Sagacity: The Greenest product is often the one that already exists

Growing up in Colorado has a tendency to encourage a love for the outdoors. Plus, nearly every summer I’d go visit my grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins in Montana.

Cliff diving (or in my case…a loose tucked cannonball and the occasional perfectly thought-out jackknife dive with pointed toes) into cold crystal clear lakes. These lakes were so clear you could see the fish swimming below that you had targeted to hit once you reached the water. Beautiful, wild and real.

As a green enthusiast, I have a favorite area of interest (I guess you could say)….and that’s with energy. Actually, maybe I like this best because I can actually track improvements, see an end to the means, so to speak. Energy is tangible, real and reliable. With simple easy (almost no-brainer) actions on my part, I can make a big difference with the end result. I get off on stuff like that.

Other influences I had while growing up, my grandmother. She had me turn off lights as I left a room, or close a door, to save on energy. “I’m cold, Grandma,” I’d shout out my little pudgy face. Please note: I did not arrive at Grandma’s house with a pudgy face but it sure didn’t take me long after eating three consistently-timed full high starch meals a day to pudge right up.  My mom would say when she’d pick me up at the airport after my summer vacation that I’d walk on the airplane going to Montana and roll off the airplane coming home.

Grandma’s reply to me from her recliner was always the same, I was usually on the floor of their living room watching (you guessed it) …the longest running televised American musical variety show, “Well, dear, put a sweater on.”  Simple, non-brainer things we did growing up saved our family money. It was commonplace growing up to hear about saving…saving items to reuse, saving items to make something with in my grandfather work room, saving items so my grandmother could sew them into something special for the holidays or some ones birthday. Saving jars so that they were reused for canning raspberry and apricot preserves. Cut that branch or bush because it’s blocking the sun from hitting the house at the right time of the day in the morning or keeping those bushes or tree branches on the west side of the house fuller cause they kept the afternoon sun away from the windows in the kitchen.

This “green” revolution is really just US of the U.S. getting back to basics while incorporating new innovations with old common practice. If my Grandma was alive today, she’d call that a wise choice or say something about wisdom.

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

Why is green and “Green” Homes important to you?  email me; gracec@21goldchoice.com