The Buddy System

Only one week left until our official Going Green kickoff. I hope you're getting yourself psyched up for a year of eco-minded lifestyle adjustments! I'm glad to see so many folks have joined the Yahoo! group and the discussions - and resulting hilarity - are getting into full swing.

So now, to fill the time, I'm going to be doling out some free advice. Things I've learned so far on my journey towards a smaller footprint. Not details about how to make daily changes - that's going to be the program itself - but rather, large concepts that will help you get started and stay motivated. Because just like diets, budgets, or adult learning classes, if you lose your motivation - odds are you'll quit. And then you'll be just as fat, poor and stupid as you were when you started. Figuratively speaking, of course.

I find the best motivator, for me, is to work with a buddy. Someone you can talk to, bounce ideas off of, borrow books from, or just commiserate with. Someone who is facing the same challenges you are in terms of buying locally, eating organic, composting, carpooling, freecycling.... all that fun stuff. Because as is the case with life in general, if you have a buddy, the challenges don't seem quite so insurmountable.

Get a buddy. Maybe it's your spouse (if so, consider yourself lucky!), your sister, friend, co-worker or your neighbor. It definitely helps if it's someone you see or speak with at least weekly. A "real" person, rather than just an internet icon.

So before the week is out, see if you can't convince someone to get green with you. It's always safer to swim with a buddy and you might just need a friend to cover your ass when you're building an illicit compost bin to dump your landlord in. (see, if you joined the Yahoo! group, you'd be laughing right now)