Going green is gaining momentum and saving the earth. Education is key to making the right go green decisions.
Everywhere you look, read, watch or shop there seems to be a proliferation of green or eco-friendly news. The trend has become so popular and so seemingly fast that it is becoming difficult to keep up with of the tips, tricks and what-to-do or what-not-to-do advice. Too many choices usually equals too much confusion.
So how does one get eco-friendly involved? As with most long-term habits, breaking them and starting new habits is problematic but can be resolved with education and some training – or retraining depending on how you look at the world. An environmental degree is not required, just some research, reading and discussions with local resources such as landscape companies can help.
Make a Few Educated Decisions
Faith Popcorn, tagged as the “Nostradamus of American marketing”, wrote a book called The Popcorn Report, [1991, HarperCollins, New York, NY] about trends that would shape the 1990s. Trend number ten was about the S.O.S. (Save Our Society) predication. Seventeen years ago, Popcorn foresaw the nation’s move to save the environment. She wrote, “Awareness of the need to save our society is at an all-time high. There are no “we didn’t know” excuses anymore.”
The need to save the environment has really kicked into high gear in recent years, much more so than in the 1990s. As such, any excuses left behind from the last decade have melted away in this decade.
When comes down to deciding where to go green and how, consumers need to do just a bit of research and read a few articles or books or attend local seminars.
A Good Place to Start
A good place to begin researching ways to go green is the Internet. The ecomall.com is a great reference site to learn about companies and products from air purification to clothing, travel, computer products and business-to-business.
Also, surf some of the online bookstores for go green books. On a future shopping trip, peruse the magazine rack at the local bookstore or even in the grocery store checkout line. Call around to the local universities or colleges to see if they are offering continuing education classes on going green.
Talk to the Experts
There are many go-to, go-green experts around in automotive, paper products, office products, cleaning products, construction and landscaping.
Todd Pugh, CEO and President of Todd’s Environscapes, Inc., a landscape company in Louisville, Ohio, says, “The green movement is so new, people are interested in going green but many just don’t know how to. We were green before green was cool. We want to be able to educate our clients as well as improve their lifestyles and the environment they live in.”
Enviroscapes help educate its customers using e-mail, newsletters and through direct contact. The company is also going green in its business with eco-saving actions such as using crew cab trucks that can accommodate six people versus three people in the older trucks. This saves fuel by being able to drive fewer trucks to landscaping projects. Enviroscapes also offers organic fertilizers, IPM (Integrated Pest Management), recycles yard wastes collected from jobs, recycles cardboard and paper and uses synthetic oil.
Pugh said, “We also try to design using plants suited to the environment they are going into. We believe it is better to work with nature than to work against it.”
Cruise the Grocery or Hardware Store Aisles
A quick and easy education can be found in the grocery store and hardware store aisles. Many companies are starting to line the store shelves with green cleaning products. Clorox Green Works, Seventh Generation (who is producing a long list of green cleaning products) OdoBan Earth Choice, and Vermont Soap Works Liquid Sunshine are just a few of the product names that are making their way to stores. Rest assured, there will be more to come.
There Really are No More Excuses
The go green movement has gained such momentum of late for a number of reasons, including the overwhelming need to improve and preserve the earth. Another reason the movement has gained such speed and acceptance is the abundance of new products, research, and information that may not have been available in the 1990s.
Industry, business and personal consumers can easily go green in a big way with just a little bit of education.
