Best Eco Stuff

We’ve all got ‘em – no matter how long we’ve been working to green up our lives. Eco sins, that is. Even Ed Begley Jr., the Hollywood actor and environmentalist who’s been riding his bike to star-studded events for decades, admits that he’s given up the thermostat battle with his wife, allowing her to set it higher than his preferred 68 degrees in the winter. You win some and you lose some, right?

Recently, a friend said to me that she really wanted to be more ‘green’, but she was so overwhelmed but what she had yet to take on. It seemed like there was an endless list of things she should be doing that she hadn’t gotten to yet, and it made her feel like no matter how hard she worked, she still wouldn’t be eco-friendly enough. It made her feel like giving up before she even got started.

It’s important to realize that for most of us, this journey is best taken one step at a time. Nobody expects you to go from a mainstream, less-than-eco-friendly regular Joe or Jane to a faultless eco warrior in one fell swoop. Even people with millions of dollars at their disposal can’t do that. Plus, working too hard to be some kind of eco martyr is a good way to start feeling burned out.

Taking a critical look at your life and determining where you can do better is always a good thing. It’ll inspire you to take action and improve. I know that I, for one, still eat a lot of non-organic food, buy the occasional clothing item from places like Old Navy, forget all too often to bring my reusable mug to the coffee shop and take hotter showers than I should in the winter (but it’s sooo cold outside!).

But then I think about what I have done in the last few years, and to me, that’s a far better measurement of my success at being more environmentally responsible than what I haven’t done. I smothered a good portion of my lawn (which doesn’t get watered anyway), started an organic garden, overhauled my arsenal of home cleaning products and toiletries, made a commitment to shop locally as often as possible, replaced all my light bulbs and cut down on the trash I produce. I buy secondhand, put on a sweater instead of turning up the heater, and compost all my kitchen scraps. I might still have a lot of areas where I could improve, but I’m proud of how far I’ve come.

We all have choices to make every day. When you make little changes that add up, your life is transformed in a meaningful, long-lasting way. Do what you can, when you can. Don’t get me wrong – I think we should all challenge ourselves to live in a more conscious way, considering how our actions affect the world around us. But we’ve all got our own path to take. Chances are, you’ve already come a long way!