Green Living: Less is Best

One of the most common topics of discussion today is that of Global Warming and what can be done to slow it. Global warming is caused by carbon based gases being released into the atmosphere. These gases are creating a “greenhouse effect” by trapping heat and radiating it back to the earth. The result is that the earth’s climate is getting warmer with significant, potentially cataclysmic consequences for life on earth. Green living is the collection of remedies and changes that can be made to reduce the amount of carbon based gases in the atmosphere thereby slowing and possibly stopping global warming.

Pollution control and conservation efforts have been around for decades but have predominantly focused on industry as the culprit. The truth, however, is that industry only exists and pumps these gases into the atmosphere in such alarming levels because of consumer demand. Green living is the awareness that each one of us makes up that consumer demand and that very small changes to how we live can have a very huge impact on the levels of greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere.

Green living is more than just an awareness, it’s about empowering individuals to participate in correcting a global problem at the individual level. Changes like using organic products, washing clothes in cold water instead of hot, lowering our thermostats 2 degrees, turning off electrical appliances, driving hybrid vehicles, and even driving less are all easy, individual choices that we can make to help combat global warming and pollution. Green living is ultimately about recognizing the fact that each human leaves an eco-footprint that impacts the earth and it is therefore each human’s responsibility to do what he/she can to minimize that impact.