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The Six Principles of Green Living

green livingLiving by “green” principles can be extremely satisfying, but how do you do it? Surely, it’s not by purchasing more “green” products, because buying and using more “things” is all part of the problem.

This Lifehack article has got a great point, though, that a better guide to Green Living might well be David Allen’s Getting Things Done, since the principles of Green Living are not all that different from the principles used to be more productive.

1. Strive for Simplicity: More stuff means more complexity; more upkeep, more keeping track, more things to do. In global terms, it means more wasted resources.

2. Fairness: Much of our consumption-driven market is based on unfairness. If everyone along the chain, from a Bolivian granny making hand-woven grocery bags to the Wal-Mart worker, actually were paid what you’d expect, that hand-woven grocery bag would be out of most people’s price range.

3. Community: If you’ve ever had the pleasure of attending a local farmer’s market, you’ve experienced something few of us do these days: an encounter with a part of your community, an actual living and breathing person, who made that which you’re about to buy.

4. Sustainability: A system is sustainable when the negative outputs of that system are accommodated and turned into positive outputs. However, most of our global production is not sustainable.
    
5. Planning: Planning means looking ahead toward a desired outcome. It also means thinking a little bit about the community that isn’t here yet and dealing fairly with them. The decisions we make now will create the conditions our grandchildren and their grandchildren will have to deal with.

6. Transparency: Planning, community, fairness, and ultimately sustainability require transparency, but most decisions these days are made behind closed doors.

To take Green Living a bit closer to home, I also encourage you to look into the principles of Bau-Biologie. Bau-Biologie is the holistic study of the man-made environment, human health and ecology, and you can use many of their principles to create a healthier indoor environment for yourself and your family.

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Comment on This Article Community Comments (46)
 
 
Posted On Apr 24, 2008

The environmental movement has been hijacked. All we hear is – sustainability – recycling – green – carbon footprint – conservation.


They are attempting to instill a feeling of guilt and shame on us, when they are the ones who are doing severe damage.


The corporations are doing the polluting and the envionrmental damage. And since government is corrupt, they face no consequences.


Monsanto Hid Decades Of Pollution

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A46648-2001Dec31

 
limelemon
Savvy User Savvy User, Joined On 5/2007
limelemon  
Replied

Aaltrude
Moderator User Moderator User Joined On 4/2007
Aaltrude  
 
Posted On Apr 24, 2008
I agree that industry is the major polluter however we will be encouraging industry to continue polluting if we continue to purchase their products. Unfortunately there are members of our society who don't give a stuff. There is one member of my family who works in a corporate job who is only interested in having a large disposable income to live in the best of houses, have the best of everthing, at least one overseas holiday each year etc. People like this are very selfish and only encourage continued pollution.

The continued rise of the human population on this planet is adding to this burden.


katieannpc
Savvy User Savvy User Joined On 2/2007
katieannpc  
 
Posted On Apr 26, 2008
Right on! It irritates me to no end that some companies claim they are "green" when in fact they are using petrolium based, or non-sustainable ingredients, or that "green bag" that was made in China?
 
I have a cleaning business, I make my own cleaners from Essential Oils, vinegar (grain distilled) and baking soda for scouing. I refuse to buy Clorox Green Works - hey, they are still Clorox. Unfortunately, on rare occasions I do have to purchase some items from manufacturers I think are evil....such as my microfiber mop from...Clorox. Yuck. I hated it, but had to have one for a few persnickity wood floors. I do have to make my customers happy! I am not all about the money, it's what I have to do to make ends meet for my family.

Sometimes we do have to strike a balance to take steps toward caring for the earth....it is really hard...everywhere you look there is earth-killing going on under an "organic" or "green" title. Those of us who really do care for the earth look for the deceptions and try to spread the word, and to do the best we can with what we have.

Yet, when it comes right down to it...the #1 Pricipal is the best...and hardest for most people to come to grips with.....Simplicity. We had very little when I was growing up...and now that we have more....geesh, I wish we didn't have so much!


