I am just thrilled to have Kristina Ross from Save on Energy with us today. I don’t know about you, but I have been floundering on how to live and promote a “green lifestyle.” I want to do what is best for our environment and I want my daughter to grow up caring for the planet but truthfully I haven’t trusted that enough of us will make the needed change. Kristina shows us how building a shared trust can make a difference.
You can’t fake trust. It’s something innate within us – something so ineffably powerful that the best we can hope to do is feel it rather than try to explain it. For those of us who have been paying attention to the melting ice caps and steadily climbing world temperatures, the concept of trust is particularly relevant. If we can’t trust one another to do what it takes to heal our environment, where will our earth be one hundred – or even fifty years from now?
Our society is as in need of a green overhaul as it’s ever been, and thankfully, we have the power to make it happen. Here are five easy ways we can build a shared trust in our commitment to a healthier earth:
Find family-friendly green activities. Take a walk, have a picnic or head out to the park. Just try to avoid vegging out in front of the TV or computer all day and glopping up mounds of electricity. Even spending some time to have a real, earnest conversation with your mom, dad, brother or sister can help you grow or reconnect without the environmental burden you’d otherwise expend if you were glued to your electronics.
Make a pact. Pick a close friend or relative and make a pact to be greener. Set benchmarks or give yourself rewards for achieving certain goals. For example, see if you can go a month without using the clothes dryer or buying bottled water. If you can both look each other in the eye and say you did it, treat yourselves to a night out. You’ll automatically create a bond between the two of you that hinges upon your dedication to the cause.
Join a community project. It’s important to be able to rely on your immediate community – your neighbors, your school teachers, your policemen. Take some time out of your day to work alongside your community members on an environmentally-geared project. Join in on a neighborhood-wide clean-up or start farming on a communal plot. You’ll gain the privilege of meeting people from all walks of life, and you’ll do it in a manner that’s beneficial to our earth’s wellbeing.
Shake it up. There’s no one you trust more than your closest friends – the ones that truly know you through and through. One of the reasons you’ve become so close to them is your mutual adherence to routine; you shop at the same places, you go to the same restaurants, you hold the same interests. So why not shake it up a bit? Expand your relationship with something new and green. If you’re part of a book club, try reading environmentalist literature this go-round. If you’re runners at heart, try going on a trash run. Surprisingly, you might learn something new about one another.
Take it to work. Every happy, healthy company requires a working trust among its employees. One of the best ways to cultivate a green, dependable atmosphere, by organizing some intra-office competition. See which departments are the most nature friendly by tracking their recycling progress, keeping tabs on their carbon emissions, or however you want to go about doing it.
Truthfully, the trick to building a greener basis of trust is by being proactive. Trust is at least a two-man operation, so you’re going to have to put some effort into it if you expect to get anything back. Try these five tips to start!
Kristina Ross is a freelancer and blogger with SaveOnEnergy.com. More importantly, she’s a mother, a wife and an off-and-on dedicated yogi. Her policy has been and always will be the same: the more puppies the better.
VERY inspiring–Thank you, Kristina! One of my guide words for the year is seasonal, and with this living more in turn with nature and living more eco-aware. :o)