In case you missed it, I’ve got the new poll up; In 2009 I pledge to go (or stay) green by…

If you’d like to vote, head to the sidebar, and scroll down. I left it open for new answers, so if I missed something crucial, add your tip. Or you can always leave a longer idea here on this post. I’ll be using your answers to plan some of the upcoming 209 content here at Tree Hugging Family, so your vote or comment does count.

My New Year’s resolutions from last year:

Last year my goals were to get rid of more stuff, be present, and cut down on food packaging. I did well on goal number one; I did get rid of more stuff – recycled it, gave it up, donated it, and so on. Me being present was a hard goal to work on because it hasn’t been the best year. There’s been a lot of upheaval and lameness going on in my world this past year. It’s no big, but it did upset that goal. As for packaging – you don’t want to know.

My goals for 2009: Read more

Thankfully, not me.

I’ve never thought pets make the best holiday gift. Everyone is busy, lots of sharp stuff, small toys, toxic plants, candy around, and so on. Holidays are not really pet friendly. Which is about the extent of pet tips you’ll get from me.

“But Jennifer… I did get kittens for Christmas!”

If that’s really true, or if you just happen to have a feline companion who has been part of the family for a while, then I’ve got good news. Peggy has a brand new, too good to be true, kitty cat blog!

I know you all remember Peggy – right! I do; fondly. In any case, she’s still a tree hugger, but now she’s also blogging cat hugging over at The Kitty Blog! Now, since it’s Peggy you know this is good cat stuff.

She’s got posts like…

• The Only Catnip Tee You’ll Ever Need – my favorite post so far (FUNNY)
  
• Dog vs. Cat People
• Orangutan with a Pet Cat
• Build a Free Cat Toy: Cereal Box Hunt & Knock
• Senior Cats Prone to Hypertension
• Cat Artist Louis Wain: No, cats didn’t drive him mad

And lots more; cat health, cat tips, cat attitude, and I’m guessing even some eco-kitty tips. So why not go see Peggy and her new blog? You know you want to.

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This weekend I decided to look at all the best reasons why you shouldn’t bother going green. In case you missed any of these anti-green excuses, now is your chance to catch up…

1. I don’t matter
2. Global warming is a crock
3. Going green is too expensive
4. I’m not a damn hippie
5. I don’t have time
6. I have no idea where to start

Can you think of any other good reasons not to go green?

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Getting started is the easy part of green, if you know where to look.

The best advice is to start small and incorporate green activities naturally into your world.

Basic ideas to get your brain pumping:

• 10 Super Tiny Baby Green Steps You Can Take
• How Kids Can Make A Difference: Saving the Planet from A to Z
• 100 Ideas for Your Green Family
• Five Great Green (and Easy) New Years Resolutions
• Free Green Home Poster

A few good books that will help you:

• Easy Green Living: The Ultimate Guide to Simple, Eco-Friendly Choices for You and Your Home
• It’s Easy Being Green: A Handbook for Earth-Friendly Living
• Wake Up and Smell the Planet: The Non-Pompous, Non-Preachy Grist Guide to Greening Your Day

I’ve read all three of the books above. All offer easy tips, no pressure, and yet still teach you something new. Another idea is to try a daily dose: Living Green Page-A-Day Calendar 2009 (Page-A-Day Calendars)

If you need ideas about organizations who promote green, and who can teach you a thing or two, check out the blogroll here at Tree Hugging Family. I’ve included plenty of organizations and blogs where you can learn more about green.

All you have to do is choose a few green steps, and then do them. The more green steps become normal to you, the easier it gets. You won’t have to think about carrying your reusable bags to the store, you just will. You’ll learn which products are good green choices, and which should stay on the shelf.

Does green living ever overwhelm you? What do you do then?

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I’m going to make this short and sweet. Yeah you do.

Don’t believe me? It takes under five minutes to…

• Unplug an appliance.
• Hang your towel
• Scrape a plate.
• Recycle a toilet paper tube.
• Whip up a kitchen face scrub.
• Pass up toxic cleaners at the store – just keep on walking.
• Switch to a LED light bulb.
• Make an entire batch of homemade ice pops.
• Choose organic milk over conventional.
• Take your own bag to the store.
• Grab a reusable cup.
• Conserve water.

