I'm turning Green... can't you see? :-)

Well, she did it for love and I’m doing it for love… she gave up her kingdom, I’m giving up my heat and a/c, well, maybe not the a/c…. OK, she lives in a swamp and doesn’t have to clean that much and I have to pay more for my cleaning products, but… what she does won’t last for ever and what I’m doing I hope will have it’s consequences for many years to come…

I’m turning green, OK, she had to physically turn green and ugly :- I just want to live green, but I get to keep my skin color… and the ugly part, it’s up to me!

I was home sick one day and watching Oprah, I mean, who else can influence your life in a way that you stop what you are doing and start changing, Oprah of course! That’s why she makes all the money that she makes… so she was having Al Gore as her special guest and he was talking about the documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, of course I had heard about the film and what it was about, but for me, what I knew then was that if you wanted to make a change, it was expensive, what I know now is that to make a change is almost nothing, for real…

Ok, I know what you are saying, where is the catch… OK, here it is…. Let’s put it this way, if we keep living the way we are living today, and I mean, you let’s say that the world has left 50 years, or at least the world as we know it today, were we can still enjoy the seasons, go to the beach, climb a mountain, go skiing… if you and you and you and you do any one of the following, just one! We are giving the world 50 years more, if you do two, throw in a little bit more and so on… for real, some things have a straight short term impact, others, it will take time, but you can make the change.

Basically what you have to do is to lower your Carbon footprint… the amount of bad stuff that you generate.

So what can you do? Here is a list; I’ve divided it in groups….

What you can do, that’s really a piece of cake and you don’t need to spend any extra money:

- When you go to the supermarket, ask for paper bags and not plastic, not all plastic bags are recyclable and if you take plastic bags, next time you go to the supermarket take them back with you.
- When you go shopping, take a big bag with you, some of them can look “tres chic” and after you pay decline the store bag that they will give you, you really don’t need it.
- Drive less, walk more, take a bike, park in a central place and walk to most of the others and while you do that, enjoy the outdoors.
- Turn off any electrical device that doesn’t need to be on, unplug them, because even if your DVD is off, there is still electricity to keep that clock on and come on, we really don’t need it.
- Recycle, as much as you can.
- If it’s winter, turn the heat off, well, no need to freeze… but just put on a sweater and maybe some more socks, you’ll feel nice and comfy and you will not be contributing to global warming.
- If it’s summer, open your windows and let the breeze in.
- OK… and if you can’t do it, then change your thermostat down a little bit in the winter and a little bit up in the summer a couple of degrees won’t kill you.
- Of course, don’t leave the water running when you are brushing your teeth or washing your hands.
- Try to air dry your cloths and don’t use the drier.
- And keep waste to the minimum…

What you can do, also very easy, spending a little bit of money:

- Change your light bulbs to eco friendly ones, yes, they cost more money, but they last 10 times more and they save you money, your electrical bill will go down and this, makes a huge change.
- Change your air filters
- Cover up your water heater
- Install a thermostat that you can program.
- Change your shower head to one that is saves the amount of water that you use.

Now, if you put more money in…

- Basically when you need to replace one of your appliances, from a toaster to a fridge, go for the eco-friendly.

And if you want to spend more money…. Solar energy baby….

But most important be conscious of what you are doing and think that any change that you start in your live will have an impact in the future of the younger people that you love. Please….

Oh and before I forget, if you want to know more, check this site...