Act Green by Changing Wasteful Habits

I am convinced that all of us do our little part in whatever small or big way to be environmentally conscious a.k.a GREEN. But every so often we fall into the trap of “buying green” versus “acting green”. I have. It didn’t require much thought to switch over to paper towels and toilet paper that are made from post-consumer content. Yet, I was tearing up a whole square of paper towel to pick up a speck of dirt (fine, I exaggerate but you get what I mean, right?)

The issue is not that we are consuming products that are non-organic or not made of “xx% post-consumer recycled materials” or are not “green”. The issue is that we continue CONSUMING, period.

I hate to be so blunt but switching to eco-friendly products without reducing your energy consumption is not “GREEN” or environmentally-friendly. It’s a band-aid solution of sorts. We discard all the incandescents in our home (even when they’re working) and buy new CFLs. We replace all our non-energy-efficient appliances and buy new “Energy Star” rated ones. Not only are we sending truck loads of “stuff” to the landfills but we are supporting the “consumerism” economy. I came across a post by Greenhome.com and the infographic (developed by eLocal.com) they referred to (see below) does a great job of highlighting this issue.

Source: eLocal.com

I’m not so sure I would go so far as asking my guests to “let it mellow if it’s yellow” but there’s merit to the intention behind it. Having shorter showers (I’m guilty for not following through this and I will change, I promise), turning off the lights when not in the room are simple things that we should seriously consider looking into.

After all, it’s the small steps that make a big difference! 🙂