Friday, May 29, 2009

Confessions of Greenhorn

As this blog will be about my journey, I feel that I must begin it with a confession. It is often assumed that since I founded a company aimed at sharing environmental information, I am a good environmentalist. So I feel the need to admit up front that I am not green, or at least not as green as I would like to be. I am on a journey along with everyone else. I am a late comer, an interloper, a newly converted evanjelical who is still intimidated by conversions about carbon credits, solar inverters and the pros and cons of biofuels.

It is precisely my ignorance which spurred me to begin this company. I love learning and I love sharing what I learn.

I have finally gotten to the point where I remember my shopping bags but I still forget my coffee cup. I can't figure out the trick to get my husband to bring bags. The fact that I sell green bags for a living doesn't seem to sway him. I lecture the children on turning off lights yet my neighbor has to come over in the middle of the night to turn off the carport light I left on. We plant tomatoes, the closest we have come to a backyard garden, and then forget to water them. We recycle everything we can only to discover the plethora of take-out containers is too much for the can. I color my hair and paint my toe nails (with lead-free nail polish) and having been raised in the South, I find it very hard to go outside without a the proper cover of make-up.

But I am an optimist. I have come a long way from the days of swifter disposable mops and Clorox wipes. I have a long way to go. I hope that this blog will begin a dialog with others on their own journey to going green. We can learn from each.