —-
While I use solar power mostly when I’m out in the bush, sometimes I still need to resort to generator power. I’ve had a habit of buying cheap 2-stroke generators which have a limited life and as they use a gas/oil mix, are emissions intensive. I dropped my tightwad ways for a moment and shelled out for a better quality and more fuel efficient 4 stroke generator.
It should outlast the others by an order of magnitude, saving on resources that go into building a generator, plus the unit emits far less carbon emissions and other exhaust chemicals. The technology used in the unit means less fuel needs to be used to generate the same amount of electricity.
Additionally, cheap 2 stroke generators tend to be throw-away items, but this model can be repaired and has a local service agent for the brand.
Not only should it reduce environmental impact, but in the long run I should save money on fuel, oil and the cost involved with replacing generators more regularly.
EXAMPLE ENDS —-
Your example doesn’t need to be long; it just needs to cover the challenge, the action and the environmental benefit as mentioned. If there’s a financial benefit as well, please mention it as many people mistakenly think going green involves spending big bucks.
I look forward to reading your contributions! Please note that all contributions will be reviewed before being published; but I’ll do my best to review and approve comments as fast as possible.