I think that I live a life that’s basically green in comparison with the average person. I don’t own a car. I walk more often than I use cabs or buses. I carry canvas bags with me to the grocery store in a city that doesn’t even have plastic bags available any more. I recycle most of my stuff. But I know that there’s more that I could do if I really truly wanted to live a completely green life.

Most of the time I don’t think about this issue. Like everyone else who has a busy life, I feel like I do what I can and I’m not going to stress out about what I can’t do. However, I sometimes have occasion to think about the serious environmental problems that we’re facing and I realize that there are some scary things going on with the environment. Reading too much about it freaks me out!

I was just reading about the top environmental concerns of the EPA. Thinking about the air pollution and the water pollution and the overpopulation and the deforestation of the planet and all of the issues that relate to our changing climate makes me feel like the problem is so overwhelming that the small part that I do couldn’t possibly be enough to change anything.

The thing about that is, however, that we don’t know whether or not our small changes will make a big difference to the long-term life of the planet. What we do know is that our failure to make individual changes will cause these problems to continue on and likely to grow. So is my small part enough? Probably not, I should probably do better … but at least I’m working on doing something!

Tags: environment, epa, green, health living, hubpages, kathryn vercillo

People who are concerned about green issues may wonder if there is any area of their life which they haven’t gotten green enough with yet. Even if you’re really eco-friendly in your home, you can probably find new areas for green improvements. Maybe one of those areas is in your reading. Are you a green reader?

Here are some tips for getting greener with your reading:

• Buy or borrow used books instead of buying new books.
• Recycle or re-gift your or books instead of throwing them away.
• Treat all books kindly so that they last a long time.
• Use damaged books to create cool book art.
• Support writers and publishers who are green in their work.
• Always use recycled wrapping paper and shipping materials when sending books as gifts.
• Purchase eco-friendly reading glasses if reading glasses are something you need.
• Use low-energy reading lights with eco-friendly light bulbs in them.
• Always use eco-friendly transportation when going to bookstores or literary events.
• Read more about green issues so that you’re on top of being green.

Did I miss any important green reading tips here? What would you do to be a greener reader?

Tags: books, eco-friendly, environment, green, green issues, green reading, kathryn vercillo, readers, real words, writers