Its Not Easy Going Green

When I was a kid, my parents bought a white minivan. I loved it from the start, in part because I couldn’t recall having seen one like it; I thought my parents were on the cutting edge of cool. As soon as we started driving it around, though, it seemed like everyone had one and everyone else’s was white, too. One time, we came out of the movies and I immediately spotted our van. I ran ahead of everyone else and climbed right in only to discover the interior color had changed and someone had added a baby seat! Everywhere I went, I saw a white van that wasn’t ours. Did they all crop up after my parents bought theirs? No. I just started paying attention and taking note. I’m finding the same thing is true with going green. Now that I’m paying attention and taking note, information is everywhere! Unlike discovering that my parents weren’t on the cutting edge of cool, I love that I can hardly go anywhere, turn on the TV, computer or radio without something about going green popping up.

April’s Reader’s Digest had a feature article on Going Green by John Tierney. It’s essentially a list of 12 easy things you can do to be an “armchair environmentalist” (I love that term!) and five things “not to sweat.” (Feel guilty about not spending extra cash on organics? Don’t. Read the article to see why.) This is a really great article because it’s for you and me—average joes. The list includes things like using cruise control and loading up your dishwasher instead of washing in the sink. His tongue-in-cheek style makes the article a fun read.

A recent featured wiki-how was “How to host a green event.” This one, sad to say, was not that helpful, which was a bummer. I had an open house yesterday for church members to come by and (hopefully) make them feel welcome in our home. I was expecting to see at least 30 people, and maybe as many as 50. I certainly don’t have service for 50 laying around and I didn’t want to shell out enough money to pay for compostable plates over the cheaper, less green alternative (although I just learned that if I wanted to order 500, I could get them inexpensively online). Another suggestion in the article was to use cloth napkins over paper: a lovely idea for a group under 10, but not for such a sizeable crowd as mine. Also, the article talks about buying only organics to feed your guests. There are a number of reasons to buy organic, but (as I learned in the RD article) the environment isn’t necessarily one of them. I thought it was a mostly unrelated point.

Here are my cheapskate armchair environmentalist suggestions for hosting a green event for a crowd…

Try to buy compostable plates, recycled napkins, environmentally plastic ware, etc. in advance so you can get them cheaply. Check around online and in stores as you’re shopping well before your event. If you can’t (or you’re reading this the day before your event like happens to me!), don’t put out more plates, cups, napkins, plastic utensils than necessary. When it looks like there aren’t many available, people naturally try to conserve. On the other hand, when it looks like there are plenty, many will grab one for main dish, one for dessert and another when they go back while no one is watching to get more cake (I never do that, do you?). You can always put more if you run out. Better yet, don’t serve a whole meal. If you choose a non-meal time like 10:00 in the morning or 2:00 in the afternoon, you can serve finger foods and drinks. This means only napkins and cups are necessary and (bonus!) you’ll save money.

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