This is not my usual blog post, but I hope you will join the fun and spread your green wings with me. The parameter of this challenge is to pick one green goal per week for eight weeks. Your goals may be things that you have been meaning to do, but keep putting off. They may be goals that are a little out of your comfort zone. Or, maybe, you just want an inspiring launching pad to take your green journey to the next level.
Why Do An 8 Week Go Green Challenge?
Sometimes, our personal journeys can get a little stagnant. This challenge provides an inspiring structure for us to play our edge and create new possibilities in our lives.
Going green also means taking better care of ourselves. This is an opportunity to nourish our bodies and souls with healthy, sustainable choices.
We all know, somewhere deep inside of us, that we depend on a healthy planet to sustain us. We also know that are a lot of environmental issues happening now like climate change, species going extinct, pollution driven health problems, habitat destruction and ocean acidification (to name a few). This 8 Week Challenge is an inspiring chance to empower you too make a difference and realize how much you matter.
Instructions
Choose one green goal per week for eight weeks. After you complete your green goal, blog about it. Then post your blog link in the comments section below with a short synopsis of what your blog post is about. This weekly challenge starts on Monday, May 26th and ends on Sunday, July 20th.
If you don’t have a blog, no problem! Share a few sentences about your goal each week in the comments section. Share with friends and family- maybe, they will even join you in taking the challenge.
Did you find out about this challenge a few weeks after it started? No problem! Jump in any time over the next eight weeks. When the official challenge ends, you can continue on in anyway you see fit.
Types of Green Goals
The sky is the limit, but here are some ideas to get your creative juices flowing:
- Personal steps to green your life: buy organic and/or sustainable local food, start a veggie garden, shop with reusable bags and eliminate disposable bags , stop buying bottled water, convert to sustainable personal care products, buy minimally packaged or unpackaged items when possible, buy your next piece or furniture or article of clothing second hand or made with sustainable materials, conserve water, research renewable energy options to implement in your home, watch an environmental documentary, etc.
- Activism: Volunteer at a local environmental organization, go to an environmental rally, inspire awareness and sustainable action in your community, contact your elected officials about environmental issues, etc.
- Inner ecology: We are part of the Earth and its ecosystems. Taking that concept further, we are each an ecosystem onto ourselves. We need to allow our inner gardens to flourish. What unnecessary clutter, time-consuming distractions and out-dated perceptions take you away from your well-being and doing the things that matter most, like living in harmony with the Earth?
Want more ideas? Check out my goals below and click around my blog. You can also check out other green blogs, books, documentaries and resources.
Tips
- If a goal seems too large to do in one week, it can probably be broken down into smaller, more manageable goals that can be accomplished over a few weeks.
- In a non-judgmental fashion, notice what feelings, thoughts and reactions arise when you embark upon your goal. This is an opportunity to get to know yourself better and find what flows for you.
- Remember to not force anything. Check out my blog post on finding the flow in your green journey.
My 8 Green Goals
Just in case you’re curious (and also for accountability on my end), here are my green goals. They will be in the category, “My Green Journey”. They may not happen in this exact order and I may change one or two:
- Take the Plastic Trash Challenge to get an honest look at the plastic waste I generate, so I can make better choices.
- Set up my green YouTube channel and post my first video.
- Go on a electronic diet to reduce unnecessary distractions in my life.
- Call or email a one or two food companies I like and suggest more sustainable packaging alternatives.
- Talk to the neighbors in my 54 unit building about enrolling in the Organic Waste Collection program.
- Start a microgreens and/or herb window garden.
- Lighten my load and sustainably get rid of items I no longer use or like.
- Go to a rally to stop fracking or some other environmental cause I am moved by.
Last, but not least, tell your friends and spread the green goodness! And please don’t hesitate to ask me any questions.
Inspired Earth Connection 