DDS_203
Novice User Novice User Joined On 1/2008
DDS_203  
 
Posted On May 08, 2008

Heaven forbid someone make you feel guilty.  Do you ever use paper towels when a rag would do?  Do you take your own sacks to the grocery store?  Do you always car pool when you can?  Do you drive a gas efficient car?  Do you take two minute showers?  Do you water your lawn?  Do you support golf courses (they are one of the worst offenders)?  Do you turn off the light when you leave the room?  Do you turn off the TV when not really watching it?  Do you reuse bags?  Do you reuse aluminum foil?  Do you reuse plastic cups?  Do you always use up left over food?  Do you keep the A/C set at 78 degrees or above in the summer?  Do you keep the temperature set at 68 degrees or cooler in the winter?  I could go on and on - you get the point



USMom68
Novice User Novice User Joined On 4/2008
USMom68  
 
Posted On May 08, 2008

Nobody can MAKE you feel guilty regardless of what tactics they may use.  You either feel guilty or you don't.  It's your choice.

Even the green companies out there can be some of the most dishonest corporations out there.  They wouldn't be successful if they weren't profitable.  If guilt is working, than using that as a marketing tactic will be used until it doesn't and than the method changes.  Just keep those eyes and ears open.



emoritz
Novice User Novice User Joined On 6/2006
emoritz  
 
Posted On May 08, 2008

Go on YouTube and search for "The Story of Stuff." One of the issues that Annie Leonard addresses is the fact that corporations have grown to be larger than government. Everyone should see this video. It would start a revolution. Remember, "Reduce" and "Reuse" are the first two words in the mantra: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.



Alexis_203
Novice User Novice User Joined On 11/2007
Alexis_203  
 
Posted On May 10, 2008

Corporation greed is no excuse for the citizen to act like a hog.  The citizen has a responsibility to others and that will never change. In this county we are lazy, greedy and grasping. It please us to have the children in other countries suffer and starve so we can have unreasonably cheap goods, TVs in every room, SUVs that guzzle fuel, too much food we don't eat, closets of clothes we don't wear, alcohol and drugs. We spit on every dime of tax we pay for the elderly and infirm and then vomit out our love for God. We create fake wars, slaughter innocents and continue to glut and whine, glut and whine, glut and whine.


 
 
 
Posted On Apr 24, 2008

PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS –


The federal government has proven itself untrustworthy with environmental policy by facilitating polluters, subsidizing logging in the National Forests, and instituting one-size-fits-all approaches that too often discriminate against those they are intended to help.


The key to sound environmental policy is respect for private property rights. The strict enforcement of property rights corrects environmental wrongs while increasing the cost of polluting.


In a free market, no one is allowed to pollute his neighbor's land, air, or water. If your property is being damaged, you have every right to sue the polluter, and government should protect that right. After paying damages, the polluter's production and sale costs rise, making it unprofitable to continue doing business the same way.


http://www.ronpaul2008.com/issues/environment


  


 
limelemon
Savvy User Savvy User, Joined On 5/2007
limelemon  
Replied

MooCrazyTN
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 4/2007
MooCrazyTN  
 
Posted On Apr 24, 2008
This sounds good in theory but it doesn't seem to work where I live. Few people can afford to sue anybody and most won't sue their neighbors regardless. Big corporations always have the upper hand since they have the funds. I know of situations where people's property value was ruined by nasty pig factories but they have been powerless to stop it. They've either moved (losing money) or stayed put and suffered the health consequences. Can you give more details on how we could protect ourselves in real life, especially when polluting is part of a culture? Thanks.


xyzsch
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 10/2006
xyzsch  
 
Posted On May 10, 2008

This is what economists call market failure. Property rights are not well defined in the case of clean air and water, so someone else can usurp your clean air and water wihout paying for it. Coase's theorem, that voluntary bargaining (eg lawsuits) can lead to efficient outcome only works if transactions costs are small. But they are not. It is hard to sue, and even harder to prove that the corporation caused your cancer. It could have happened anyway. So corporations end up polluting for free. So there is a role for government having pollution laws to restrict this bad activity.

Your case for the inefficiency of public lands is much stronger, however. Private firms who use public lands have no incentive to keep it up or to conserve the resource. With private ownership, they have such an incentive.

For intersting reading try: Coase, Ronald "A Problem of Social Cost" Journal of Law and Economics (1960). I believe for an academic article, this is actually readable, and it addresses this debate. This is available at most university libraries.  



happyhippy243
Novice User Novice User Joined On 5/2007
happyhippy243  
 
Posted On May 11, 2008

Speaking of suing, are you aware that your government dollars are being used to help the "big guys" (Big Pharma in particular) - in lawsuits against the drug companies where a teen killed himself and similar situations.  I never knew they could use our tax dollars that way.  What the heck are they doing involving themselves in our only remaining recourse to justice?  I know there is a campaign going under the guise of "get rid of nuisance or frivolous lawsuits" and unfortunately it seems to be very successful.  People aren't asking themselves nuisance by whose definition - a judge can already throw a case out if he deems it frivolous.  

