I’m Josiah Likkel, and I live in Seattle, WA. This whole issue concerning green products, both their popularity and their cost, is one of the biggest obstacles for those trying to “go green” and reduce their carbon emissions, and other environmentally related lifestyle transitions. Growing up in a city where going green is viewed as almost equal to an act of heroism, I notice that those who can carry out such a lifestyle are often far wealthier than most-the green elites, as I call them- and they have an intolerant outlook on those who cannot live the same, expensive way. Some, if not most, people simply cannot afford to live in a privileged manner in which they can pay bills, provide for their families and maintain an ecologically acceptable existence. Instead of just telling people what they have to do to go green and hoping for success, we must brainstorm possible solutions that will lead to these resources being more excessible to the general public rather than targeting the upper-middle class and upper class-some ways include community development/restoration, price reductions on organic produce (eventually), and the heightened availability and affordability of hybrid-electric vehicles (again, eventually). Everyone can make a difference… but they need to given the chance to do so first That is when progress will truly be made.

I’m from Seattle, Washington where we get a lot of rain. if you too live in a place with consistent rainfall a great way to divert run off would be installing a rain garden. If you aren’t familiar with what rain gardens are it is a shallow depression that is planted in soil with deep-rooted plants and grasses, it allows rainwater runoff to be absorbed back into the earth opposed to into streets and sewers. This is good because typically runoff will flow into storm drains and surface waters which often cause erosion, water pollution, and flooding. The initial purpose of a rain garden is to improve the quality of water in nearby bodies of water by cutting down the amount of pollution reaching creeks and streams by up to 30%. Owning a rain garden can help you reduce your carbon footprint.

There are many reasons to why we should use green cleaning products. When we hear the word green we staart to think about life, plants, or maybe recycling. Green products are products that have less of an impact to the environment or also known as eco-friendly. People use green cleaning products to avoid harsh chemicals in conventional cleaning products. Here IS a comparison between two green cleaning products to see which is more eco-friendly. Many compare the Green Works natural by clorox to the Nature’s Source by Windex. They are both fairly similar. I think we should use green products cause they contain less toxins.

You know those water bottles that use less plastic? The coffee cups that use recycled paper, etc.? I believe these products shouldn’t just be “special”; they should be all products. The “greenness” should be applied to every product that is used daily. Imagine if instead of your cleaner reading “green”, the greenness was assumed!

I think a big reason why green products are not very cheap and accessible right now may be because companies do not support the making of green products. Listed in the link below are the top 10 companies that support the making of eco-friendly products. Among the top 10 companies include Office Depot, Sprint, and Microsoft. These companies encourage their employees to reduce their carbon footprint by giving them incentives to limit unnecessary travel or by refusing to buy supplies from companies who contribute to deforestation. Sprint encourages recycling by giving consumer credits to customers who recycle their old phones before buying new ones. I think that green products can be made more affordable and accessible if we support the companies listed in the link below as well as other green companies. These companies can then become the example for others to begin making green products. If all companies made eco-friendly products, then not only would green products be available to everyone, but the environment will also benefit as a result.

One product that causes a major problem in the environment is plastic, nonreusable, water bottles. So many people use plastic water bottles everyday, when in truth, for this situation, the green product is actually more affordable. If you bought a reusable water bottle and filled it up everyday, then you would actually be saving money because instead of spending about four dollars a week, you spend about ten dollars one time, and then you are done. One problem with reusable water bottles though, is that you can run out of water fast, and then if you are thirsty again and are out, it would probably be a challenge to refill it, so instead you just buy a plastic bottle of water from somewhere. This is were the community comes into the picture. At my school, we have a few water fountains that also have little spouts to refill water bottles. I think if we placed these all around the community, people would be more inclined to just get a reusable water bottle and fill it up instead of buying a new plastic bottle everytime they are thirsty.

Since I am involved in sports and many extra curricular activities, I find myself going through numerous amounts of water bottles a day. Try as I might, I can never seem to stop using them. They’e always available in vending machines and sold in our cafeteria. I’ve tried using reusable bottles, but could never seem to find one that I absolutely liked. I did some research and found some reviews on eco-friendly, reusable bottles that have been tested and approved to be user and environmentally helpful. Our school is already supplied with water fountains that accommodate for reusable bottles, helping us students save thousands of plastic bottles from landfills. By changing my ways I would not only be choosing a more eco-friendly option, but a simpler one.

When you really think about it… where do we get all of our energy to power machines, electronics, and all these appliances we have. Oil, coal, natural gas; we use all of these to power such things. Oil that came from the compressed and heated bones of a dead dinosaur or pehistoric plant from millions of years ago. These resources are non-renewable, which means we have to take action in finding ways to conserve them.

How about energy that comes from the sun; a resource that will never be used up by humans? One that is environmentally friendly, and releases no CO2 emissions?

If more people switched to solar panels for powering their house, I believe less CO2 emissions would be produced, and many carbon footprints would be decreased.

A couple of days ago I saw a commercial for a sponge made out of recycled fibers and 50% of the fibers are made out of agave plant. It is called the Scotch Bright Greener Clean Scrub Brush. The commercial stated that the sponge could outlast thirty roles of paper towels! The sponge can also be de-contamited in the dishwasher and re-used. The sponge would decrease the paper waste of each household and save money.

Going off of the harmful toxins released from these products, I have found that there are so many less-harmful options, that even cost less then expensive chemicals. So, why not save your money, get a better (and SAFER) clean, and help reduce your carbon footprint by using gentle, but effective, cleaners? If more people cut down on using harmful chemicals in their homes, maybe their production will decrease, too. Cutting down on buying these products can be beneficial in two ways. 1 - - it will obviously be less harmful to the environment because less chamicals will be used. 2 — like Coco said, less plastic containers will be contributing to landfills. So if you have someone who comes and clean your house, ask them if they would be willing to try more environmentally friendly cleaning products! I know that our housekeeper reuses old newspaper to clean scratches of the windows (and it really works!)!