It's not easy being green.....

With everyone jumping on the "green" bandwagon, what does it really mean and how green is green? What can you do to go green? By going green in one aspect of your life do you give up green in another part? Does green have to be new? Are we just starting to make green items? How difficult is it to decorate green?
No, green does not have to be new, in fact, green is also about reusing not simply buying new sustainable products. By buying something new, you have to factor the production cycle and process into the equation. Yes, the materials may be green, but the energy to make those goods must be consumed. Reusing products already created does not require new energy or more carbon emissions. The energy to make these products has been consumed. Secondly, if we don't reuse these products we waste these products and thereby create waste.

So what can we do to go green in decorating? The easy answer: antiques. Repurpose old furniture, what's old is now new and green, to boot! Retro styles are in style. So buying going green you are doing the "in" thing in terms of style and the environment. One good example is The Green Project in New Orleans. The Green Project operates a WAREHOUSE STORE that resells high-quality, salvaged building materials at low cost to the community. The store is dedicated to helping the environment by reducing the amount of usable materials placed in landfills or disposed of improperly. Take a gander at some of the doors for sale. While you can repurpose wood floors, doors, and hardware, green can be as simple as buying an antique lamp, chair, jewelry. In a world of constant consumption, we need to think about what we are consuming.

But is the “greening” of the antique industry a marketing opportunity, or just good ecological and financial sense? The answer, across the board, appears to be both.

At a time when everyone is starting to take a look at their personal “carbon footprint,” “green” is on everyone’s lips.

Antiques are, and always have been, the epitome of green; they just have never been marketed as green. The marketing of green could be the single most important thing to turn the business around. Click here to go to the complete article. Buying antiques also encourages the concept of "shopping locally" reducing carbon emissions from your vehicle and supporting the local economy and tax base.

It almost seems like, to some degree, the age old concept of it's not easy being green really deserves a second thought! Go antiquing!