The Fight To Save Ourselves and Our Planet

Many of you out there are fueling yourself with green goodness that has come, gratefully, from our beautiful, vibrant Earth. These plants have helped regenerate, energize and empower your body to live life to its fullest. There isn’t a doubt that consuming greens on a regular basis does a body good.

However, what about the other kind of green? Green meaning “eco-friendly”.

The act of consumption comes in all shapes and sizes. We often strive to limit the food we consume, yet we might not limit ourselves in other ways. Watching a lot of television, buying more of something than you need/use, or driving places that you could easily walk or bike are some basic ways we can easily create waste. No matter what the waste may be; time, money or pollution, it attributes to the relationship we have with ourselves as well as with our world. Not to mention, the physical damage we may be causing to Earth as a result of our autopilot habits.

According to the Plastic Pollution Coalition:

• Per year, 17 million barrels of oil are used to make water bottles (enough to fuel 1 million cars every year).
• Plastic outnumbers sea life 6 to 1 (and that’s only from the ocean’s surface).
• 93% of Americans have BPA in their bodies

“Before the Flood,” a new documentary by National Geographic, follows Leonardo DiCaprio around the world, highlighting the truths of our world’s current state due to this over-consumption.

While Earth still continues to provide us these natural gifts for our bodies, she is rapidly losing her vibrancy. The colors of our beautiful, green and blue Earth are fading and growing more stains from the marks of smog, plastic, trash and oil.

Instead of continuing in our ways, with an internal sigh of discouragement, let’s make an effort to do the work to regenerate, energize and empower our Earth like she does for us.

One person can truly make a difference. Be the change.

Here are a Few Ways to Start:

• Think before you buy, and buy used if appropriate
• Use dishwashers when you have a lot of dishes to wash, they cut energy in half, demand less soap and only use one-sixth of the water than hand-washing
• Refuse plastic whenever you can (straws at restaurants, take-out food utensils, convenient store bags, etc)
• Use reusable (non-plastic) water bottles, utensils and to-go containers
• Make your own cleaning products
• Cut the junk mail and opt for paperless when possible
• Cut down AC use with ceiling fans
• Reduce (or eliminate) meat consumption. Only eat ethically sourced meat if at all. 20% of greenhouse gas emissions come from the meat industry (even more reason to cut down on meat eating and up your green drinking). Also, grass-fed cattle emit less gas than grain-fed cattle.
• Use power strips – they can help prevent “empty energy” leaks from wall sockets
• Shorten shower time or take a bath
• Skip the blow-dry, when you can
• Find eco-alternatives to gift wrap, greeting cards and party decor on Pinterest
• Buy and consume products that can be multi-functional, like Coconut Oil that is product for beauty, health and food
• Walk or bike instead of drive, when you can
• Compost!