subject: "Going Green" What does it mean! [print this page] "Going Green" What does it mean! "Going Green" What does it mean!
There is much information available today regarding energy efficiency and the benefits we receive by making these choices. The main objectives are to save money by using less energy, diminish our dependency on foreign fuels and reduce the carbon footprint thus helping the environment.
It seems like you can't open the newspaper, magazine, book or even your desktop computer without reading something about "going green". I'm not sure that most people even know what "going green" is. Perhaps the best place to start is with an understanding of what is meant generally by "going green". Environmentally friendly activities have been popular for many decades, to conserve energy, reduce pollution and save money. In fact it dates back to the 60's movement. The catalyst for the recent green movement came from the theory that human-generated release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere was contributing to global warming. Consequently, individuals, businesses and governments started re-evaluating how to reduce their carbon dioxide output.
Today when we speak of "going green", we generally refer to something broader than global warming. We generally refer to a heightened awareness of using the Earth's naturalresources more efficiently. Today, includes efforts to conserve our natural resources, reduce our contributions to landfills, and reduce pollution generally. Going green, then, can be summarized by "conserve, reduce, reuse, recycle"--which means conserve energy, reduce waste, reuse what you can, and recycle what you can't.
Personally I feel that the green movement is a public relations problem with the way it was being marketed. Perhaps individuals and the business community would have embraced the concept of green technologies had the movement been known as "becoming more energy-efficient" rather than "going green".
With that said the results cannot be denied. Whether you embrace the concept of "energy efficiency or "going green", (conserve, reduce, reuse, recycle) will save you money, reduce our dependency on foreign fuels and help the environment.
