Be A Better Being: It Ain’t Easy Being Green….Or is it?

As posted on WWW.ONEGREENPLANET.ORG  February 24, 2011 by Ann Barnes

While in my 30’s I recall a visit from a friend of European descent . She was updating me on her gossip while watching me cook veggie chili in my tiny kitchen. After emptying a can of diced tomatoes into my pot, I turned and dropped the can in my garbage. With a look of sheer horror she shrilly said: “Ann, WHAT are you DOING?”. “What do you mean”” I asked, getting ready for the eco-diatribe sure to come.

She then berated me for  putting the can into the garbage as our city had recently introduced a recycling program. She asked why I wouldn’t recycle when I was afforded the opportunity. After politely listening to her, I then  answered her  “ The recycling Police [sarcasm] won’t pick it up unless I WASH it out….until they make it easy for me, I won’t do it”. It was a point of principle.

Now years later, the ridiculousness of my statements still stings. My lack of desire to make a small contribution, combined with downright laziness and a holier than thou attitude are embarrassing at best.  But luckily I have become a reformed reformer. How you ask? My turn towards green was accelerated due to my two pregnancies, for different reasons.

My first ‘green epiphany’ began when I was pregnant with my  first born. Unlike my years of climbing up the corporate law ladder, I now was focusing on something, or someone, other than myself. But my legal background came in handy. As I was sourcing the best foods, the best furniture, the best clothes and the best baby care products, I quickly realized through my research that most of the baby lines are made or filled with toxins. What I then discovered as well was how damaging these chemical substances were for our adult bodies (not to mention a baby’s body) and….the environment.

Once  you know something it is hard to look back, especially if you are a Type A personality type. I embraced the green-baby-lifestyle and became very passionate (my hubby would say obsessed) with ‘getting to the bottom’ of the issues. Once on this path I realized how much of the information that we are fed, by governments and corporate marketing geniuses, is wrong and misleading.  Many  of the things we commonly use daily are toxic for our bodies and for our planet, above and beyond driving using fossil fuels. It made  me mad.

The second “green epiphany” occurred while I was pregnant with our second child. During this time, I became involved with a local environmental association as the environmental educational facility (focusing on grade school ages) located on our cottage lake was closed without notice by the government. Save some bucks and lose the opportunity to teach children  about nature and our planet. This made me madder.

So my go-big-or-go-home attitude came in handy for once. I decided  to raise the money we needed to fight this worthy cause by doing a big fundraiser event. But how? Well Dr. David Suzuki agreed to be the key note speaker. To this day I am so grateful to him as his presence allowed us to successfully fight the government while also raising environmental awareness in the community.  Also, his speech changed my life. His one hour talk morphed into almost three hours and his poignant discussion of all aspects of environmental  issues was educational and incredibly inspiring.

After the event was over, I took the time to reflect on my priorities as a parent and as a temporary inhabitant of this beautiful planet. I took the time to appreciate what a gift we have been provided and how vital it is to protect it for generations to come. I thought if my children came to me in their 20’s and asked me what I had done to help BE the change,  I wanted to be able to answer them without embarrassment but with pride.

So it is easy to be green?  Well a lot easier than I thought. I can never turn back as I now KNOW. I try to make all of my choices conscious ones, and I try to make all of my purchasing decisions based upon this. It is not only a part of my life but has become my life.  Now I am hoping that any Green God will forgive my early years of insolence. I am hoping for a Holy Carbon Off Set for my newer good eco-decisions used against all of the tin cans in the landfills with my name on them.

Columnist, Ann Barnes: Ann Barnes is the author of the healthy living book: “BETTER BEING“, which provides simple answers and recipes for clean and balanced living. She leads an organic, gluten free and vegan lifestyle and acts as a superfood spokesperson for Mum’s Original. Ann contributes a monthly column to One Green Planet, called Be A Better Being.