Green Values focus on taking Personal Responsibility for our own impacts on our environment. This is about developing a new way of THINKING, one that embraces positive, rewarding social and environmental changes. Ultimately, it is about the future of human life on this unique planet.
Green Values include:
Compassion for one another and for other living beings
Caring about our relation to and impacts upon nature
Taking responsibility for our actions and lessening our negative impacts
Contributing to positive collaborative work in service and stewardship
Choosing moderation in our consumption
and
Participating in creative problem solving in our local communities with future generations in mind.
Working from a foundation of these values, Green Living encourages choices and actions that are cornerstones of sustainable living:
BECOMING cognizant of our individual levels of consumption compared to what the earth can support given our current population (this is our ecological footprint)
WORKING to lower the impact of the polluting outputs that result from our individual consumption and transportation (this is our carbon footprint)
PROTECTING our water, air, and soil from contaminants that harm our health and harm the environment’s wellbeing and/or ability to continue to support human life (we can measure our water footprint, impact on air quality, adopt organic agriculture, etc.)
LEARNING to live with a new wealth – the richness of abundance that comes from a healthier, more enriching, simpler lifestyle (where our individual happiness stems from healthy relationships to one another and to the natural environment – not sought through chasing an unsupportable, overconsuming lifestyle).
THINKING ahead to consider our impact on future generations. What wildlife will there be in three generations? Which national treasures, forests, and wilderness will remain in seven generations? Will there be food and housing to support our grandchildren in just a few decades? Can we make decisions and take actions today that offer them a viable chance for safety and happiness?
GREEN LIVING is a verb ~ actions that enrich and empower our lives today and open the door to a promising future.
