Effortless Environmentalism

Reader's Digest is one of my favorite magazines to read. I believe it's an old person magazine. I know many of you like it too, but let's be honest. Read the ad inserts and see who these companies believe the audience to largely be. I have always liked picking up RD at the dentist or doctor's office, even when I was a teenager, which is why when I had a gift certificate to Amazon.com for my last birthday, I used part of it for an RD subscription. I like the magazine for its inspiring stories, humorous even if only slightly anectdotes, interviews, health articles, and general lack of Cosmoesqueness. But sometimes.....I see that it's just as caught up in pop mainstream as any other magazine. I just read an article about how to be "green" while saving money. Great. I'm all for being smart about our natural resources, and I'm certainly all for saving money. They called it "effortless environmentalism".
The first piece of advice was to "Skip a Trip". It read, "Sitting in your La-Z-Boy instead of in an airplane seat is the easiest way to make a big difference in greenhouse emissions. Forgoing a single international trip might offset all the carbon dioxide you produce through your home and car during the entire year....." Pthththththth! I don't care. If I get a chance to go to some far off foreign land I've never seen, I'm going -and I'm not taking a year to go in a boat. Sit in your La-Z-Boy and never see Ireland, Cambodia, Egypt, Italy, Argentina, Japan...... People, when the time and money is available, I'm gone --with my family. Take that! It's not like I'm taking my own private jet to accept a Nobel Prize in Norway or anything. I'll cram on a commercial plane with everyone else. I don't litter. I recycle. I use fancy twirly lightbulbs. I don't use Aquanet. I try to do my part to not be a consumer pig and keep things as pretty as possible. But don't tell me not to see and experience the very cool things this world has to offer. AND...I'll probably ride in a gas fueled car/bus when I get there.
Not all the ideas were that off center for me, but that number one "do" really bugged.
I thought it was funny that number 10 was to "Stay Married" -"staying together is better for the earth." Forget better for your kids. :)
The article also said to consider purchasing carbon offsets. I can plant my own tree, thank you, and not out of guilt.