Thoughts about Going Green

In Costa Rica "going green" could be understood in a very, very bad way, as it could mean, that you are turning in favor of the currently ruling political party, a sick, corrupted strain of neoliberal breed no decent human being would ever willingly choose. However, I'm not poundering the thought of going that green, but rather eco-green.

Perhaps you remember, perhaps you don't (in which case you could simply scroll down...) but last week I wrote an entry about our planet (that in which I said Haiti is actually the scale model of the world), and though it had bleak points here and there, it ended up with a list of things you could do to make the difference. From it and through many sources (now from the Zümm too) I received a lot of support and positive comments from my friends, which got me thinking some more. Currently I'm reusing the plastic bags I have and carry around flax, ecofriendly bags for my groceries and on general, for anything I might need a bag for through the day. On Saturdays I visit the local market, where you can buy fresh veggies from the farmers, and as much as I can, choose the national product over the imported one, the green over the genetically or chemically enhanced. I'm still not there in the selective garbage thing, but I'm getting there.

The thing is that a few items from my list made me think that perhaps, as the proposal of them, I should take the idea in my hands and seek ways to make it happen. Among the ideas I choose to start with, there's the idea of gathering with friends, and the friends of our friends to make our own flax ecofriendly shopping bags, (not so likely to happen... at once), and organizing plant-a-tree picnics. This last one, I believe, could have a better acceptance, since you can make it really fun.

I'm putting the idea out there for my friends to consider it (after all it's easier if more of them participate), and will start checking with the local authorities about rules for planting trees and were could we do it. Also will try to contact different organizations, environmentalist organizations and Universities to seek some capacitation on how to plant different trees (I'm actually a poor gardner), and perhaps also get some trees donated for the cause. It's a lot of work, but I hope to get more people involved and the idea spread.

Kari told me in Europe there are Gardner Guerrillas, which are groups of rouge ecologists that pick a place and plant trees, regardless of whether they have permission to do so or not. Well, I don't wanna do something like that, but I do hope to do it within the legal system, in an organized and fun way.

Taking care of the planet doesn't have to be a boring, hard and fruitless thing. It can be fun and rewarding. It doesn't need to be something others do, eco-maniacs do, but it can be something you do. Would you like to do it with me? :-)