Small step sites to help you start going green
According to an economist from the Environmental Defense Fund in a recent NY Times editorial, personal choices and individual actions don’t make a difference when it comes to the environment. The author may have a point, but we must respectfully, but wholeheartedly, disagree. You can’t have the collective action he calls for without individuals willing to take action. And individuals have to start somewhere.
We think everyone realizes that the personal road to sustainability can be a rough one if you try to change habits of a lifetime.
And overwhelm is not conducive to change. Yet overwhelm is what many of us feel when confronted with the deluge of ways that we can move to a greener lifestyle.
But never fear! We don’t have to be done in by the thousands of possibilities.
Here’s a time when thinking small as in “small steps” can lead to big change.
Stop focusing on the mountain of change that seems to be required. Instead, try one step at a time and the mountain begins to seem conquerable.
Luckily, there are a number of websites and initiatives whose sole purpose is to give you small green bites that are easy to accomplish and move you in the right direction.
Two we love are Practically Green and Act Bolder.
When you stop by www.PracticallyGreen.com for the first time, you’ll be invited to take a quiz to see how green you currently are.
Once you have your rating, you’ll find next steps, many of which are so simple you’ll wonder why you haven’t been doing them your whole life!
You can earn badges for your actions—wasn’t that your favorite part of Girl Scouts?—have the ability to share accomplishments with friends and you can also rate products as hot—or not.
All these interactions are fun, but also offer a simple process that makes change easy.
(By the way, we’re thrilled to introduce Practically Green’s brand spanking new Green Halloween® badge.)
Our second pick for small step ideas is Act Bolder, “a place to discover and act on experiences that improve the world.”
You browse through current challenges and take action to earn rewards. Every challenge is a unique one started by businesses or individuals. Each reward is different—most are coupons or a percentage off products. But the fun of Act Bolder is in being part of these small actions that draw in individuals who, acting together (as our friend in his NY Times editorial said), can make a difference. It also serves to kick start individual actions that people might never take on their own.
A third great small step initiative is one we talked about earlier this week in our interview with Erin Schrode, co-founder of Teens Turning Green. Erin also is program director for Project Green Challenge which during the month of October, is seeking to move teens from conventional to conscious in 30 days via small steps.
Of course, we do our best to offer small steps through this blog and at Green Halloween too. We know there is so much to be done, and we’ll never do it all perfectly. But as I said earlier, everyone has to start somewhere!
Lynn Colwell and Corey Colwell-Lipson are mother and daughter and authors of Celebrate Green! Creating Eco-Savvy Holidays, Celebrations and Traditions for the Whole Family, and founders of Green Halloween®.
