The Dawn of Environmental Consciousness

So... I've been extremely into politics lately (with the Obama campaign) and one of the issues that I've fallen in love with is "Saving the Earth".

Everyone is talking "GREEN" these days, including Oprah. I watched the Al Gore report on global warming and the effects of pollution and instantly felt like I was committing a sin by not having acknowledged how horribly we're (American's especially) impacting our Earth.

I took a trip to Europe a few years ago and was amazed at how the people there used public transit with pride and used the recycle bins to discard their trash. I didn't see styrofoam or plastic containers for to-go food. Most places used real plates for dine-in and paper containers for to-go food. Every place had bike racks for cyclists and people walked where they wanted to go.

I remember becoming upset with myself for attempting to imitate the same eco-friendly things I saw in Europe but failed a few weeks later. I reverted back to eating on styrofoam plates, drinking from pic-nic cups, and driving my car to the store only half a mile away.

In addition to the intolerable guilt feeling that overcomes me when I see myself being wasteful... I also am encouraged to become Green due to the sky-rocketing gas prices. My trusty Honda Civic is relatively fuel efficient getting a whopping 35 miles per gallon!!! However, 35 MPG means absolutely nothing if I'm paying $66.00 a gallon at the pump. I'd much rather beat the system before the system beats me.

My mind races as I think of all the things I want to do at the dawn of my environmental consciousness! I want to do it all but understand that I need to take baby steps if this is to be a REAL life change. I'm going to do little things and keep my Green diary on this blog.

My Green Goals for this week...
1. Start getting educated on being Green- read books, articles, websites
2. Buy a recycling bin for my household
3. Get acquainted with my local recycling center
4. Walk to local places (i.e. the gym)
5. Better utilize public transit by riding the Express Marta Bus to the train station
6. Buy and utilize reusable, cloth (cotton) grocery bags


For those of you who want to take this journey with me... here are some sites to get you started:
http://www2.oprah.com/world/enviro/green/green_main.jhtml
http://www.algore.com/
www.itsmarta.com/
http://earth911.org/