Did Kermit have it right? Spend time with many conservationists and you might get the notion that Living Green is hard. Making the right choices can take on the complexity of a NASA mission. The ramifications of one's choices develop in ever widening ripples: was a product made with non-renewable resources? with third world or child labor? Did the transportation of that product to your area contribute to green house gases? Did too much energy go into manufacturing it or were there toxic by-products? Did the installation of the product in your home involve toxic substances? Is the product off gassing thus contributing to inferior air quality? These are all worthy questions but the ripples they produce can threaten to sink the fragile boat of someone who is beginning to think about Living Green.
Living Green is concerned with balance, preservation and health. Our homes are a stage where our choices influence the balance, the preservation and the health of our lives. There are many choices and many ways of evaluating those choices but one choice is radical, simple and fairly easy. That choice is doing more with less. That one Green Living choice is something we should all consider. It is as easy to do as it is hard to wrap one's head around. We live in a society where more is considered better. That philosophy permeates every aspect of our lives. This choice is about considering that there is another way to live that might bring the rewards of balance, preservation and health to us and to our world.
What might this choice look like? Pairing one's possessions down can mean waiting to purchase only the best quality to make a thing last. It may mean enjoying things one does not own through libraries, museums, galleries. It may mean discarding an item by recycling it before adding something new. It might be rethinking the use of spaces in your home rather than moving to or building another home. It might be digging deep into yourself to assess whether your desire for a new abode is more about interior work undone than the need for a new space. It could be rethinking how much space you really need to function in the world and how many things. It could be taking older furniture and having it recovered, refinished or painted rather than buying new. It could be a choice to own just things that you use and love rather than things that you are afraid to let go or that are there to impress others.
Doing more with less is a very simple and effective way of bringing Green Living into your life. Kermit may be right. Living Green can be hard but it doesn't have to be.
Anne Cain is trained in traditional interior design, art, and Denise Linn's Interior Alignment. Anne uses a variety of techniques to help anyone create a living environment that supports personal goals. She resides in Greensboro, NC and may be reached at acain100@triad.rr.com
