Friday, June 12, 2009

Save Money! Save the Earth!



With the economy in the proverbial toilet right now, it can be easy to make saving money a priority ahead of being environmentally friendly, and understandably so. The purpose/aim of this online publication is to explore ways to merge the idea of being budget conscious with the need for each of us to be Earth friendly as well.

Being or going "green" does not have to be an all-or-nothing lifestyle. For those of us who cannot afford to shop 100% organic or buy hybrid vehicles, it is important not to get discouraged by our limited means. It can be inexpensive, and very easy to incorporate a few planet conscious solutions into everyday life.

I am not an expert by any means. I am writing this as a log of my own personal investigations and attempts at various ways to: a.) help the environment, b.) spend less money, and c.) spend less money WHILE helping the environment! During this process I will be researching different environmentally sound practices and habits as well as candidly trying out some of these things for myself and sharing my findings.

Again, I am not any kind of professional, just a novice tree-hugger that wants to make a difference and help out. If you have any ideas or questions, or you would like me to find information or write about something specific please feel free to let me know!
  • Experiments -- There a lot of "green" ideas and opinions floating around right now, and a lot of information about what people "should" be doing. But, not all of it is accessible to everyone, and not all of it is available in the same place. I will be trying out and putting into practice some of these ideas or theories for myself. The first venture I will be writing about is my cardinal attempt at growing my own backyard vegetable garden.

  • Ideas -- Tips, hints, and tricks, and alternatives for everyday ways to help the environment and/or save money. Pretty straightforward, simple as that!

  • Information -- All of my experimentation is backed up by my own personal research, and I will share with you the best relevant info I have found regarding each topic I approach.

  • Other Fun Stuff
Recipes -- From time to time I will share my own recipes that are tasty, nutritious, and (of course) inexpensive to make. Feel free to create your own variations of these, and let me know how they turn out for you!


5 comments:

Pollyanna said...

Hi there! Thanks for stopping by The Goofy Gardener.

The Pleasantville Farm is 100% organic and will be USDA certified as such within the next year. My vegetable garden is in one of the farm plots (we rent because we have very little yard space).

Hopefully, I will have more of my vegetable garden plants ready to post in the near future so stop by again soon!

Nick Palmer said...

Hi Natalie - looks like you're starting off in blogland. I'm going to follow your posts to see how you develop.

I found this bit of your post interesting:

"Being or going "green" does not have to be an all-or-nothing lifestyle. For those of us who cannot afford to shop 100% organic or buy hybrid vehicles, it is important not to get discouraged by our limited means."

I share this view. There are not enough people motivated to be 100% green (if that's possible). If we're going to keep the Planet as a nice place for us to live, and our children to inherit, something more fundamental has to happen so that the majority choose green choices. This is where green economics (or ecological or environmental) economics comes in.

Currently, when the accountants work out the profitability of any business or person they only take one or two factors into account to work out the bottom line - a business that cares about the environment and reduces its impact can end up having to charge more for its products and then relies upon people like us to support them. The "dirty" business is more profitable because most people will choose the cheaper option (particularly in a financial depression). Ecological economics puts the greenhouse gases, the acid rain, the non recyclable packaging disposal etc costs onto the accountant's bottom line profitability - the greener choice automatically becomes at least the same price and probably cheaper than the more environmentally damaging choice. Job done - ordinary people wouldn't need to have a lot of knowledge to shop.

Things like putting a price on carbon are the start of this idea. Until they start accounting for the full environmental cost of any activity, it's down to people like us to show that there are enough people who care to shop green and support the greener suppliers and manufacturers until they become the cheaper option.

Cheers,

Nick Palmer

Sustainability and stuff according to Nick Palmer

Mr. Green said...

Hi,

Thank you for visiting my blog. I understand from your blog that you want to save money and be earth friendly at the same time. I'm not sure if my Green tips will in any way help you with your plan because you're from other country with different climate and culture, but I greatly appreciate the time you spent in reading it. Also, you gave me an idea what I will write in my future posts, I hope I will be able to finish it when you drop by again.

Mr Green

Yanic said...

Great start Nath! Thank you for stopping by Adventures into green!

I hope you keep it up. You have a nice speak-write style of writing which is by far my favorite type of blogging. I look forward to reading more from you!

I, like you, am all about a greener life that doesn't break the budget so hopefully we can share!

Green Collar Worker said...

Hey there,
You have a very good blog going. I agree with Nick Palmer when he pointed out that going green doesn't have to be an all or nothing approach, which is what many people attempt and give up. I will continue to follow.
Keep up the good work,
Green Collar Workers