Have you been wanting to go-green, but have been put-off by the perceived difficulty of the endeavor? Do you think an environmentally friendly lifestyle is like returning to a “little house on the prairie” with no air conditioning, no automobiles, no TV or computers? While it’s true that you can go green and make those kinds of sacrifice, you don’t have to. Most green living or sustainable living ideas have been around for eons, so they’re not new, nor hard to implement. Fortunately, for most consumers, going green is probably easier than you imagine and can actually reduce your monthly expenses while improving your lifestyle. The first way to begin the green journey is to ask yourself; where did a product come from and what happens when I get rid of it?

So what is a sustainable lifestyle? It’s basically living more realistically, by being aware of reality. The reality is that if a beef patty in America came from a cow raised in Brazil on land made by clear-cutting the Amazon rain forest, it’s not being raised sustainably. It may seem cheap, but the cost is hidden by governments and tax policies that encourage this destruction of the eco-system. Your power to stop this is to realize the reality of it, and not eat that particular hamburger. Fortunately, if you have a computer and a connection to the internet, finding out about this reality is easy. You can live in beautiful house, have electronic gizmos, wear fine clothes and drive a fancy car and you can do all this while living green. You just have to be aware of how something was made and what happens when you throw it away.

Is “no-limit living” possible with a green lifestyle? Absolutely. By being reality based, you can live free and feel good about it. Since you’re aware of the impact of your actions, you can make the choices that are good for you, good for the community and good for the Earth, without hesitation. If you know that something was made by destroying the eco-system, you don’t buy it. If you know that something was sprayed with poison, you don’t feed it to your kids. If you know that fish need clean water, you don’t dump your used motor oil in the stream or river. If you know that something can be recycled (it has a little logo on it) then you put it in the recycling container. Knowing the truth and acting on it is all it takes to go green and help save the planet.

Reality based living takes into account how your actions affect the sustainability of the Earth’s natural resources and working to reduce your pollution footprint. For example, reducing your pollution footprint means that you don’t toss oil, turpentine, and other toxic materials in streams or down the drain. If your electricity company makes “green” power, you buy it (if you can afford it). You drive only when necessary and try to use all the tips you’ve learned about how to conserve gas. You use a low flow shower head and turn your water heater thermostat down. It seems that there are endless ways to live comfortably and still lighten your footprint on the world. Recognize that no one is perfect and that there are some things you can’t prevent or change, but by doing what you can do, you will be helping and that’s important.

What’s the next step? You must keep learning. Visit the blog-o-sphere, register at some forums, read articles and keep up with the news. Try to find and implement one idea a week and you’ll soon be the greenest person you know.