Hoping for a Green December

One of the purposes of this blog is to provide information so that you can make informed decisions based on your beliefs and hopes for the future.  In that light, I'd like to talk about Hopenhagen and 350.org.  Both of these organizations are bringing attention to the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP15) in December. Each organization is taking a unique way to build grassroots support to send a strong message to our world leaders that it is time for a change.

Hopenhagen offers you the opportunity to share a message about what gives you hope in the world.  You can see messages from individuals all over the world.  It asks all of us to contact our leaders and let them know that we expect tangible changes to come out of COP15.  For all you Facebook members, you can get your Hopenhagen passport by checking off green things you do and earning points.  Go on out there and put me to shame.  http://www.hopenhagen.org/.

350.org held an international day of climate change on October 24th.  They asked people all over the world to gather people together to spell out "350" and take a picture of it.  So what's so special about 350?  Well,  scientists state that 350 parts per million CO2 in the atmosphere is the safe limit for humanity.  We currently are at 387ppm.  That is a sobering number.  Visit their website to see an amazing picture gallery of the world's citizens asking for a healthier environment.

My hope is that people start paying attention and educate themselves.  We need to make a change before it is too late.  We are already 10.5% over what scientist believe is a healthy CO2 level for humans.  I'd like to be a part of the generation that changes the way we live so that all the future generations can live in a healthy and clean environment.  It's time.

Why be green?

Apparently there is some Blog Action Day today where all bloggers are encouraged to write about one topic - today it is climate change.  Fits in nicely with what I wanted to focus on today so here it is!

Everyone needs some motivation to focus on greening their life.  I've found that it isn't one thing that motivates me to make changes in my life but that I need several:

• Benefits to our planet, the environment, society and the ability to leave something better for future generations - Unless you are Mother Theresa, that isn't always personal enough to push you to make the effort day in and day out.  I've found I need more personal motivations; it's the "what's in it for me" piece of the puzzle.  
• Saving money - We use less by trying to live a green lifestyle. We focus on consuming less so we end up buying less which saves us money. We do buy organic foods which can be more expensive but we eat out less because we don't want to let the food go to waste.
• Living a healthier lifestyle - We are eating less processed foods, foods with no pesticides and I'm cleaning with natural products that don't bring strong chemicals into the home.
• Competitive spirit - By nature, I'm a competitive person so I get excited by seeing how little garbage and how much recycling we had for the week. A new motivation this summer was seeing how many vegetables we could harvest from the garden.  We had a very cool, cloudy summer this year so our bounty of 3 peppers, two zuchini, one cucumber and a handful of red tomatoes and countless green tomatoes isn't all that impressive but it is a start.
• Pride - I know I'm tired of hearing how terrible the world is so it is nice to know that each day I did something that improved the world I'm living in.  Even if it is only within the walls of my house and only my family knows about it, it gives me a sense of pride. 
• Fun - there are a lot of people out there trying to figure out how to make being green more fun.  People will change their habits more easily if they get a little fun out of it.  Watch this video for a great example of that theory put in practice.

What motivation do you have?  I'd like to hear them.

The delicate American buttocks

For my first post I thought I would tackle a very important green issue... toilet paper. I hadn't really given my choice of toilet paper a lot of thought. While my husband had suggested a few times in the grocery aisle that we try the recycled products, I always picked up the Charmin and went about my business.

Then I read an article online in the Guardian newspaper by Suzanne Goldberg that compared Americans love of ultra soft, triple-ply toilet paper to driving a Hummer. Not only did it make me laugh out loud, but it made me think about the high cost of having that "ultra soft" toilet paper experience. According to Greenpeace, 98% of toilet paper in America comes from virgin wood while in Europe and Latin America only 60% comes from virgin wood. Virgin wood fibers are easier to fluff up and provide a softer tissue than recycled paper. Greenpeace even has a recycled tissue and toilet paper index to provide you with all the information needed to make a green toilet paper purchase!  You can find it here.

At what cost do you need your triple-ply double roll ultra soft tissue? I think even Mr. Whipple might agree that it is time to grab the one-ply recycled paper roll. Will the ultra plush toilet paper be the ruin of our environment? Probably not, but if we all make small changes in our lifestyles, we can make big impacts on the environment. Take it from me, I've managed to adjust.

An added bonus I discovered while traveling in Europe recently was that I didn't have that difficult adjustment to the scratchy Eurpoean toilet paper. It felt just like home.