Is "being green" being perfect?
No! Absolutely no! You are being green if you make even the tiniest changes to do better by your environment, nature, ocean, greenhouse gases or just what ever. Your actions matter big or small. Of course the hope is that you will do even better next week, month, year and decade. We all need it. But that doesn't mean you have to be perfect before you even start. Baby-steps. It's all about the baby-steps.
Learned Helplessness
There is this thing called learned helplessness. That is when a person is faced with a problem or situation that is just too big to get your head around and the solution is so unclear that you are paralyzed as to an action as a consequence. You acknowledge there is a problem but the road to the solutions is so difficult or complex that you are stunned into a standstill. You are aware but feel helpless.
So what does have to do with being green? Many of us acknowledge that there are environmental problems associated with our behaviour and the way we utilize this planet. That being said many of us are paralized when it comes to action. We hear contradicting information all the time which often leads us to inaction. We are willing but we keep saying to ourselves; “I’ll look into it tomorrow”, but tomorrow never translates into action. How do we break this vicious circle?
Homesteading
The idea of homesteading has always been very appealing to me. Being self sufficient would be great, especially of late. The difficulties that the year 2020 has brought to us (I won’t go into any details - we all lived it) just highlighted to me that this is the thing for me, and maybe you can even call me a bit of a prepper now.
But this wasn’t the lure of homesteading in the beginning. I just like the idea of utilizing the resources I have available to their fullest. Being environmentally responsible with what we’ve been given. Utilize everything to their fullest. To know what is in the food I and my family put into our bodies and in the process preserving old traditions in food preservation and workmanship.