START SMALL

Just calling ourselves "Green" is of no use unless we take some step towards making our life and our world green. Though we start up with small practices it will tend to grow as we get used to those sustainable practices in due course.

By the way, for the people who have no clue of what we are talking about, let me introduce what
does it all mean to being "Green". In simple terms being green is to be 'eco-sensitive'. That is, we take care that we save our nature (Plant and animal species), the energy sources we use up (Fuel, electricity etc.) and other natural resources for the future. Use resources as required and remember 'only as required'. By doing this we will save our planet from global warming and we will protect our endangered species like Orang-utans of Indonesia which are invaluable to us.

Now, thats all right. More than to discuss on the facts and statistics which most of us already know or which you can easily know by a little research over the internet, we shall make this forum a practical one by taking up a "Green practice/activity" for a certain period of time as a small challenge and will share our experiences on this blog: vgogreen.blogspot.com
The best part is, most of the sustainable/green solutions are even light on our pockets; that is these practices are mostly money saving too. So lets begin taking up some challenge and have fun! As the saying goes 'Tiny drops of water makes an ocean', i believe our small efforts will contribute for a big change. All we have to do is get started.

There are so many changes we can undertake. To name a few which can be easily taken up for a start, we shall practice the following for the FIRST MONTH:

• Replace the incandescent bulbs (Consumes lot of energy) in our house with energy saving CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lamps). For

people who would like to know why do we
have to do this can read the side bar
(excerpt from wikipedia.com

• Look for recyclable goods when you go out for shopping next time. You can also use a paper or organic/biodegradable gunny bags to carry your purchase. Refuse to buy polythenes and plastics and ask for recycled glasswares. Why do we have to go for 'Recycled'? Because it saves energy and resources required to produce new ones. You'll save a lot of trees when you use recycled paper. Have you any clue that it has been estimated that recycling half the world’s paper would avoid the harvesting of 20 million acres (80,000 km²) of forestland. Be proud to be a part of saving our trees!

• Switch off all your appliances (TV, lights, fan, A/C etc; dont even keep your cars idle) when not in use. Keep track of the number of minutes you saved by noting in a scrap book for this month and you will be glad to have saved a lot of energy by the end of this month (Feb 2009).

These are small measures which you might feel silly now. But trust me, keep tracks and records of all the energy you save this month (You can refer the internet for stats), you will be glad. I hope we will carry out this challenge for the month of february and i expect more people to gather on this discussion and participate actively. We'll get on to a new set of eco-challenge next month after successfully getting used to these. Meanwhile keep going through my successive posts on being "Green" on this blog. Your suggestions are most welcome!
HAPPY GO GREEN!