Get Inspired to Fall Back in Love with Green

Have you been feeling frustrated with making eco-minded choices lately or guilty that you’re not a model of environmental responsibility?

Here at Earth911, we know that pursuing a sustainable lifestyle can be a challenge; sometimes it seems like you have to give up things you love or that it takes more time and money to help the planet.  

So we asked three environmental experts for their sage advice to get you re-inspired to go green and focused on Earth-friendly actions that can improve your quality of life – giving you more time to spend with friends and family, saving you money and enhancing your health.

Chef Laura Stec: Make green fun again

Chef, food educator and author Laura Stec thinks you should adopt green habits that you enjoy. "If it ain't fun, it don't get done," she says. Photo: Laura Stec

Laura Stec, a San Francisco Bay Area-based chef, food educator and author, feels like the environmental movement often drives people away by setting its standards too high.

“It’s like it’s a private club where you have to do things a certain way,” she says. “You have to be a super-person, or you can’t participate. That message has never resonated with me.”

In her work helping others choose a diet that benefits both the planet and their health, Stec learned early on that negative messages don’t change people’s behavior.

“If you tell someone, ‘Don’t eat meat. Don’t eat junk food,’ they will say, ‘Well, then what else can I eat?’” she says.

Instead, through her speaking engagements and book, “Cool Cuisine: Taking the Bite Out of Global Warming,” Stec teaches specific cooking techniques to create homemade meals that are delicious, first and foremost; it’s an added benefit that the meals also happen to be nutritious and eco-friendly. For example, she instructs her students on expertly preparing a stir-fry of grains and vegetables; meat is used as a seasoning, rather than the main part of the dish.

For Earth911 readers struggling to live more sustainably, Stec stresses that you have many options, and you should choose activities you enjoy; don’t think you have to give up things you love to go green.

“Do you love driving? You may think as an environmentalist, you can’t drive. But you don’t have to give it up. You can choose something else – like reducing your meat consumption – and you might have a larger effect on the planet,” she says.

Or maybe it’s difficult for you to eat both local and organic, but eating organic is more important to you. By just choosing one option – eating organic – you’re still helping the environment.

Stec’s philosophy of making choices that you take pleasure in are reflected in one of her favorite mottos: “If it ain’t fun, it don’t get done.”

READ: Your Local Guide to Winter Produce

Consultant Paul Smith: Make a profit from eco-friendly choices

Green business consultant Paul Smith suggests starting with eco-friendly actions that can save or even make you money -- like clothes swapping and car sharing. Photo: Paul Smith

Even though Paul Smith founded his own sustainability consulting firm, the Portland-based new father recently found himself embroiled in environmental quandaries when his son was born three months ago.

Smith and his wife had aspirations of reducing the environmental footprint of their tiny tot, starting with cloth diapers. But soon, the extra work of washing and reusing their own cloth diapers became too much to handle with all the other responsibilities of caring for an infant.

“When you’re a new parent, everything is new. [Cloth diapers were] just another new thing we had to figure out,” he says.

They tried a cloth diaper service that collected and washed the diapers for them, but found they were going through a considerable amount of diapers, making Smith question the sustainability of their decision. They ultimately switched to disposable diapers – at least for the short term.

“I felt a tinge of guilt,” Smith says. “It’s a lot of waste.”

But the couple hasn’t entirely given up on the idea of low-waste diapers; they’re currently experimenting with hybrid diapers – diapers with an outer liner that is washed and reused and an inner part that can be flushed down the toilet or composted.

READ: Diaper Disposal a Dirty Dilemma

Smith offers this advice to Earth911 readers who feel weighed down by green decisions or guilty when they can’t be a perfect environmentalist:

“It’s about not being so steadfast about one way to be sustainable,” he says. “Be open to other options that work for your life. Learn to choose your battles.”

He thinks the emerging “sharing economy” is a convenient way for individuals looking to adopt greener habits to save – or even make – money. Parents can swap baby clothes and anyone can rent out his car, motorcycle, boat or snowmobile to others through services like JustShareIt.

“The sharing economy, which is also called collective consumption, allows people to make sustainable choices and make a profit,” he says. “If something is more enjoyable and profitable, it’s more likely to happen.”

READ: 8 Things You Can Share, Rent or Borrow

PR Pro Paige Wolf: Don’t aim for perfect – just better

Publicist and author Paige Wolf reminds frustrated greenies that just because you can't do everything, doesn't mean you should do nothing. Photo: Paige Wolf

Like Smith, Paige Wolf quickly became overwhelmed with eco-dilemmas when she embarked into parenthood, trying to wade through the enormous amount of information on environmental issues that could affect her son’s health – like BPA in baby bottles or flame retardants in pajamas.

Wolf, who owns a public relations firm in Philadelphia that represents sustainability-minded clients, decided to help other parents go green without going crazy by writing the book, “Spit That Out! The Overly Informed Parent’s Guide to Raising Children in the Age of Environmental Guilt.” With the second edition published last year, the book compiles expert advice on issues from lead in toys to the debate on cloth vs. disposable diapers.

To other folks grappling with earth-conscious choices on a daily basis, she puts forward the following mantra that helps her stay sane after she reads another new study on toxic toys or tainted food:

“Just because you can’t do everything doesn’t mean you should do nothing,” she says.

“Some people refuse to make small changes because they are so overwhelmed by feeling like there’s just too much to do,” she continues. “But just because you can’t figure out how to compost doesn’t mean you shouldn’t recycle. Just because you can’t make fresh, organic meals every night doesn’t mean you have to succumb to a pattern of takeout. It’s okay to just ‘do what’s doable’ and make small changes as you go along.”

Wolf wants eco-aware individuals to remember that at its core, green living is about simplicity. She recommends focusing on simple actions that save you money or allow you to spend more time with your family: buying secondhand or borrowing, repairing instead of replacing, gardening and experimenting with home-cooked meals.

Wolf sums up her straightforward approach to sustainability with her final mantra, the one she inscribes in all her books:

“Perfect is unattainable. But better is always possible,” she says.

READ: Moms Who Made a Difference