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When a movie star goes green, it makes
headlines. The green movement also has its share of home-grown heroes;
people you see mentioned each week on environmentally themed sites. It's
great stuff as it inspires many people.
What inspires me more is bearing witness to what would appear to be
"random acts of green" by ordinary folks.
On a recent trip out into the bush, it was a windy, cold morning with
intermittent drizzle. Niki the Wonder Dog and I were comfortable enough in
our heated mini-van buzzing along the highway just outside of the city when
in the distance; I saw a car on the side of the road. I slowed down thinking
that perhaps someone needed assistance.
Out of the gloom emerged a lonely figure; an elderly gentleman with a bag
who appeared to be just picking up rubbish along the side of the road.. and
no, he wasn't just picking up cans and bottles for the deposit cash.
He wasn't wearing a Greenpeace T-shirt, there was no environmental group
name stencilled on his car and he certainly didn't have the media in tow. In
fact, there was nothing to indicate he was a "greenie" at all
aside from what he was doing - he just seemed to be someone doing his bit
for the environment.
I'll never know his name, but to me he's an environmental hero. He made me
stop and think about why I couldn't do something like that from time to
time; a random act of green-ness - to spend 5 or 10 minutes each trip
cleaning up a section of roadside; or perhaps where I stop to have my break.
It's the sort of thing we can all do.
These random acts don't have to entail you being chilled to the bone and
trudging along a muddy road. It could be picking up some litter in the park
or at the beach while you are there, turning off a light at work in a room
not being used - just something spontaneous and "outside" your own
usual green focus.
Just imagine, if every adult in the country performed one random act of
green a day, over a year that would amount to over 84 billion actions.
That's a lot of litter collected or lights turned off. As I've so often
mentioned, simple green actions do work.
For those of you who do regularly practice random acts of green - it is
noticed and it does inspire. Like the better known green celebrities and
activists; you are heroes too.
Courtesy: Michael Bloch - Green living
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