Moving away from the "green" hype.

The ongoing debate about catastrophic climate change and "green" technologies fires up a lot of strong emotions in people on both sides of the argument. But no matter what side you fight on, we should all agree on one thing: pollution is not a good thing. Smog, poisoned lakes, trash and deforestation affect all of us in an equally negative way. Returning to a more natural lifestyle should be the goal of all of us, political and religious affiliations aside.

So I'd like to move away from the hype and popularity of the green movement and distinguish natural from "green".

When I think of the concept of green living, I associate it with commercialism and hype. Green is a company producing a more environmentally friendly plastic bag when we should be trying to stop using so many plastic bags in the first place. Green encourages us to be just as focused on consuming as before, only shift our thought patterns slightly to the left. Green does not invite real change, it draws in the hip and trendy and when it goes out of style, nothing is any different.

Natural living encourages an entire lifestyle change. Natural living is about reducing our consumption, even if it means stepping out of our comfort zone to do so. It's about learning to live in harmony with nature, which means fewer products, not greener ones. To be natural is to be the way that you were meant to be, living the way your body was meant to live, the way nature intended.

This isn't to say that there are no virtues to the green movement. Making environmentally friendly things more trendy and popular might help to encourage people who would otherwise shun the natural life as too "hippie" or "earthy crunchy" to make a real lifestyle change. And I don't think anyone is complaining about places like LA reducing carbon emissions. But we need to focus on a real life change, not just a trendy grocery bag that gets stuck in the closet next month.

I encourage all of us to take the steps to move towards a more natural life that will last a lifetime.

Tip of the day: Starting seedlings indoors this time of year? Try using egg cartons until the seedlings have 2 or more true leaves. The egg carton can be torn apart and transplanted without disturbing the roots of the seedlings and it is naturally biodegradable.