Defining "Green Living"

Posted by Shirley Siluk Gregory Oct 25, 2006

Since taking on the Green Living section here, I've spent a lot of time thinking about what, exactly, constitutes green living. I don't think the concept is as easy to define as one might think at first.

For example, my first impulse is to say something like, "Green living is living as natural an existence as possible, and eating the fruits of the region where you live." After reading Jared Diamond's book, "Collapse," though, I have to conclude it's more than that. Diamond profiled several cultures -- including the Greenland Norse and past Easter Islanders -- who've lived off the land yet faded away or disappeared entirely because they didn't live sustainably.

That's the key, I've decided: sustainability. If you eat nothing but vegetables you've grown yourself, but you're relying on heavy applications of pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, and using lots of fuel to maintain greenhouses to support plants that normally don't grow in your area, that's neither green living nor sustainability. Green living means nature in balance, finding a way to live that's healthy and natural not only for you, but for everything in your environment as well.

Living that way is a challenge, especially in a Western culture like ours that seems to do everything possible to encourage non-sustainability (disposable goods, junk food, consumerism, etc.) But it's a worthy one, and one that I'll try to keep improving upon every day. I hope you'll agree it's a goal you'd like to achieve as well, and I'll try to help with all the information and guidance to get you there.

Till later!