Shift Your Spending to Protect the
Planet…and Yourself
In the spirit of Earth Day’s 40th anniversary
coming up next week on April 22nd, we’d like to invite our readers to take a
look at how we can protect the environment with our everyday actions.
When we heard of The Big Green Purse One in a Million Challenge,
we knew it was a winner worth both joining and sharing.
Please welcome today’s guest contributor, Diane MacEachern, Author of Big Green Purse: Use Your Spending Power to Create a Cleaner, Greener World, www.biggreenpurse.com.
The Big Green Purse One in a Million Challenge
One of the fastest, easiest, most
effective ways to protect the environment is by shifting money you already
spend to eco-friendly goods and services.
The Challenge is a project we
started a couple of years ago to inspire people to shift their spending to the
most environmentally-friendly products and services available. Many people worried
that going green would send them to the poor house. What they’ve found by
taking the Challenge is that switching to greener goods actually saves them a
lot of money.
Just ask Erin Peters. This
budget-conscious mother of three young boys is so concerned about saving money
and spending wisely that she writes a blog called The Conscious Shopper.
"For a long time, I had a
misconception that living green was expensive and therefore out of reach for my
family," she says. "Then one day, I got frustrated with the
feeling that I was buying inferior and unhealthy products and that I wasn't
spending my money in accordance with my values. I decided just to go for it and
see if I could buy organic, non-toxic, and fair trade products without blowing
my family's budget.
"I found that by living more
frugally and doing the green things that save money, I was able to shift our
savings to our food and clothing budget. Without affecting our overall budget
at all, I was able to go green!"
The changes may not be obvious, but
they do make sense. For example, a $.49 sponge lasts as long as ten rolls of paper
towels, each of which cost $.99. So over the lifetime of that sponge, you save
almost $10 in paper towels, and throw away about 1/10 as much trash.
But there’s an added benefit. The more money you shift to green products, the
more you encourage manufacturers to reduce pollution, save energy and water,
use less packaging and protect natural areas. Many companies resist regulations
and legislation with a vengeance. But consumer dollars are their
lifeblood. When you choose greener goods, you’re dangling a bright green
carrot in front of the industries that produce them, providing a powerful
incentive to do more.
Taking the challenge is also a great way to magnify your impact. The shifts you make will save you money and benefit your family. If a million consumers intentionally shift at least $1,000 of their existing budget to environmentally-friendly products, we will have a noticeable ONE BILLION DOLLAR IMPACT in the marketplace.
Where to start?
You can have the biggest impact by
picking one commodity and shifting all $1,000 to it. Some of the most important
options (and ones that should be readily available in your neighborhood as well
as online) include:
- Organic,
locally grown food (reduce
pesticides)
- Energy-efficient
appliances (stop
global warming)
- Phthalate-free
cosmetics (protect your health)
- Fuel-efficient
car (save energy, clear the
air)
- Fair trade,
shade grown coffee (protect
rainforests)
- Non-toxic cleansers (protect your health, reduce toxins)
Alternatively, you can spread what
you shift to a variety of eco-friendly products and services that you need to
manage your household. You'll probably find that you'll end up shifting far
more than the initial $1,000 you pledge.
That would be great because the key
to getting literally the biggest bang for your buck is this: the more money you
shift, the bigger impact you'll have.
Ready to sign up? You can get a Free Balance Sheet to help you get started when you
take the Big Green Purse One in a Million Challenge.
To learn more about the
One and a Million Challenge and for tips and ideas on saving the planet
everyday, please join author Diane MacEachern at BigGreenPurse.com.
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Our Thanks to Diane for
her Earth-friendly insights! Take a look at these helpful hints for Earth Day
and on. Remember that we can help our Earth with some simple steps, one person
at a time!
