What is Life Without the Green?

Well, Earth Day 2010 has come and gone. If you’re like many people you made some kind of change that day to show your support for Mother Earth. But, what did you take away from Earth Day? Did you take away a new viewpoint on “going green”? Are you planning on making any green changes today, tomorrow or the next day?

If you look at it, Earth Day and the Earth Day Climate Rally were set up to educate, enlighten and join people together to make our world a better, more sustainable place to live. Now, that doesn’t mean everyone needs to immediately start living a 100% “green” life. It also doesn’t necessarily mean that if you do live a 100% green life, everything is going to be coming up roses.

But, in my opinion, green signifies life. Look around…when trees and flowers bloom in the Spring, what is one common color you see? Green.

Grass growing in a field is green. Green vegetables are recommended for good health.

And even though the Earth is often referred to as a “Blue Marble” or the “Pale Blue Dot“, if you look at pictures of the Earth or even some globes, the land we live on is shown as green. What would our lives be without the green?

(Flower image by Robert S. Donovan and field image by Richard0 via Flickr)

Well, that’s a matter of opinion. How do you want your future to look? It’s common knowledge that this planet we live on is pretty much guaranteed to last a lot longer than you or I will. Take a look at this photo, for example…even though the building is abandoned, the green life of nature continues to grow.

Of course there are things we can do that help Mother Nature do her thing while making our lives here more enjoyable and sustainable. That’s where all the “green” activities people talk about come into play.

If you want to have trees, flowers, gardens, parks, national landscapes, rivers, streams for you, your family and the rest of the world to admire and enjoy, then you need to do something to help preserve them. If you think less pollution, lower emissions and clean air are important, then doing something about it is important as well.

In the name of advancement, over the past 40 years I have seen a lot more housing complexes, shopping centers, buildings, cars, highways, pollution, etc. come into existence than I have seen areas being preserved. Even solar farms and wind farms have sometimes encroached on nature to bring us green, alternative energy sources.

So are we actually making strides towards a cleaner, greener future? Take a look at what Walter Cronkite had to say after the first Earth Day forty years ago and decide for yourself how far we’ve come and how far we have to go.

Please remember though….going green has nothing to do with what’s popular, what’s in style or what’s the latest green gadget to buy, it has to do with how you are going to live your life.

So whether you do something for personal benefits (saving money, having your own fresh vegetables, living healthier, etc) or for everyone’s benefit (less pollution, less waste, more natural resources, cleaner environment, etc.), do something constructive. I mean, what is life without the green, right?