Personal Responsibility for the Planet
A key political issue for the Kentucky Green Party, and Greens around the country, is to promote a sustainable lifestyle. In addition to using politics to get legislative changes, there are ways to benefit the environment by making good economic choices as well.
Choose Restaurants Wisely
When you are planning a night out, don’t just go to any old restaurant. Instead choose somewhere with good environmental practices. Avoid places that serve with mostly paper goods. Try to pick restaurants with as little waste as possible. By choosing these restaurants, you are using your money to share your political values.
Shop Locally
The benefit of local goods is that the items don’t travel across the country- or even across the ocean – to get to you. Instead they are made by someone in your community. By making a commitment to purchase items from these places, you are supporting local business owners and also reducing the environmental impact of your purchases.
Felled Wood Furnishings
Felled wood companies are cropping up in many areas. These companies use only wood that has already fallen, rather than cutting down new trees. Felled wood furniture is handmade and has as little environmental impact as possible for furniture.
Pass on the Plastic
Many items come in plastic or wood. While plastic may be cheaper, the cost to the environment is tremendous. Plastic is a synthetic material that will take an unknown amount of time to degrade in our landfills. Many plastic items, such as toys, can be used very long either, which means that you will need to replace these items more often. Opt for natural products made with quality fibers, wood, or even metal for a better environmental impact.
While you should continue to push your politicians to vote for climate change, you can speak with your personal financial choices in the meantime.
Recycle! Go Green!
- Image via Wikipedia
There are many issues the Green Party supports, one being recycling. Recycling has been an issue for many, many years. Although it has been included in lesson plans in the school system to teach children early on, starting in elementary school, it continues to be an on-going problem. Parents need to take a more active role in recycling so their children will continue recycling into their adult years.
With today’s economy many people have turned to recycling to make a little extra money. These people that put their pride aside and go along the streets late at night the night before trash pick up or early in the morning the day off to sift through people’s garbage looking for recyclable goods. They will then take their collection of goods to a local recycling center and get reimbursed cash for it.
Is it really that hard to recycle? Many would say yes, but please, how hard is to have an extra trash can or bin next to your garbage can to collect recyclable products. Recycling centers accept aluminum, glass, plastic, and paper. You can either use one bin to collect the products or separate bins for each type of recyclable. At the end of the week either set the container on the side of the street on trash pick up day or take your collection to the local recycling center. Or, if you know of someone who does collect recyclables for extra income, why not call them and have them collect the items from you.
Look for the “Recyclable” symbol on the products that are recyclable. There are many recycling symbols but the most commonly used one is the symbol with three moving arrows forming a triangle. The Green Party has many ideas and articles on how to recycle. Everyone, everywhere, can recycle. Do the right thing and help the environment. Go Green!!