Right now we’re experiencing a HUGE push to ‘go green’ – or minimize our impact on our planet. This includes things like using reusable water bottles instead of disposable ones, composting your organic materials at home, and buying local products over imported products. Since going green is all about saving our environment, other than a sense of virtue, what’s in it for you?
I really suggest you visit sites like Treehugger and Planet Green – they both have guides on going green one area of your life at a time. You’ll probably be surprised at who small steps you can take in order to make a big difference – I know I was!
One of the most important things to do is to not let these sites make you feel guilty. Instead, view it as an opportunity to review your life and your lifestyle and have some insight into the impact that you’re having. I personally love the idea of reusable water bottles. I have a couple very stylish ones made of stainless steel and aluminum that are pretty, keep my water cooler longer (important in the desert) and keep me from asking whether or not a bottle is mine or if it’s someone else’s. It also supports my using my water dispenser instead of buying water by the bottle at the grocery. So I’m saving money, being stylish, and enjoying cooler water. Not a bad adjustment to make at all!
As I said, this gives you the opportunity to go through you life looking at little things you wouldn’t even think to look at and decide whether they fit the overall idea of who you are. Not all suggestions are going to suit you and that’s okay. But you may discover ways of doing thing that you didn’t even realize there were other options for. You can go through them, decide what fits you and what you would like to change, come up with ideas on how you would like things to be, and see if you’re willing to put the effort in. And you just might come up with some goals that you want to work towards!
Lastly, this gets you to thinking about your relationship with our planet and the rest of nature. It’s hard to really ‘get in touch’ with the nature and beauty around us if you aren’t actively searching for what your relationship is. So, give it a shot, check it out, and see what your relationship with the world around you is and what you would like it to be.
How has ‘going green’ or not effected your spirituality and relationship with nature?
