Deciding to be eco friendly takes work. These last few months, I’ve made a conscious effort to be as eco friendly as possible. Also working diligently to enlighten close friends on the practice. My circle of friends consists of a small group. From outdoor manly men to “GQ” creative “manscaped” men. Finding a gentle, non-intrusive way of communicating my eco message takes some finesse and massaging. Finding the right balance to intrigue my friends vs. turning them off from the message is the key to success. Some early feedback from my group of friends especially the guys have been, “so you’re going to be one of those guys?”. Of course, this is done in a more jovial tone. We’ve always given each other a hard time when someone from our group has a new hobby or tries to adopt a new trend. All part of our social behavior as “tough” guys.
A few things I’m experimenting with currently, are buying simple but effective items that almost everyone can use daily. Two examples of this are reusable tumblers (pic) and reusable straws (pic). I’ve realized over the last few months my exposure to plastic straws and plastic bottles are the two largest non eco friendly things in my routine. If you live an active lifestyle, like me there’s a good chance you have similar habits. I’d buy a 12 pack of water bottles to take to the beach or out on the boat for the day. As you can imagine this can result in quite a bit of personal waste daily. Also, I found out that dining out regularly plastic straws are freely given out with little thought on their eco impact. Overcoming these bad habits can be challenging and educating friend and family may not appear cool and may be even more difficult. But If they see you’re making the effort, it might influence them to be more aware of their habits. It’s these little changes that ultimately will create the wave of change needed for future generations.