It's Easy Being Green

I always hated St. Patrick's Day as a kid because no matter whether I wore some green or not, inevitably I got pinched by the other kids. I couldn't understand why anyone would create a holiday where you get pinched. Every year I dreaded it. I think once I even pushed some other kid for pinching me when I was wearing some green in my outfit that s/he supposedly didn't see. In any case, finally I got into high school where people didn't care so much and I didn't get pinched any more but I still dread St. Patrick's Day for that reason. Today, though, I'm thinking about wearing a different kind of green - on the inside.

My friend, Nadine Weil, writes on her site, Heart of Green, that she had an epiphany. Always aware of nature and the environment, one day she decided to take it on as her personal mission. She has since co-hosted a number of fabulous fundraisers in the Bay Area including the Global Green event that made the cover of San Francisco magazine last month. Tonight, I'm attending an event with her to help raise money for rescuing big cats - leopards and such - through Leopards, Etc., a "nonprofit wild cat education and conservation fund."

My environmental education started in high school, after I outgrew being pinched. I took a class in the subject, where we learned about the planetary ecosystem. I first celebrated Earth Day, and I learned about the ozone hole, global warming, deforestation and all of those unhappy topics. Later I became more aware of issues like animal testing and the fur trade. But I didn't become green overnight and I still wear leather and drive a non-hybrid car. (I wanted a hybrid, but I couldn't want for that version of my vehicle for ergonomic reasons which is another story.) However, with our home, I've done what I can to be eco-friendly and I encourage others to do the same. It's easy.

For our last house, we tried to get a deck built out of composite but never got around to it because we couldn't find a contractor at the time who would do it. Now everybody will. We bought energy saving appliances, but that's about it. In our new house, purchased a few months ago, we've taken more steps in the right direction. We got double-paned windows, we're adding additional insulation, we put in ceiling fans and new bathroom fans (supposedly just circulating with a couple windows open and one of those small fans running during the day helps a lot!) We put in FLOR removable carpet tiles in a few rooms (way cool - highly recommended) and area rugs where we have hard wood floors, we added more energy saving appliances and used low-VOC paint. We had our carpets cleaned at both houses with a non-toxic wet cleaning carpet service, and we reused moving boxes, courtesy of the PAMP Parents Club.

Outside the house, we removed some horribly huge rocks that were suffocating our tree roots, removed a couple of non-native, eco-damaging trees, and for our final act, we planted two baby Redwood trees in the back yard. We recycle as much as we can, although it was easier in Palo Alto where the recycling program is much better than in Menlo Park (part of San Mateo County's program.) However, now Menlo Park is taking steps toward being green and for anyone who lives in Menlo Park, I encourage you to learn more about it.

We didn't go as far as we could've. My sister just bought a new house and they're putting solar panels everywhere. They're already saving money and they can watch it each day. But we do what we can, and if each of us continues on this path, more businesses will evolve that make it even easier for us to be green. I still have organic cotton towels I bought at the Gazoontite store in SF back during the dotcom boom. We always shop at Whole Foods and buy organic, and I've used Planet and Seventh Generation detergents and cleaning products for several years. We take our drycleanables to Gate Cleaners in Palo Alto where they use eco-friendly solutions (vs. scary chemicals) on our clothes.

It makes me feel good to help the environment and even better to know I'm not harming my daughter or our pets by having nasty chemicals in the house. Our next car will be a hybrid and our new family project is to consume less. It just takes a couple steps to go in the right direction. Try it, and don't forget to reward yourself for small achievements. Like our baby Redwoods, with compounded interest over time, each environmental investment will make a big difference.

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Sarah Granger is a former member of the City of Menlo Park Environmental Quality Commission. Visit her blog at sairy.com.