I think of Leonardo DiCaprio Everyday
Yes. It's true. I think of Mr. '11th Hour' daily. It's not like I'm some crazy stalker person. I'm not. Sure he's nice enough looking, but really it's not like that. It's simply this.
Back in 2005 I saw DiCaprio on Oprah (probably one of the last time's I actually sat and watched that show) and he was talking about living green. He explained that it's not a life over hauling thing. It doesn't have to be expensive or complicated. There are a million and one ways to go about your daily life living greener that actually do make an impact. The way we live has to change and it can be changed. I was riveted. I am all for bettering the planet but it does seem rather confusing sometimes doesn't it? Organic or not? Local vs. convenience of the grocery store. Hybrid car price vs. lower priced more polluting vehicle?
So I listened to Leo and decided from here on out I'm changing things. It was slow going at first. I unplug all the items in our house that don't need to run all day like the coffeemaker, radios, cell phone chargers, hair dryers, the list goes on. Even lamps. If it's not on it shouldn't be sucking energy. We changed out the light bulbs and have bought energy efficient appliances as the old ones died out. We stopped using plastic bags and bought the stores cloth ones. And you know what? It wasn't all in a day. It was over time. Each step I made had me feeling better and wanting to do more. Before I knew it we were shopping locally when possible. Buying earth/people friendly cleaners, using less water, less paper, eating less meat (very energy inefficient to produce it) and are driving less. If it's nice out I'd rather walk than spend the gas to go to the gym.
I even grow herbs now. Freaky isn't it? The change has been on-going and through it I'm more aware of my daily actions in life and how I treat myself and others. I'm reluctant to call myself some granola munching-tree hugging-do gooder who poo poos everyone else. That is NOT what I'm saying. I'm only re-emphasizing the idea that one small step, one little action has an impact. If we all pick a few things to help preserve this planet it will benefit us in so many more ways than we can imagine.
So each time I unplug my coffeemaker I think of Leo and those first few galvanizing thoughts he put in my head.
Some great sites for making those small changes-
Low Impact Living
Pristine Planet
target="_blank">Izzy Mom's Thoughts on Things and some Good Links
No Impact Man- One Man's Quest
And they say celebrity's can't endorse a cause. Heh.
This is so true! We are doing similar things at our house. It takes a while, but once you start, it's not so bad. We've given up plastic bags and also purchased aluminum bottles for the kid's lunch and when we go on a trip. No more plastic bottles!
ReplyDeleteOne of the biggest things I would love to see change is our country's reliance on cars. I like cars, and of course I appreciate their uses, but it would be nice to walk more and bike more (safely) in places where this could be done, and there are many. It would also help our nations growing obesity epidemic, which I find quite scary. There are many out there who don't do anything physical besides driving to work.