Moving beyond the Reusable Bag and bottle to live Green

The following guest blog is from Ms. Shane Shirley-Smith of EnvironemtnalBooty.com

Okay so you are on board with living a greener lifestyle right? You have your reusable bags and, when you remember, you actually use them. You even picked up a trendy stainless steel reusable water bottle and you’re filling it up before you leave the house and using that too. You are even starting to feel like your efforts to go green are actually saving money on silly bottled water. You’re really catching on to that whole “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle” thing and it’s actually becoming less of a cliché and more of a personal goal. Feels good to go green doesn’t it?

Well don’t get too comfortable with your new found Eco-status…there is more we can all do to move beyond the reusable bag and bottle and really live green.

Let me ask you something:  how many times today did you open your wallet and spend your hard earned cash? Did you think about your health or the health of our planet when you made your purchases? When you shopped today, did you take into consideration things like::

• the type of packaging the product was in?
• how the product’s use will affect your health or our planet’s health?
• how effectively the product’s design took into account the use of our earth’s resources?

If so, you can pat yourself on the back and stop reading here. On the other hand, if the only thing you were thinking about when you spent your cash today was that you forgot to bring in your reusable bag, keep reading.

A big part of going green really is about starting to think about every single consumer choice you make and how it influences your health and the health of our environment. Yes, there are countless things we can all do to green up aside from exerting our purchasing power, but no matter how much people reduce, reuse and recycle, we still have to buy things. And why shouldn’t they be green things?

From our clothing to where we decide to dine, why shouldn’t we all choose to spend our money on green goods and services? There are companies all around us that are shouting their green message. Consumers need to tune in and collectively open our wallets. Supporting companies that are making an effort to create greener consumer products or who are aligning themselves with policies and practices which place less of an imprint on our planet will ultimately prove to benefit us all. Think about it and you will begin to understand just how easy it can be to really live green through your consumer choices.

All it takes to really “buy to live green” is a shift in ideology. Because there are so many big companies and small suppliers that are passionate about giving consumers healthier, greener choices in everything from soda to pet care, you will find it fairly easy to make the transition.

Shift forward to a greener lifestyle by exerting your Eco-purchasing power each and every time you want or need to make a purchase. Once you begin to make buying green a priority when shopping for everything, something will click inside your head and you will truly understand the power we hold in creating a greener, healthier future for us all.

Shane Shirley-Smith is President of Environmental Health-Wellness-Beauty, LLC and through her Environmental Booty Brand, provides consumer information, products and partnerships for a greener life and world. She urges people to embrace the idea that our future depends on our knowledge and actions and asks consumers everywhere:

“What choices will you make today that will change your health and the health of our world tomorrow?”