Why This?

Polluting less, using fewer resources and energy, and saving the planet is not difficult? All we have to do is follow a few simple steps, buy more "green" and/or biodegradable products, plant a tree, and continue living our life full of pleasure and fun while polluting less?

Sorry, but this is not how it is going to work.

In Plain Words...

Nobody wants to pollute or deplete resources beyond natural regeneration. Nevertheless, living and being friendly to the environment (or just less damaging) is not easy for North Americans. If it was we would happily do more than replacing a few light bulbs, reusing plastic containers, and worrying a lot about the issue (all of which is a start but not enough to make a difference).

We are used to living comfortably with the help of machines and taking pleasure in modern life conveniences and products. This requires a lot of energy and resources. Our lives are so very dependent on energy as well as buying, manufacturing, using, and disposing stuff that living while polluting or consuming less becomes quite difficult. We are up to our necks in the business of squeezing energy and resources out of the planet and other people with almost everything we do and use.

There just are no simple steps to transition from living they way we do now to living with much less impact on our environment. Nevertheless, you can do something.

Uncomfortable Transition

Polluting less will not feel like an improvement at first. The machines and devices we invented to make us more comfortable work amazingly well. They keep us warm or cool, move us and our stuff to places fast and without requiring much physical effort. They can do a lot of work much faster and better than ever possible before. However, nothing is free and in this case we paid (and our children and grandchildren will pay) with a polluted environment and depleted resources for those conveniences. Improving the environment will mean more work and less comfort for us until we learn to appreciate a clean environment and become used to more physical labor, sweating, and spending more time living with consideration of others and according to the weather rather than consuming anything anytime as cheaply as possible but at the expense of others.

The Bad (and the Good) News

The bad news is that polluting less is less fun (the way fun is defined by many right now), less convenient, physically harder, and may result in a shorter life. It will cost you more, take longer, require more thinking and a change of your habits, and it will limit your activities in ways you most likely have not been limited before. Few of us will manage to live without polluting. Some of us will be able to change voluntarily and get used to a less polluting life-style. All of us will be forced to change sooner or later.

The good news is that (once you got used to it) polluting less can still be fun (of a different sort), will keep you in shape, may result in a longer life, will cost you less,  and not take as long. But really, that is wishful thinking. It is pure speculation that a change will have the benefits mentioned above. Maybe - maybe not. No way of telling. So really, there is no good news. Sorry.

Well, other than if you want to pollute less you can find here many, many ways to do it. And doing what you can (and knowing it is the right thing to do) will feel good.

If you have heard enough now and really want to change something you can continue by selecting from the Tips, Tricks, and Advice page.

By the way, thank you for staying this long. Seems you got courage and reason.