Have You Had Your Green Breakthrough?

I’ve been committed to the environment for the last 18 years. Back when the light first dawned on me, it wasn’t easy being green. I remember pleading with my boss in my first real job out of college to let me start a recycling program. The deal was that I, personally, had to remove all the paper and bottles and cans and bring them to the recycling center . . . on my own time. And I did it . . . happily. [Well, except the time I was accidentally locked in the recycling center, but let’s not go there.]

If you watch the news, the end is near. No one cares, and we’re all doomed. But I have a different perspective. Over the last 18 years, it’s gotten so much easier to go green. Recycling, for many companies, is a given. Cloth bags aren’t rare sightings. Compost bins are popping up on street corners. Eco-fashion is actually fashionable. It’s a new world, and I want to celebrate all we’ve accomplished.

Yeah, yeah, I know, we’ve still got a ways to go, but it’s so much healthier and more encouraging to acknowledge how far we’ve come. I was just talking on the phone with my Dad and he said something that shocked me: “I was at the grocery store—with my cloth bags, of course—and I saw a mother leaving with a cart full of plastic bags and I thought: when is she going to learn?”

Wow. My Dad said that? My Dad? I believe that’s called a breakthrough. In this case, it’s a green breakthrough. What more could I ask for on Earth Day?

Question of the blog: What was your green breakthrough?