Happy St. Patricks day to all!
March 17th is a special day for me as it is my great grandmothers birthday. All though she passed some years back today she would be 111, born in 1898.
Nana was a great woman who grew up during the great depression and dustbowl days of the early 1900's. No matter what, she always had a great outlook because she had seen so much and been through so much.
I think there are a lot of parallels that can be drawn from yesteryear to now. Certainly the economic conditions are an easy one. As well as the drought many western states are seeing right now.
But also, there was this little thing going on back then called The Industrial Revolution. Although it was near the end if not the end of the Industrial revolution by the late 1800's and as the great depression began to take hold. People looked back to the ways they had lived prior to Industry and the technology taking over.
More specifically, people looked back to their environment and started to realize the damage and destruction that had taken place on the precious natural resources of our country.
The result? The birth of the environmental movement.
Early on in 1848, Henry David Thoreau published his book Walden. As you may recall, it told of Thoreau's two-year living experiment in the woods near Walden Pond. Shortly after, John Muir founded the Sierra Club in 1892. Two decades later William Hornaday published "Our Vanishing Wildlife" in 1913. Prompted by the incredible decimation of the American Buffalo this book was truly one of the first to shed light on the subject and the loss of certain species throughout the plains of America West.
So what am I getting at here? You can look at history and say that some incredible things spurred out of the great depressions(despite incredible hardships of many) and the post industrial revolution era's.
I believe this is much like the "Green Movement" of current. When masses of people are challenged, great things happen. The increased focus on renewable energies such as Solar Power, Fossil Fuel alternatives such as Bio Diesel. And although as members of this great country we don't individually have a lot of disposable income right now to spend on "greening" our lives. The eco friendly movement carries on and companies at all levels are working to come up with ways to make great products that improve not only our lives but more importantly our environment!
So on this day, as my great grandma would say, remember good things are happening and everything will be ok! (Thanks Nana!)
Before we countdown the top 10 ways to green your life, I'd like to welcome Greenandmore.com to the Maku furniture family. The Green and more crew has tons of great ways to green your life!
So lets get to the countdown of the top 10 ways to Green your life (inexpesively)
10. Replace your lightbulbs with newer ones that use less energy and last longer.
9. Look at your watering habits throughout your yard. Is water running off or are sprinklers hitting the sidewalk or street? Believe it or not the majority of home water consumption is spent on the lawn... Check those sprinklers - save water and save money!
8. Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle those cans and plastics so they are reintroduced back into the supply chain. This does lower the cost on goods as recycled technology continues to improve.
7. Use only the lights you need to in your house or office. If you aren't in the room, turn em' off or better yet get your company to buy these.
6. Plant a tree!
5. Switch to eco friendly soaps and personal care products
4. Unplug your life - Americans pay $1 billion a year to power our televisions and VCRs while they're turned off.
3.Get rid of Junk mail - Get off those catalog lists and the countless catalogs you look at once and then pitch. Instead Get on line and use the World Wide Web to reduce deforestation. Heck isn't that why Al Gore invented the internet...(hahaha)
2. Reusable Bags
and for the number 1 way to green your life, feel better, and get in shape (Drum roll please!)
*** Park the car and ride your bike to work 1 day a week. As spring approaches it's a great way to reduce emissions and get back in shape for summer!***
I'm off to enjoy a beer and a shot of Irish whiskey in honor of my great grandma. So today on this wonderful St. Paddy's day 2009 I leave you with this limerick of limericks:
"The limerick packs laughs anatomical
In space that is quite economical
But the good ones I've seen
So seldom are clean
And the clean ones so seldom are comical!"
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