Green Living
Every parent wants the best for their children; especially in the environment they will be raising their family. Green living helps ensure the planet you create for your green kids will be healthy, happy and sustainable. If nothing else, green living can help simplify and reduce clutter in your current lifestyle.
As you raise your family, green living will become a part of them, just as naturally as the language you speak, the food you eat and the values you instill on your children. Making conscious efforts towards green living, as small as recycling or as large as a solar powered house, will make an enormous impact on the Earth. So, how can you get started? The four most important steps are:
- Eating healthy
- Choosing green cleaning products
- Using green transportation as often as possible
- Reduce, reuse and recycle
Sustainable Eating Habits
Eating well is a goal for many people, not just those interested in green living. The major difference between a diet and sustainable eating is the latter is a lifestyle, not a quick fix. You don’t have to clear out your cupboards and raid your freezer, but making small changes in your eating habits over time will improve your green health, the quality of your life and the conditions for the fruits, vegetables and meats you choose to eat. The easiest steps you can take are:
- Eat less or no meat
- Buy locally sourced food
- Grow your own fruits and vegetables
- Choose sustainable options for fish and meats – http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/seafoodwatch.aspx
Clean Green
If you wear gloves, a mask and rubber boots to clean your bathroom with your current cleaning supplies, it may be time to overhaul the products you use. Incorporating natural cleaning products benefits the environment and promotes green health in your house. You may even have some of these solutions around your house already:
- Baking soda and vinegar – cleans drains
- Hydrogen peroxide – get smudges off your keyboard
- Lemon juice – keeps garbage disposals smelling fresh
- Club soda – get stains out of shirts, cleans sinks
- Cornstarch – clean grease spills on carpets
- Rubbing alcohol – remove permanent marker from wood
People were cleaning before harsh chemicals came along, so try your mother’s remedies and see what works best for you.
Green Travel
Whenever possible, a key to green living is to use as little transportation as possible. If you can go without using your car for just one day a week, you will greatly reduce your carbon footprint for the entire month. If you must commute, there are plenty of green travel options including:
- Public transportation
- Ride-share services
- Hybrid cars
- Ride a bike! (or walk)
Planning your trips will also reduce emissions and the amount of time in the car. If you plan all of your errands in the same direction, you will backtrack less, which means less gas used and greener living! Gas prices are reaching an all-time high so not only will green travel enhance your green living, but also save you moola.
Small steps to a small footprint
In the grand scheme of things, if we all try just a little bit each day to reduce our waste production, green living will be the norm and pollution will be minimized. Green health today will keep our planet in a livable condition for the green kids of the future. Be sure to read more about green travel, green health and eco friendly tips to get started!
