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Going Green, When to Go, When Not to

January 25, 2012 19 Comments

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Hi, everyone! Another day, another post. This time I’m going to talk about going green, organic, environment friendly, eco-friendly, or anything else you’d like to call it. I want to discuss about feasibility of going green today.

To me, going green means working towards saving environment, as well as going paperless among various other things. I got a different perspective a few days ago, I had lunch with a friend who appeared to be quite forlorn.

It turned out his wife bought a lot of shampoos, soaps, and other health care products off a website. Let’s just say she spent a considerable amount of money for those stuffs. I asked him, “What’s with all these products that your wife had to spend that much money?” He replied that she was just trying to be healthy by going green. The he asked, “Why should going green be this expensive?”.

Now, if I think through what he said, it all made sense. Going green can rob us money!

When going green leaks money

dont go greenThe truth is going green can be, sometimes, quite pricey because of the following reasons:

Conventional products are cheap

Let’s state the obvious: we wouldn’t be calling it cheap if we can’t compare it with something else, right? But we do have some basis. If you’re going to check out stores and groceries these days, you can find conventional products that cost less than $50 to buy. The most interesting is they work. They give you shiny hair, full stomach, and glowing skin.

There’s not much competition available

Think of solar panels and hybrid cars. Tell me how many are selling them in the market today? Only a few, right? Because there’s not a lot of competition around, they sort of have the monopoly in the industry and can dictate any price they want.

It’s all marketing hype

Yes, a lot of them are. One day, my wife bought a couple of eco-friendly bags in an “eco friendly” store near our home. She spent close to $150 for all of them. Then she went online and found a great tutorial on how to create almost the same styles of bags using the materials she already has at home.

But before you go on hating going green, I’ll tell you that it’s still the best way to go if you want to be very sustainable and live longer. It’s just a matter of knowing what to do and whom to listen. Besides, going green still entitles you with tax breaks and other types of incentives from both the local, state, and federal government.

Moreover, if you’re going to think of the long-term implications, you’re actually going to save some money. For example, alternate energy can cost you thousands of dollars today, but since they use renewable energy, you don’t have to pay more for any kind of power source or fuel. They also last for a very long time; and what’s more, if you have additional power, you can sell it to your community, allowing you to earn more money.

When going green doesn’t require too much money

Go green, save environmentThere are also so many ways on how to live green without spending too much money

Keep baking soda handy

Baking soda, for me, is the most important component you can ever have in your home. It’s useful in so many ways. You can use it for cleaning, cooking, and even keeping yourself healthy. Do you know that there’s a study that reveals how baking soda can delay the decline of your kidney function to as much as 2/3? You can even use it to treat acid indigestion or upset stomach, as well as keep your body more alkaline so you don’t suffer from metabolic acidosis.

Concentrate more on fruits and vegetables

They are a part of keeping yourself healthy, so you don’t end up spending a lot of your money on medications and drugs, which can damage your vital organs after a while. You can also forget about getting bottled juices and prepared smoothies. A lot of them still contain a bit of refined or processed sugar anyway. Learn to make your own. Just buy a food processor, blender, or juicer, then look for wonderful recipes online.

Plant your own

A lot of people think they need to have large spaces or even farms before they can plant those fruits, vegetables, and herbs. No, you don’t have to. Present technologies already allow you to make the most of whatever space you have in your home. We already have hydroponics, for example. You can also find some buildings and homes that have rooftop green houses. The simplest greenhouse you can create is a transparent box or crate covered with tiny-holed screens.

Make your own products

My wife and I are learning to make our own beauty care and cleaning products. By doing so, we realize we’re able to save tons of money. For instance, if you want to make a scrub, just combine a few amounts of olive oil, granulated brown sugar, honey, and your preferred essential oil.

Bonus!!

As a special tribute to our readers, Gridpar has provided OCAAT readers with a custom solar calculator to estimate approximate energy saving you can achieve by adopting Solar. Estimate how much money you can save and contribute to environment by using the calculator below!

