A Green Journey

Ethically speaking, we should all do more for the environment. We are guests on this earth. As guests, we should be cleaning up after ourselves. What messes we leave on earth now, will affect it in the future. There is no housekeeping to follow us around and clean up after us. It is our responsibility to do that. It is surprising how gradual changes to a greener life can lead you to do more and more. I am not by any means as eco-friendly as I should be. I tend to be lackadaisical about being greener. I fail to take proactive measures more often than not to help reduce or prevent my impact on the environment.

The simplest area overlooked is, as always, recycling. In a day and age when most places have recycling bins for your plastic and paper goods, it seems odd that no one uses these bins as often as one should. The post office has blue recycling containers for paper goods, college campuses do, and even grocery stores have them for the plastic bags they hand out. Not that long ago recycling your trash at home was “difficult” in that you had to do certain items on certain weeks. I think the amount of rules deterred potential recyclers. However, many companies have switched to the ease of single-stream recycling.

I am that horrible person who has great intentions to recycle, and does not do so enough. I bought cloth grocery bags, only to forget them at home every single time. I have over 50 plastic bags sitting in my cabinet, because I feel guilty just throwing them out. I love single-stream recycling, and yet I never recycle enough. I keep forgetting to order a bin, so I try to put as much recyclables out in whatever cardboard box I have on hand. The journey to being green is not always easy. I am proud of my most recent accomplishment, which has helped eliminate hundreds of plastic water bottles a month. I finally purchased a water filter for my faucet. It was indeed the best purchase I have made in a long time. This is the first eco-friendly move I have made that I have actually stuck with.

Although there is more to being green than just recycling, it is a good starting point. I may be lagging behind others in the quest for green, but each small step I take is better than not taking one at all. I need to become more aware of what I am doing, and take efforts to remember my cloth grocery bags and calling the disposal company for a bin to place my recycling in. I am going to ask my landlord to turn my hot water down, as it is practically boiling hot and is therefore wasting energy. There are so many more options out there now to be green, from cleaners to recycled paper towels and now even trash bags. I am out of excuses for myself, and I bet most other people are too.

Filed under: Green Ethics by Christina
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