I’ve loved words and writing for as long as I can remember. And I’ve hated math and science for equally as long. Luckily, serving as my son’s tour guide to the planet has rejuvenated my interest in life science, but, I must admit, I still feel intimated by most things numbers and all things science.

So when people get to talking about the environment and carbon emissions, ozone gases and such, I tune out a little bit. Or, to be more accurate, I feel a twinge of guilt mixed with a dash of ignorance and then check out of the conversation completely.

That is not to say the importance of those issues is lost on me. I really just don’t get it. But here’s what I do get: if we all start where we are now and use whatever it is that motivates us to live greener, we can make an enormous difference.

Maybe you aren’t ready to charge a hybrid car and maybe you have no intention of chaining yourself to a tree, or anything for that matter, in protest. Me either. It’s a good thing there’s still so much more we can be doing in addition to recycling and unplugging electronics.

Some think going green is easier done when times aren’t as lean, but I have found the opposite to be true. At our house, I’m responsible for the general care and feeding of our family of three, plus our Labrador, Lucy Brown a.k.a. “Good Girl.” So, for me, the most obvious place to dig deeper into being greener was in relation to my family’s eating habits.

Formerly, we did a lot of take-out and fast food for reasons ranging from fatigue, lack of planning, and cravings for crap food. So until the last few years, I considered cooking to be assembling pre-packaged foods. I figured we were eating at home and pots and pans got dirty. That’s cooking, right?  Then my husband got into this whole “vegetables are good for you and we should eat more of them” thing. I could make a damn good salad with my primary goal being to drown out the taste of vegetables with anything I could think of: cheese, berries, nuts, chunks of meat and lots of dressing.

Last year, our family had a little preview of the recession to come and decided to enact “Frugal February” where we would eat-in, and out of the cupboards, rather than buying recipe-specific items and making multiple trips to the grocery store. You can imagine the immediate savings, right? Since I’m not a numbers gal I can’t tell you how much we saved exactly but I assure you it was substantial.

Not only did we stop hemorrhaging money on things we didn’t really value, but our new habits in the kitchen have environmental benefits as well including: less packaging and waste, fewer miles on the road for shopping trips, and less food wasted because we were working under the WWII era slogan “use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.” Perhaps the most important benefit for me was consciously working toward our goal of living within our means and values.

Last summer I branched out a little in the fruit and vegetables department and got to know some local farmers who run CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture). In the fall we joined one and started a new habit of cooking up veggies I’d never heard of before (see my photo for my first beets!). I had no idea onions and potatoes came in colors other than white, yellow and red. If you’re the least bit curious about CSAs, I highly encourage you to look into one in your area. It’s been an awesome experience, and again, serves as a reminder of our priorities and values.

Change is sustainable when it’s inspired by something that matters to you.

What can you start doing differently today to make an improvement in your life and the environment?