Switching to energy efficient CFL bulbs is just one way to live green.
Environmentally conscious people often choose to follow a green path in life. This lifestyle is commonly known as green living or sustainable living. Green living involves reducing a person’s carbon footprint or, more generally, having as little impact as possible on the natural environment.
Green living promotes a green lifestyle in three main areas: reducing physical waste, restricting energy consumption, and seeking greener modes of transportation. While all three areas are of equal importance to people adopting a green lifestyle, the areas are not equal in the public eye. For example, a massive transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources would be a difficult and costly undertaking for any nation. Doing so is almost certain to meet resistance from the public. Small, actionable steps like reducing physical waste in everyday life are easier to digest, more achievable, and therefore have more mass appeal.
Water cooler bottles can often be refilled rather than thrown away, which helps make them more eco-friendly.
For example, in March 2002, the Irish government imposed a 15 cent tax on all plastic shopping bags. During the 17-month period after the tax was introduced, the use of plastic bags fell by 95 percent as consumers switched to reusable shopping bags. Since then, other nations have followed suit, and on January 1, 2010, Washington, DC became the first city in the United States (USA) to implement a similar policy.
Green living includes buying products from local producers.
Several companies have also managed to implement policy changes aimed at reducing physical waste with little public protest. For example, in 2008, Deer Park® launched its Eco-Shape® bottle that reportedly uses 30% less plastic than its competitors’ bottles. Meanwhile, video game makers Microsoft® and Nintendo® have launched eco-friendly game covers. Some critics see these policy changes as little more than marketing ploys, as greener options exist, such as refilling reusable bottles instead of buying bottled water.
Using reusable canvas shopping bags is better for the environment than putting out paper or plastic.
Sustainable living is just one part of a larger environmental movement. For example, the green lifestyle is closely related to the Locavore lifestyle. Locavores only eat food grown within a 100-mile radius for economic and environmental reasons. On the economic side, eating locally helps farmers in the region. Eating locally fits into the eco-friendly lifestyle, as produce often travels hundreds or thousands of miles before ending up on a supermarket shelf. Locally grown produce does not require a large amount of fuel and therefore has a lower carbon footprint.