ESCAPE THE PACE

Earth Day, Going Green and Successful Business...

There's been much talk about Global Warming, and with Earth Day on April 22nd, more people are understanding the importance.

There's also concern about the economic impact that 'going green' will have on the North American economy. My question is this - how can we afford to keep polluting and have a bustling economy, much less a healthy planet?

Consumers are already purchasing Hybrid cars, local produce, natural cosmetics, the list goes on... Green businesses are sprouting up everywhere. We can address this challenge!

Here are some ideas to help Mother Earth and in turn, your business and future:

Create a greenhouse (details at: www.GreenHouseGuide.com)
Change your lightbulbs to the new energy efficient one
Ditch the big house - go smaller (you'll have more time for living if you're not working for the big mortgage)
Cut down on clothes buying
Work from home, telecommute
Citys can use LEDs to light the streets
Ride the bus - this saves energy
Pay bills online - ditch all the paper
Open Windows
Ask energy experts to give you an energy audit of your home
Check labels before you buy things - watch for chemicals and try to 'go natural'
Say "No" to plastic bags and if you use them, recycle them - according to resources, 15 plastic bags could be recycled into energy to make your car drive one mile
Kill light at quitting time
Shut off your computer
End the paper chase - Ask yourself what really needs to be printed.
Car pool
Make your garden grow - you'll need less food from far away places that need to ship it by
plane or boat
Check your tires - make sure they're filled correctly; you'll get better mileage '
Buy a hybrid vehicle if you canThink outside the packaging - packaging has gotten worse over the years. Ever have to use scissors to attempt to open something so wrapped in hard plastic you can hardly get it open? This is not good.
Consume less, share more and live simply. We all owe it to ourselves, our children and our children's children to be as responsible as we can now.
Some things I do include: living in a 866 square foot home, recycling all glass, plastic, paper, cardboard - whatever can be recycled, growing some vegetables, ordering produce every week from a company that buys as much food from local farmers as possible and uses organic means to grow food. You may not be near this area, but check out how this company does business - I've been using them for years. Their site is: www.spud.ca

What can you do in your home or business to make a positive difference in the world? Can you minimize the paper you use, recycle your ink cartridges, work from home, bike to work, buy from local farmers, turn out more lights at night, or START A NEW GREEN BUSINESS?
Take care and happy escaping,
Lisa - "Small Biz Stress Buster"

www.escapethepace.com

P.S. Some sites worth looking into include:
http://www.earthday.com/
http://www.earthday.net/
http://www.carbonfund.org/
http://www.climatehotmap.org/
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/
www.aninconvenienttruth.com.au/truth/
http://www.read-the-truth.com/
http://www.wwf.org/
www.earth911.org