Even if you did all of this above today, your grand total of time spent would be well under an hour.

In my opinion, the bigger green steps don’t always mean as much as the small ones. You can fit a lot more small green steps into your world, then say many huge leaps like starting a community garden or hand building a sustainable home.

Although I do think there can be a green living curve that may take time to learn, overall, being green is not about spending more time at all. Being green is about changing the actions you do in the time you have.

What do you think? Is green zapping your time?

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Here’s the deal; just because you believe in green living doesn’t mean you need to move into a tree, co-op housing, or an off-grid home. You don’t have to wear peace buttons and amber oil, grow dreads, or smoke the green stuff.

I think there’s a collection of people who think that green means a specific fashion or lifestyle is required, or that if they live green, people will assume they’re into this kind of stuff. The truth is that anyone can or cannot live green. Trust me, I lived in hippie Humboldt land, and not everyone was all that green. You can wear a business suit and be ethical and green.

In a general sense, I think we need to lose the old-school culture based ideas about green vs. the hippies.

What’s your take on this excuse?

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All expenses in the world have leverage and many expenses are choice orientated. Not trying because you think it’ll be too expensive is not a great excuse to ignore green living. If you need help getting over this issue, we discuss it all the time here:

• Organic Food Costs Rise – 11 Ways to Save Money on Organic Food
• How Green Living Saves You Money: Napkin Example
• Why Does Being Green Cost So Much?
• Raising Green Kids In A Commercial Culture
• Kids & Shopping – How Kids Can Be Smart Consumers
• As a parent, do you understand the impact of the need for stuff?

If you’re complaining about the cost of green living, I’d take a very close look at what you own, how you make decisions about purchases, and figure out if you’re handing over cash on a need to have, or want to own basis.

Also, just to be clear, I think that there are some green products that are overpriced, but there are also plenty of conventional products that are overpriced as well. In a general sense, I don’t think green living is expensive. If anything, green living can save you money; on everything from doctors visits to gym memberships to beauty products to gifts to that wall of paper towels to the third car you don’t need.

In what ways has green living saved you money?

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So what if it is?

Frankly I’m tired of this excuse. Yeah it might be a crock, but it’s a lame excuse to use to avoid green living.

Green living is so much more than the global warming issue. True green living supports local economy, fair employment, resource and nature preservation, healthy bodies, and much more. Green living will ensure we don’t live in a concrete jungle void of trees and allows us to learn how to keep dangerous toxins out of our homes and kids.

To flip with global warming. Don’t believe, believe, do what you like, but it’s really a moot point.

Now, do we have any non-believers out there; who still are into green living? If so, tell me why in the comments.

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With the new year almost upon us, many folks are thinking, “Hey, this will be the year I try to live a little greener.” Others will say, “What a waste of time.” There are hundreds of excuse why someone can’t or won’t go green. That said, I’ve decided we’ll have an anti-green weekend before 2009 arrives. This weekend we’ll look at five reasons why you really shouldn’t bother with green living.

This weekend, I’ll post six of the most common excuses I’ve heard over the years. Starting with…

I’m just one person so it’s not like I’ll make that big a difference:

Actually, (and maybe surprisingly) I agree. One person alone recycling ten cans a week won’t make all that much difference. However, if someone thinks of green as a global effort then they might think differently, because many together can make a huge difference.

If just one block of families recycle all their cans, that’s a lot. If everyone in the city recycles that’s a lot more; and so far we’re not even out of our local community yet. If everyone thought “I can’t make a difference,” if people refused to join up, who knows if women would be voting now. Maybe we’d still think slavery was super keen. One voice, one action; is all it takes to start a revolution, but how far it can go is up to everyone.

Have you seen green group efforts that have paid off?

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I posted about this elsewhere; via my pregnancy and baby minded blogs, however, being that we’ve discussed green breastfeeding here, and people seem interested, I wanted to give you a heads up.

Basics:

1. Facebook has decided that nursing mama pictures are “obscene”
2. That is lamer than lame.
3. The group Hey, Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene! is holding a virtual nurse-in today, Dec 27th 2008, as a protest.

Get more details: Join the Virtual Facebook Nurse-In Today!

Stay tuned, I’ve got an entire weekend series planned here at THF; jam packed with reasons why you shouldn’t go green.