Green Living, Making The Commitment To Contiually Become More Greener

While making my forays into living green, I have noticed a curious occurrence in myself. The willingness to re-explore time and again how green my life really is in reference to the eco-nut.

My pursuit of becoming more sustainable started from an early age when I was involved in a campaign to save water. I lived on a farm outside a rural town where water was scarce in good times and like gold in a drought. My realization of how much water you could save was linked to my daily visits to our dam water storage, where with each passing week I could see the drop in the water levels. With this direct knowledge of the water supply, all of a sudden, turning off the tap when brushing my teeth, having short showers only once a day and hand watering the garden became very important. I mustn’t waste water. It was a mantra that started to invade other areas of my life.

When I went abreast in the world to university, it perplexed me the willingness of my fellow students to waste water on washing clothes that weren’t soiled and only worn for an hour or two. I realized I also was concerned at how many lights were left on in our flat and how long we had the heater turned on, somehow my father’s wining for me to turn out the lights at home had come to fruition.

Of course in my rampage for saving the environment was the imperative that I save money for as a student I was, like most, mostly broke.

It was during this time I began to formulate an ethos for the environment through my studies, but this did not result in what I call “eco-nut” behavior straight away. I was not into protesting against the felling of rainforests or raising money to save orangutans in Borneo or signing petitions. But instead, an understanding appreciation for the complex and unique nature of the environment started to unfold. The manner in which man modified his environment, sometimes to his own peril, begun to grow in my mind and then in my heart. During this time, not much action took place.

For one reason or another, my lifestyle did not mimic the internal change that was occurring. Perhaps it was because I did not have a steady home and responsibilities. Perhaps it was because I did not earn a substantial amount, and many of my purchasing decisions were centered on what was dictated by my parents as my main income source. But when I settled for the first time in Perth, things started to change that others might notice. I became a stickler for buying eco-friendly detergent, keeping energy bills to a minimum by replacing light globes with more efficient ones. I also became very interested in public transport, energy efficient cars and gardening. Gardening and landscaping became a hobby that enthralled me.

From growing veggies to xero-scaping and water wise plantings, I became a mini-expert. Which led me to investigating composting and worm farming, which led me to the biggest eco-pinnacle of my eco-consciousness, waste.

It was upon working for a local government that I took a tour of a regional landfill. The impact of seeing the hole that we literally filled up with our waste, knocked me to the floor. I became overwhelmed by the problem of waste and how selfish I had been and others still are for thinking that it doesn’t matter what you put in your bin each week. The hole in the ground was so big. Enormous. And the rate that it was being filled astounded me. How could I have been so blind to this issue?

I knew that it was good to recycle, but I did not ever understand the waste stream and the landfill ramifications. I thought I understood climate change and greenhouse gases, but until I saw that landfill, I did not understand that it was me that was the problem. Furthermore, I was a waster. This revelation saw the igniting of my inner eco-nut and while I had not taken the steps of a real eco-nut, I was changed forever. I realized the things that I did matter. And they usually mattered in the worst way. So I began in earnest to tackle my waist.

This led me on a feast of discovery of how someone who considered themselves green could become better, greener. I discovered hazardous household waste, green power, transport orientated greenhouse gas emissions, community gardening, verge gardening, soil rehabilitation.

From there I became interested and saw opportunities to further reduce my water consumption, my energy consumption, my food consumption and waste, my addiction to meaningless objects of consumerism. I had started on a path to simple, smart living.

Today, I find new ways to become greener every day, there is so much information out there and applying the basic principles or avoid, reduce, reuse and recycle and take care with the environment I am finding that there are more and more ways to become greener.

Fundamental to this journey to become greener however I think was the nurturing of the belief system that I personally was responsible for the world I live in and that I too could change that world. It is the impetus for greener living for all of us.