Green Preface

After reading only the first six pages of Sleeping Naked is Green I have been struck by an “I can do this” attitude. The big question is…can I do this with the other four people living under my roof…or despite them.
First I would like to give a pre-warning: all of my greatest ideas for blogging come while I’m getting ready for work…and then by the time I sit down and start typing those ideas are GONE…so this blog may accidentally end up lacking something! I think I may, at some point, need to invest in one of those little hand held tape recorders. But truth be told, I think...as in inside my head, not out loud and I feel a lot of what I am thinking may be lost anyway by attempting to speak out loud. When speaking out loud you become aware of the sound of your own voice or the fact that someone may be listening in…and my focus would inevitably end up somewhere else and my original rants would be all but gone! Resulting in…well, something that has nothing to do with the point of my story! What good is that?
It has been my own self diagnosis that I have slight ADD, and it’s very hard for me to concentrate for any length of time on something without my mind wandering and leading me somewhere else entirely.

Let me give you a little preface to how it is that I have come to be here. Living GREEN is something I have been making small attempts at for probably the last several years, maybe around the same time the Greenhouse Effect being undeniably apparent, although lets face it living green is not always affordable in today’s market—I can’t even believe they can charge that much for a bamboo sheet set (and boy was I relieved to find out that they may not be as green as we all originally thought due to production and waste--GOOOO COTTON!). But I keep plugging along anyway. I even went so far as to live through my vegetarian phase… and I say vegetarian because no way in hell was I ever going to make it as VEGAN… not a chance in the world and since falling off the wagon I have renewed my love for bacon. yum.

At any rate, I can give you a rundown of ways I have gone green already a little later on (if my memory allows). But for right now I am just trying to get you on board with what has brought me here…to begin THIS blog and hopefully if I can change one person’s opinion…or persuade just one person to change one thing then I guess that’s a start. Because lets face it…there are still those people out there buying Styrofoam plates and not recycling. It makes me grind my teeth a little to think about it, they are such easy steps, but really I’m only one person and I don’t think I can change the world. So I’ve set my expectations much lower.

I’m not a preacher… and I wouldn’t turn my nose up at you if I was invited to a picnic at your house and you have been so thoughtless as to buy Styrofoam…I’m still going to eat your grub and drink your beer, although I will probably crack a joke at your expense and your choice to buy Styrofoam, with all the alternatives to chose from…Really? Styrofoam who uses this crap? Even McDonalds wraps everything in cardboard and paper for Christ sake. How many of you know that Styrofoam does not break down and plastics accounts for 25- 30% of the space taken up in our landfills (and that's only the half of it).
Anyhow, I said I don’t preach… so I’ll zip it on that little fact for now. But really…. If you are going to buy disposable…DON’T BUY STYROFOAM! I do get frustrated.

So I have gotten off topic..way off in fact—the ADD was kicking in...so lets try again.
I began my Green Crusade because I do love the earth, I love nature, I love all living things natural and its shocking how quickly the world is deteriorating before our very eyes. It amazes me how OK people are with this. Dumping hazardous wastes into gutters to make it “not my problem”---yes it fucking is! Just because it’s not sitting in front of you anymore does not make it any less your problem. In fact, I imagine that karma will rise up and the stream that your oil or whatever waste you have irresponsibly thrown out has now been distributed into what will be the same water your dog will later drink from while you are out for your weekly walk. So there…it has again become your problem, even if it was only a little bit (because I’m sure this is what you told yourself so you could sleep guilt free at night). You can’t escape it just because you have walked away from it. It doesn’t make it any less real.

On a gentler note my sister had a green dilemma in which she wasn’t sure she should throw out her paper plates or use them, these were plates that came with her boat when she purchased it, so she was not actually responsible for their purchase. My advice was to use them, at least then they have served a purpose. Even to give the plates away would eventually result in their ending up in a landfill. We will all inevitably create waste. Try as you might there will always be SOMETHING that we cannot control—you poop don’t you (I dare you try and not)? So if you are going to send those plates to the landfill, then at least make use of them first, make your life easy if just for a minute. Right?

I received the book Sleeping Naked is Green in the mail yesterday from my green loving sister. She began reading it and had intended to pass it down after she was through but realized it was a book she was going to want to hang onto. So being the sweetie that she is she bought me my own copy, my only advise when purchasing books is to purchase from Better World Books they use greener means for packaging and transportation of their books and I only order from them when the need to order a book does arise.

I love my little sis and she inspires me DAILY to be greener then I was yesterday or the day before. We chat about this and make suggestions to keep each other greener…so telling her about Better World Books only makes perfect sense, and it’s a suggestion I’m sure she would embrace if the need came up.

So herein lies the challenge: to follow suit of the Sleeping Green is Naked author and make as many green changes in my life as I possibly can. If I know my sister she too is already up to something and I think together we can take on America from East to West in an attempt at making small changes to change the mind of others. I'm asking that you tune and watch how this story gets Greener by the day.

Its one small step for man...and one giant step to save the Environment!