Eco-Monday: More on being Eco-Conscious

As I was waiting for the bus last week I was thinking about a conversation I overheard and it got me thinking. Being "green" today is very trendy. Everywhere you turn, you are bombarded with companies and products and books and everything else that proclaims its "greenness" and how buying this or that or whatever will make you "green" too. While I am happy to see that the public, and more importantly, the corporate world, is finally understanding what environmentalists have been preaching for years, it is the trendiness of it that makes me worried. As we all know, trends come and go, and if the eco-green-nature-organic-yoga-treehugger-whatever-you-want-to-call-it movement goes the way of all trends, it would be disastrous (and yes, I know that is a strong word, but this is serious stuff!)

So, instead, I want to encourage an eco-consciousness movement, where thought is actually put into where, how, when and why one becomes green. I'm not usually one to quote Oprah, but one of the things she has said that has stuck with me is the fact that we North Americans live largely unconscious lives. That is to say, we go through our daily lives on auto-pilot, rarely giving much thought to the motivations, or lack thereof, behind our actions. Now, believe me, I know that life can be overwhelming with responsibilities and that we are often just trying to get through the day in one piece. But what we need to realize is that this would be more easily accomplished if we just started to notice the bigger picture around us and understand that all of our choices affect that world, for better or for worse. And even little changes can make a big difference in not only our own lives, but the lives of those around us.

The web is flooded with lots of sites that tell us the "five best things you can do right now" or the "easiest ways to green your house", and so on, and so on. And, much like all other things we get bombarded with, we eventually get that glazed-over look and don't really pay attention anymore. Also, I have heard from lots of friends and others who think that "going green" is hard, costly and an all-or-nothing proposition. The truth is, it is none of those. Going green doesn't have to be hard or cost any money or involve you becoming an "eco-warrior" overnight. It actually involves nothing more than the desire to understand how the choices we make on a daily basis affect the natural environment and how a little tweaking of those choices can make a positive difference. And, as you learn more and more, the emotions of anger and frustration almost always rise. Though they can often be self-defeating, these emotions are a necessary part of becoming truly eco-conscious. And that means making a life change, not just following a trend.

So, tomorrow, when you are running late and hit the Starbucks or the Timmy's or whatever other coffee shop you happen upon, take a coffee cup from your cupboard and ask for it to go. And, voila, you are on the way to becoming eco-conscious!