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The importance of being good to the environment is one that is often balanced against the expense. Many families, especially in the current financial climate, will find that they can afford either food or principles, and in such a situation the latter is always going to lose out. However, the truth is that you can be green and live affordably if you know how, although you may not be able to do everything that someone with more disposable income might.

Having little money often means you cannot live as close to work as you would like. This may rule out the short walk to work and even cycling. However, if your area is served by public transport then this may be more advantageous than driving, as it will help the environment and you may well save some money on fuel. If you live outside the main shopping catchment area but have more local stores, then you may be able to walk there and back – although this becomes harder when the local store is more expensive.

Recycling containers is something that always benefits the environment and can help you make something of leftovers. Making more food and freezing some of it means that you cut costs that way, and use less packaging into the bargain. No-one is going to blame you for unavoidable compromises, and if anyone does then they are the ones with the problem. Not you. Doing what you can is a whole lot more noble than cursing those who do less than you can.

In life, we must compromise from time to time. Even the principles that we hold so dear sometimes come under pressure when the situation becomes grave. And for an environmentalist the concern about compromising arises on a regular basis. If you get in the car to drive somewhere are you junking your principles? If you buy food that is not locally sourced, are you a traitor to the planet? If you let a glass jar fall into the wrong garbage bin, are you sticking your tongue out at Mother Nature?

Think about your other principles if you have a problem with the above questions. We all have principles and we cannot always live perfectly by those principles. We may always want to help the needy, but we may not be able to in every case. We may always want to think before judging, but anger can override that principle. We are human, and if you never slip in your principles then you should take a large bow, because you have managed something that hardly anyone ever does.

If you sometimes let your environmental principles slip, it is not because you are a charlatan. Sometimes we have to let one go because there is a reason we cannot live up to it. Sometimes we make mistakes and we cannot just repair them. As long as you live your life by sound general principles, a mistake can be forgotten and forgiven – but breaking them when it suits you is another matter, and one that is harder to justify.

One of the most difficult tightropes to walk in life is the one between owning and driving a car and being an environmentalist. On the one hand, you have worked and saved to own the vehicle and are justifiably proud of it, but on the other you know that by driving it you are not being kind to the environment. And then there are other people who seem to feel, and will even state, that for every tree planted by an environmentalist group, they will produce all the more pollution to make the difference.

Is it possible to be a motorist and an environmentalist? Yes, it must be said that it is. Yes, every car will after a certain point contribute to pollution, but responsible motoring is less problematic for the environment than a lot of things that are allowed to slide. If you are driving a car that gets about twenty miles to the gallon, then you are not motoring responsibly. But equally, you cannot be expected to walk a hundred miles to somewhere remote.

Think about how necessary the journey you are about to make is. Think about whether it can be undertaken, economically, by some other means. Think about how long it will take and how big a dent it will make in the environment. If it is necessary and cannot be done in any other way, then you are no traitor to the planet – but motoring is a privilege and we should not abuse it.

The world has plenty of problems, and often you will find that friends or neighbors are skeptical that you choose the environment as one of your issues. When we stand at threat from terrorism, from crime in our towns and cities, and when there are potential new threats to our health from this thing or that thing, someone will always ask “Why are you bothering with recycling?”. The simple reason to give in response is that just because there are other problems, it doesn’t mean you cannot deal with this one.

Sustainable living is a concept that is catching on among people, perhaps slower than would be ideal but there is no doubt that it is gaining currency. The idea is that, rather than just throwing away the old, or using fuel that cannot easily be replaced, one uses things which are replaceable and reusable. If you are finished with a pickle jar, why throw it in the trash when it could be used to hold something else? That is the concept, on a small scale.

On a larger scale it involves using fuel that comes from easily-grown crops or from the environment itself – things we cannot run out of. For the planet to produce coal, oil or natural gas requires decades, even centuries of movement, and once it’s gone we cannot just go out for more. If we are careful with the things our planet bestows, we will have more of them for when we really need them.

There is an ugly vein of skepticism which runs through a large part of society. It’s understandable, we all have our cynical side and that’s important – no-one wants to be gullible even if we want to think the best of people and organisations. But skepticism for the sake of it is so pointless. If we all thought “What’s the point?” about things that didn’t immediately profit us then the world would be in big trouble – and not from global warming, but from global apathy.

If you start to be active in green issues, even if it is just separating your garbage for recycling, then there is a real chance that someone will look at you and ask “why are you doing that?”. Any answer that you give them will be met with a scornful remark and some laughter. And while you may feel like strangling the person who does this, that is not really in the spirit of looking after the planet and its people. You might also feel like giving up, but don’t do that either.

It’s not even about converting others. People will come to their own conclusions and very few skeptics will be won over by an impassioned speech on our planet and what we need to do to look after it. All you can really do is get on with what you are doing. In time, maybe the skeptical neighbor will come round to your way of thinking. Maybe they won’t. But if you let the knee-jerk skeptics grind you down, they’ll be insufferable.