Happy New Year from The GREEN Connecticut Realtor!
I've been hearing some interesting New Year's resolutions this year, and a lot of the same old ones, but not many GREEN ones. I'm a list-maker myself, so making resolutions for me is more along the lines of making another "TO-DO" list, only more ambitious than my weekly lists, and slightly more attainable than my life list (now THAT is a fun list!)
So what are some ways to incorporate eco-friendly ideas into our best-intentioned resolutions? It seems pretty simple. There must be tons of ways to do so.
I'm always trying to think of ways to reduce my footprint on the earth, and I still seem to get too much junk mail from companies (such my banks & insurance companies) who do business with me and so feel entitled to send me mail. Besides recycling it, which I do, I've recently decided to shred it and feed it to my hungry composter. If you're still getting lots of unwanted credit card offers, you can go to http://www.optoutprescreen.com/ to put a stop to it.
Losing weight is a perpetual favorite. I can resolve to get to the gym more, but I can also resolve to eat one less meat-based meal a week. Would it kill me to have salad night once a week? Not at all, and it's better for the planet AND my waistline. It's also super easy when my garden is in full glory.
What about shopping locally? In an area like mine, this has a double-GREEN impact. Not only can you save gas, but you can support many farm stands and farmer's markets. There's this project you may have heard of too, called the 3/50 Project http://www.the350project.net/ that encourages people to make an effort to shop locally. The premise is that if you spend $50 each month in 3 of your favorite local independent stores, a good chunk of that money comes back to the community. It's about saving Main St., versus the corporate big boxes. While I can't afford to spend $50 each month in my favorite local stores (ie. The Red Door Boutique on Main St. - it's fabulous!) this project has me thinking about all the products I can buy here in town, and instead of going out of town for dinner we try to frequent local eateries. The only area where I'm not following this rule is with the grocery store. We have a big box and I don't love it. It's overpriced and the organic produce is rotten before I get it home. For that reason I still visit Trader Joe's 30 minutes away, or make my hubby stop at Whole Foods on his way home from time to time.
My work-specific GREEN resolution is to better promote the environmentally-friendly features of my real estate listings. In this economy, these money-saving details do make a difference.
So have you found a way to add a GREEN spin to your resolutions?
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