Personally, I have been thinking we need a movement to get the manufacturers to stop using permanent materials (plastic) for items we only use a few minutes or a short while, like water bottles, hamburger boxes, even plastic bags.  They had me fooled for a long time that plastic bags took no more fuel to make than paper but they didn't mention (or know) that the ocean is filling up with plastic and killing birds and probably fish too.  That leeching we worry about with our food is leeching into the ocean in a big way along with the mercury, etc. We can each stop buying those items, but there is little or no alternative so most of us won't stop buying.  But if we contacted the companies en masse (one at a time), and then boycotted if necessary, then they would listen. If one company changed and they got the lion's share of business for being green - the others would soon follow.  I nominate Coca Cola for first company.



sobber
Novice User Novice User Joined On 10/2007
sobber  
 
Posted On May 28, 2008

federal government is nothing, they report to black government which arent one of our kind it consist of aliens/cia/nsa entities so all your why federal gov does what it does make no use, there is coming alien invasion along with 2012 planet x dont get involved in riots over food or gas they are waiting for this so they can put you in guantanamo without lawer to gas you


 
 
 
Posted On May 08, 2008

on't you find it amusingly ironic that the picture of the "all natural" girl has her sitting on a wall made with cement, one of higest chemical-containing construction materials? All of modern industrial society has been inundated and overwhelmed with "pollution for profit" items.

And yes, I agree there should be "Balance in all things"... Also, big business is the biggest polluter, but they react to the demand of the consumer. We can make a difference. Make your next car a 4-cylinder, and get rid of your cell phones. (Are you willing to make sacrifices like that for a better world?)


 
DoctorBill1
Novice User Novice User, Joined On 4/2008
DoctorBill1  
 
 
 
Posted On May 08, 2008

If green living interests you this link is a great read. Micahael Pollan is a journalist that puts out great articles on health, the industrialization of food... and most recently, green living. You might recognize him as the author of "The Omnivore's Dillemma" and "In Defense of Food".

www.nytimes.com/.../20wwln-lede-t.html


 
bryson72
Novice User Novice User, Joined On 5/2008
bryson72  
Replied

JBinTennessee
Novice User Novice User Joined On 12/2007
JBinTennessee  
 
Posted On May 08, 2008

Thanks Bryson -- that's a great article.  I loved "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and need to get my hands on a copy of "In Defense of Food."  (Right now I'm too busy reading "The Vegetable Gardener's Bible" by Edward C. Smith, and getting very inspired!)


 
 
 
Posted On May 08, 2008

I like the gist of this article - individual responsibility and action.  That is what we can all do.  I'm not into blaming gov't, corporations or attempting forced sterilization of the populace!! Oh, my, that just makes it easier for me to chew on my feed lot beef while talking on my cell phone and drinking my 4th cup of cheap Bolivian coffee.  It isn't my fault, so I have no responsibility, so why try to act "green?"

I think the point of the article was to show us we can EACH take INDIVIDUAL responsibility for our effect on the world around us.  We can make simple accommodations that will impact our impact on the world.  That is the point.  Do we make responsible choices?  

Some of what we do at our house:

1. No clothes drying with electricity - except in extreme cases (rain for 2 weeks can make you resort to drying a load of jeans in the dryer).  We use a clothes line, or do laundry before bed and hang it on racks in the house.

2. Wood stove - highly efficient, multi-tasking, Pioneer Maid stove designed and built by the Amish in Canada.  They get paid a fair price, we get renewable energy.  (Not renewable in some areas mind you, but the trees grow fast and are in constant need of thinning on our 80+ acres)  The stove doesn't just heat the house.  It also heats our hot water, humidifies the house, AND cooks our meals.  All for a few pieces of wood daily that needed to be thinned to keep our luscious forest vibrant.  

3.  Lights out - brightness up!  Lights don't need to be on if the windows are large enough and efficient, the wall colors are bright and reflective, and the ceiling is NON-textured, semi-gloss white.  We use little electricity in our 2200 sq ft house.  Gives me a few kilowatts to spare for a computer and internet - one of our electrical splurges. Oh, and NO CFL mercury laden bulbs.  Just incandescents that rarely need to be used.

4.  Vehicles, the right vehicle for the right job.  Yes, that is a Suburban you see in our yard!


 
Zambini
Savvy User Savvy User, Joined On 5/2007
Zambini  
 
 
 
 
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