Thoughts on why some people latch onto trendy diets and lifestyles more easily than onto green living
Why is it that some diet and lifestyle trends -- low-fat, low-carb, and so on -- seem to attract followers more easily than green living, which is inherently natural, healthy and good for the planet? I think it's because trends involve basically simple formulas or rules -- don't eat this, do eat that -- while green living requires much more thought and individual decision-making.
Do you eat meat or not? For one person, maybe, it depends on whether the cow or hen was sustainably raised and naturally fed. For someone else who's decided the amount of energy required to produce meat isn't worth the environmental cost, it's a different decision.
And then there are the decisions beyond simple food: How do you power and heat your house? How do you travel to work? How will you reduce your carbon footprint? Will you eschew buying new when used will do? And on and on and on.
In a nutshell, green living requires far more mindfulness than any lose-weight or healthy-living trend that asks only that you buy this particular cookbook, or take these particular dietary supplements. It takes more effort, but that's why -- in the end -- it's far more worthwhile. The payoffs -- in terms of your own health, that of your family and that of the world we live in -- are far, far greater.
