Happy New Year!
Are you a New Years Resolution person? I’m not, but I find myself trying a juice cleanse this year. And, I have run right up against my wavering willpower. “Wavering,” you ask? Yes, I find, when I do something just because it’s the right thing its much harder to hold myself to task unless there are immediate payoffs.
It made me think. My wavering willpower is not unlike wanting to help the environment but not wanting to be inconvenienced for a payoff that isn’t immediate or immediately obvious. (Not that we want to wait until we’re living in pea-soup air, though, right? I hope China’s air and farmland soil pollution problems continue to serve as a cautionary tale.)
We externalize a lot of our waste and pollution. In big ways by moving factories overseas and in small, local ways, such as garbage pickup. It would be so much easier (and possibly scarier) if there was a visual, or tangible cause-and-effect for all of our individual actions.
Think about it. What if our car exhaust was pumped directly back into our cars? That might make us think twice about a quick run to the store, right? Or, what if there was no garbage pickup and we had to live with the garbage we produced. That might slow down spending and increase creative reuse ideas.
While scientists are still crunching the numbers and projecting various years and temperatures, most of us know enough to want to change our lifestyle to reduce our impact on the planet. To help with any green lifestyle changes you’d like to make, here are some resources to help keep you on track in uncertain times:
- Ocean Conservancy’s free mobile app Rippl
- Practically Green uses social media to keep you motivated
- Carbon Rally shows you the positive impact you’re making as well as other people around the globe
- 10 Ways to Reduce Plastic in Your Life and on the Planet
- 3 Ways to Improve Your Diet and Protect the Earth
Hopefully those links help with any of your earth-saving green resolutions. I’m off to cut up some veggies for a beet, apple, carrot juice. Happy 2014!!
