Seeing Green

Tips on Sustainable Living

by Teal Hutton, May 28, 2008

For decades, living a “green” lifestyle was shrugged off as something solely for eccentric hippie types and social separatists, too far removed from consumerist reality to be appealing to most of us. But somewhere along the line, it became increasingly clear that socially and environmentally, we’ve been moving in a dangerous direction; eccentricity gave way to common sense, and green living went mainstream.

“Reduce, reuse, recycle” became a nationwide mantra, millions joined the organic panic, and Earth Day was named a national holiday. It was just a matter of time before environmentalism was given a marketing makeover, assigned a catchy acronym, and presented to us as something we all had to have. And so the myth about green living is that it is unattainable except to those with the other kind of green, and lots of it.
Fortunately, that just isn’t the truth, says Melissa Everett, executive director of Sustainable Hudson Valley. Real sustainable living, says Everett, is not just about the products we buy, but “the ways we find to deepen our connection with people and place so that we naturally take care of what’s around us and find ways to live creatively yet frugally.”

Indeed, a green lifestyle is accessible to anyone eager to refine their habits and willing to examine their consumer choices, their investment in their communities, and the impact that they can have, both on small and large scales. “We tend to think about sustainable living with the same American individualism and can-do attitude that we bring to other challenges,” says Everett, “but some of the necessary response is social. It’s one thing to cut your meat consumption down when you live alone, and another thing when your family’s choices are interdependent with yours. Living sustainably is not just about making initial choices, but having them survive” in our families and our communities. And despite the misconception that living sustainably requires independent wealth, there are plenty of things anyone can do to make a real difference that will cost next to nothing. Here are ten ideas to navigate the sea of green.