Time to Talk Green

I think it's time to start talking about our impact on the environment. I can't NOT talk about it anymore. It's on my mind every minute of everyday, the background mind chatter to everything that I do. Americans are the biggest consumers of resources per capita, and I've heard that we need to cut our consumption by 90% in order to avoid disastrous environmental effects. Ninety percent! How is that possible? I don't know, but I want to start exploring ideas and discussing options here. I don't think we can wait for our government to come to the rescue. I think whatever change happens is going to happen at a grassroots level, which has always been the case with societal change historically.

Colin Beavan's No Impact Man blog and Greenpa's Little Blog in the Big Woods have made a big impression on me. They've got me thinking about different ways to live. I also like Alex Martin's Little Brown Dress blog, which got me thinking about clothes, and what I really need as opposed to what I might want.

I already stopped hiking in the mountains everyday, because I feel like I can't justify the use of gasoline to get there. It's nice to be in nature, but it's a luxury, and I can just as easily walk in my neighborhood for exercise.

And what about art supplies? They're mostly toxic stuff. What are we going to do about that?

I have lots of questions and not a lot of answers, but I'm hoping that together we can open a dialog and begin to see our way clear to some practical solutions for some of these problems.