Green as a symbol represents "earth, nature, and in a broader sense, life." It also represents "Greenbacks", a term used for the U.S. Dollar. When "Green" automatically relates in peoples minds to saving money, translated to a better lifestyle, the tipping point will hit the mainstream public about using their green, creative, resourceful imaginations before they buy any product or service (Greenmagination). I feel this is coming soon as recent indicators are influencing this paradigm shift.
This Green Movement is more than just political. General Electric has their "Ecomagination" line of B2C and B2B products that GE's CEO audibly says (under "Ecomagination Vision") on the Ecomagination website at "green is green" is targeted to produce 10 billion in sales by the year 2010. Certainly "going green is generating serious greenbacks".
But what about the general public who is constrained by what they can afford to do. Saving money is great if you don't have to spend much money to save, or if you get a fast enough return on your investment on things that you can afford to buy! Here are some recent indicators that are proof of this pradigm shift.
As I mentioned in "Greenmagination vs. Oil Addiction ", energy costs are altering family life all over the U.S. as evidenced in this 7/21/06 "Energy Costs..." article. This 8/1/06 ConsumerAffairs.com article entitled "Gas Prices Force Consumers To Cut Other Spending" is further proof. Home and auto energy expenses are the culprit, so what can most people afford to do right away? Most people can't afford to do major upgrades on their house, but that is happening too, as "Green Building Goes Mainstream as Energy Costs and Environmental Concerns Spark Greater Adoption". Also, most people can't afford to immediately trade in their cars and trucks and buy hybrid vehicles or FFV's.
Here's two things that I used my "greenmagination" with recently, and will get a quick return on my minimal investment. The first is replacing most of my incandescent light bulbs with General Electric Co. Fluorescent Spiral Compact Long Life Energy Saver Standard Screw Base Soft White Light 15 Watt Replacement For 60 Watt Bulb. Walmart has a three pack for $7.53 for the 60 and 40 Watt replacements. These bulbs give a 75% savings on electiricity costs with the same light output, and last about 8 times longer. The second is replacing my car's stock air filter with a K&N Air Filter (about $45.00 depending on your vehicle) I got about 2 mpg better (city & highway combined) on a recent 2,500 mile roundtrip drive to Florida, and it is cleanable and reuseable. The K&N air filter has already paid for itself!
Here are "Ten Tips for Greening Your Home" and "TEN SIMPLE THINGS YOU CAN DO TO CHANGE THE WORLD" from Global Green USA.
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
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