I am very concerned about global warming and other effects human beings are having on our planet. I choose green alternatives to reduce my carbon footprint. I think this new push for "green living" is a good thing only in that it is raising awareness that we need to make changes. But, like everything else, it has become just another way for companies to make more money. It seems to me that going green means consuming less, not needing to buy more "green" products.
I remember as a kid thinking...Green Day?, recycling...global warming...that'll be when none of us are living...wrong. Its happening right now. I'm starting to become more aware of the natural disasters that are occuring and realizing that I am contributing to it. So I have to make a change. It won't happen over night but I am trying.
I am trying to go green beause I want there to be a clean world for my grandchild to enjoy. So much illness seems to be letting us know we have to watch what we do it does affect others.
__________________ Before you Act: Listen
Before you react: Think
Before you spend: Earn
Before you criticize: Wait
Before you pray: Forgive
Before you quit: Try
Like Kathy I ,too, am concerned about globalwarming. Being green means to consume less, make things last more(buy things that will last), find another use for something before you get rid of it(recycle, freecycle) & not just buy something "green" if it means getting rid of something you already have that is still usable. I have replaced some of my lights with CFL's but I still have regular bulbs & I refuse to just throw them away. Waste makes no sense.
I also hate that just because something is green it is 2-3x the price. If the companies price their products more reasonably, people will buy them. We want to "do the right thing" , we just don't want to be "taken".
Gloria
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We all need to help save our planet before it's too late
I am concerned about global warming. I think if each of us made small steps it would add up to significant impacts.
I like to recycle, doesn't make sense to me to waste or throw out something that can be reused. Plastics recycling is a big thing for me. I won't buy zip loc baggies. I use wax paper and I use only 2 rolls of plastic wrap a year and would like to get it to none. It bugs me that dairy containers aren't recyclable in our area. It bugs me that we recycle only 30% of what we could in this area. Where are people's heads at? Dont' they care?
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Ellen in PA
"God has not given us a spirit of fear; but of love, power, and a sound mind."
I reuse everything that I can. I am a stickler about recycling things none of them go in my trash. I even pick things up off the side of the road when I am walking my g-son down to bus stop in the mornings. A week or so ago I was coming back and had two soda bottles in my hand and the truck was coming back down to leave my street the guy stopped the truck for me to throw the bottles in. And he thanked me for picking them up these were the small ones not 2 liters ones. I even have my g-dau next door who spends a lot of evenings over here with me, asking before she throws anything away if it is recycle or trash lol. Training her right God bless all
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Thought for the Day If you didn't start your day with a smile, its not too late to start practicing for tomorrow.~~~God Bless All
I reduce, reuse, recycle to keep the household budget down and keep items out of the landfill.
My town has a Spring Clean Up week where they will take anything and everything away. People set out their "junk" early and the trash pickers come and take what they want so it doesn't end up in a landfill.
I have always been somewhat "green" even before it had a name... My parents never wasted anything. As a kid, I'd scrub those "disposable" broiler pans ten times over till they nearly disintrigated, and then my dad would cut them into strips to hang in the vegatable garden to scare birds away. We grew our own seasonal veggies, and had a cut flower garden and an herb garden. We had a HUGE apple tree in the back yard and my mom baked and made sauce and apple butter... My folks called it a "victory garden". They began growing victory gardens during WWII. but I think my parents attitude began growing up during the depression.
From them I learned (to my dismay) that there was always a way to reuse everything (I never heard of paper plates or cups till I was in college! lol) and rareley got "new" anything growing up. My mom even sewed my Barbie doll clothes from household scraps. ( I loved that) It wasn't because we were poor, it was because we were "responsible"
... Now, many of you may think that was a normal lifestyle, but remember that I grew up in an urban attached row house in The Bronx, with a postage-stamp of a back yard, and we were considered unsophisticated and odd.
In my home now we have an tankless hot water heater, solar powered outdoor lights and a cistern system for watering the gardenee. We use compact flourescent bulbs throughout our house, our heat and AC rarely go past 68 in winter, and 78 in summer.. We recycle and repurpose just about everything, and do not use herbacids in our garden. All our fixtures are low water consumption, and we recycle clothing, not only from family to family but also to charities who actually use them., rather than shred them to rags. I shop in consignment stores, and will rework leftovers again and again to reduce the ammount of food we waste. I will buy organic fruits and veggies, but only when we would eat the food without peeling it.. I do not buy "green" products.. Way too costly.. but I do use plant-oil based cleaners and baking soda, vinegar and lemon juice a lot. Laundry is done with peroxide rather than chlorine.. And I honestly can't say why I do it.. but basically.. why not? It doean't require any effort.. saves a lot of money, and sets an example for my kids that I want them to follow.
I remember hearing a long time ago that we are not masters of the earth, but stewards of the planet. Our job is guardianship of a legacy for future ganerations. I think it was a Rabbi discussing "tikkun olam" (the healing of the world.) It is the cog on which all of Jewish social advocacy turns. It is basically the main commandment that is expected of us all.. I guess that's why I feel the "green" life is my life.
Ellen in PA 
