Be. Green.

Be green.

There's nothing like a 3 week trip to Japan to make you realize just how wasteful and careless our society is with our side of the planet.  We've finally caught on to the whole "Green Movement" but for some reason it seems like we are only trying to use it to make even more money.  Supposedly greener cars, grocery bags, and paints?  Is a clean environment even on the agenda?

We live in a little bubble of wastefulness that we call North America.  We eat too much beef and poultry.  We rely too much on the WalMart's of our society to give us the best deal, regardless of the consequence, just so that we can buy more of the things that we don't need.  We take up so much space and do everything on such a large scale.  Our cars, our groceries, and carbon footprint.

Two weeks later, back in Montreal, my life here will never be the same.  As I follow the disaster that has hit Japan merely a day after I left, I am relieved with the belief that if any one nation can come out of such a tragedy with the greatest degree of efficiency, it most definitely is Japan.  (And no, they are not using these nuclear reactors to create weapons of mass destruction - I couldn't believe this comment when I heard it last week).

So I'll be doing my part. The Green Movement to me will not just be about buying green products. It will be about sustainability.  I will be buying less, and making the most of what I already have.  Isn't that what we mean anyway when we say: reduce, reuse, recycle?

Sherry Shaban