27 May 2008
Taking sustainable living beyond the indvidual can reveal the interconnectedness of our environment and its inhabitants.
1. Reconnect
The first thing to do if you want to help make your community go more green is be part of it. Meet your neighbours, find out what’s going on in your area and get involved. It might sound obvious, but it can be easy to get caught up in your busy life and forget to stay in touch with the community.
2. Buy local
One way to get to know your neighbours and to reduce your food miles is to start buying locally.
3. Rethink travel
Clearly, using the car less is a really good way of limiting your carbon footprint but taking public transport - or better still walking and cycling – also makes it much easier to meet people. You could even set up or join a car sharing scheme.
4. Spread the word
If you walk or cycle to work, recycle, buy organic or compost, explain to people why you do this. You will probably find that people are becoming more and more curious about how to live in a sustainable way.
5. Join in
If you wanted to take this further you could meet up with other likeminded people in your area and discuss what you are doing and what else could be done. One handy website to meet people for this sort of thing is www.meetup.com and another one in Ireland is www.greenhome.ie . Remember that if you can get people thinking about their impact, they’re more likely to start looking for answers. What environmental groups are in your area? Many national conservation groups have local chapters that you could check out. Or are you a member of any groups that could be made greener (e.g. can your choir print its music on recycled paper? Can your religious group use energy saving light bulbs and so on)
6. Goals
It can help to have goals so if you can come up with some for your community the impact will be that much greater and can inspire change. One website that has great suggestions for goals is www.edenbee.com . There you can also see your progress and show or learn from others who have similar goals to you.
7. Get political
Getting involved in national or international politics can seem daunting. How can you effect these huge levers of power? One good place to start could be making contact with local government - whether you’re campaigning against unwelcome development or looking to influence local policy in a more positive direction, you might be supprised what you can achieve..
8. Freecycle
What do you do with your unwanted clothes, games, electronics? You could always give these items to your local charity shop. One alternative is to trade the item on www.freecycle.com which has a group in most areas.
9. Healthy competition
It’s great to cooperate but it’s not the only way. A little good natured competition could encourage sustainability in your area – can the kids compete to do the most number of green actions in your neighbourhood?
10. The revolution will be televised
In a similar way to how local politics can be easier to influence than national politics, the local media can be more accessible than national or international media. Regional newspapers, radio, and TV are increasingly looking for interesting community-related stories like local environmental initiatives.
Original source: www.treehugger.com
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