Thoughts on how to enter the New Year with a realistic, sustainable and green perspective on life.
With the New Year just days away, most of us are probably thinking about ways to improve ourselves in 2008. Lose weight. Exercise more. Read more. Save more. Eat better. And on and on.
Rather than adopt such piecemeal resolutions, though, I believe it's more productive to make it my New Year's goal to live as environmentally responsibly as possible. That resolution, if followed, automatically makes all the other typical resolutions come true too.
How? Well, if you're following a truly green lifestyle, you're eating fewer processed foods, buying more local produce, consuming less meat and maybe even growing some of your own food in a backyard or container garden. All the latest research on diet and health tells you that means you'll be healthier and, most likely, lose weight too.
If you're aiming to be as environmentally responsible as possible, you'll also walk or cycle more than drive. Again, more exercise, better fitness, less weight.
Reducing your consumption of unnecessary goods, or buying used when you really need something, is not only environmentally kind but kind on your wallet as well. So you save money by trying to be more green.
And what about the resolution to read more? If you've made living green a personal goal already, you know that it helps to continually inform and enlighten yourself. The more you know, the more green you can be. (Just be sure to choose books from the library or used bookstores whenever possible, to conserve on resources ... and money.)
Clearly, the best resolution for the New Year is to live as green as possible. That done, many of your other goals just naturally fall into place.
On that note, best wishes to all for a happy, healthy and prosperous -- in the greenest of ways -- New Year!
