Being GREEN or Eco Friendly

This is an article that I found in March honoring Earth Day.  I believe every person should live with the idea that every day is earth day.  We all need to help preserve the wonderful gifts Mother Nature has bestowed on us and save our world for future generations.  Hopefully we will all make room for a new practice or two.

Happy Earth Day!

In honor of Earth Day, I thought I'd share some interesting/cool links I've seen over the past few months. I created a fictional nonprofit program for a course with a few really bright ladies - our focus was creating workshops where people in the community could dialogue about green living ideas, tips, and facts. In evaluating the reasons for potential funders to adopt such a program, we had to find some evidence of need. I've come across a lot of great stuff lately - while the 'green' movement is picking up somewhat and attitudes are changing, we found that actions are much harder to change. I believe it... my bags have been sitting in my study for 3 weeks waiting to be recycled. Eco-guilt is on the rise, and community accountability can help us to make changes and kick the guilt. Some thoughts:

• From a recent google buzz - Most plastic bags take over 400 years to biodegrade. Plastic bags cause over 100,000 sea turtle and other marine animal deaths every year when animals mistaken them for food.

• If each U.S. home replaced just one of its incandescent bulbs with a CFL, the electricity saved each year could light 3 million homesand prevent greenhouse gas emissions equal to that of 800,000 cars. 

• Apartment Therapy is an interesting site with eco-friendly tips for apartment-dwellers. Sometimes it feels like a lot of 'green' decisions are made by homeowners only (energy-efficient appliances, gardening and planting trees, etc.), but there is a lot that renters can do as well! We can control our use of utilities, recycle, and even plant indoor gardens!

• Speaking of gardens, indoor gardens are apparently all the rage! I found an interesting site on hydroponic gardening, but it just seemed too complicated! In the meantime, there's always upside-down tomato planters, indoor herb gardens, and the much-coveted Aerogarden.

• I was recently told that Cleveland has the second largest urban farming movement in America! I wasn't exactly sure what that looked like, but it makes sense when you consider Cleveland's abundance of land and history of innovative horticultural programs. In fact, I just now came acrossLocalFoodCleveland.com - an action network to encourage Cleveland's local food market!