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Comments

  1. Miss T @ Prairie Eco-Thrifter says

    January 25, 2012 at 9:55 AM

    It is true- some ways of going green are more expensive but to me it is worth the cost. I guess I feel I owe it to mother nature to pay her back for all she has done for us.

    Like you pointed out though there are other ways to be green that don’t cost a lot. We also make our own products like you and it saves a ton of money. We also eat healthy and support a local farm by participating in a CSA each year. It works great.

    Reply
    • SB says

      January 25, 2012 at 2:46 PM

      Agreed, still you need to do financial compromise for mother earth. yeah, rightly said, its a payback to the nature we breath in.

      Reply
  2. Sandy Mcshane says

    January 25, 2012 at 9:57 AM

    I feel the same way. Going green is not always the best option. We can not go to whole foods. They are so costly. Solar panels are beyond our reach. We are willing to be eco friendly but it needs a lot of money.

    Reply
    • SB says

      January 25, 2012 at 2:50 PM

      As noted by Miss T’s comment above, there are various other ways to pay back. I am sure wholefood is not the only option. and if we stop using fertilizers and grow only organic, world food production would be cut to half. prompting chaos and disorder.

      Reply
  3. Diego says

    January 25, 2012 at 10:11 AM

    I was much less green when I was jobless and afterwards when I was much more poor than I am now. I knew about greener ways of living, but I felt unwilling to make any sacrifices in my life because my quality of life was already so low that I didn’t want to give anything up.

    Reply
    • SB says

      January 25, 2012 at 2:43 PM

      This shows that going green often requires money. It reinforces my point above that being eco friendly does require resources.

      Reply
  4. MoneyCone says

    January 25, 2012 at 12:43 PM

    Composting is something everyone can do and doesn’t take much effort.

    Reply
    • SB says

      January 25, 2012 at 2:41 PM

      agree, even you can do some compost while living in an apartment, you don’t have to have a garden for it

      Reply
  5. Doctor Stock says

    January 25, 2012 at 9:23 PM

    interesting post… I especially agree with the baking soda bit. I suppose green isn’t the easiest, but it does come down to your priorities.

    Reply
    • SB says

      January 25, 2012 at 10:24 PM

      Yeah, bingo! Its your personal choices and preferences

      Reply
  6. Jai Catalano says

    January 26, 2012 at 6:44 AM

    Wow you guys are going to make your own products? Nice… I would love to hear more about it.

    Reply
    • SB says

      January 26, 2012 at 7:27 AM

      Watch this space 🙂

      Reply
  7. Shilpan says

    January 26, 2012 at 5:47 PM

    I agree with you that it’s all about supply vs demand when it comes to pricing. Most green products are expensive; another similar hype exists in organic food business. How do I really know that stuff that I am buying is environment friendly?

    I enjoyed your article. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    • SB says

      January 26, 2012 at 11:56 PM

      I don’t say most but, yeah many organic stuff are definitely costly. One way to know if the food is organic is to see the logo or the stump. It’s like BBB business and energy star certified electronics.. Thanks for your comment, really appreciate it!

      Reply
  8. 101 Centavos says

    January 26, 2012 at 10:34 PM

    This spring I’m going to experiment with self-watering containers. Some of my readers have commented that they can’t grow their own as they live in apartments.
    We once gave some “natural” cleaning and baby products as a wedding shower present. Holy Cow! That’s some expensive stuff!

    Reply
    • SB says

      January 26, 2012 at 11:54 PM

      I am growing egg plants and chilies in my balcony, so we can grow in apartments. Yup often organics gets expensive.

      Reply
  9. syamimi says

    October 30, 2012 at 9:47 PM

    good
    but still need more information

    Reply
    • SB says

      October 30, 2012 at 10:18 PM

      Yes, I’d love to provide more information but need to know what exactly you are looking for, as more information.

      Reply

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