It's Not that Easy Being Green...

...not for me, and certainly not for Mother Earth these days. I know, you were expecting Kermit; but after 40 years Kermit and the Sesame Street gang are going strong and the same just can't be said for the green rock we call home. It's Sunday, and my mind is on groceries, taking out the recycling, and what socially-relevant topic to blog about. So it seems fitting that my blog post should be about my favorite cause - saving the planet; or at least my own journey down the path to green living...

Oh, I've gone green. I've reduced. I reuse. I recycle. I've low-flowed and florescent-bulbed. I've turned off lights and turned down the heat. I don't let my car run to warm-up in the winter - and I've suffered for it. I don't buy bottled water and have eschewed Styrofoam coffee cups at work in favor of my own reusable mug ; after a decade of SUV driving, I've moved on to a more fuel-efficient (albeit German-engineered) vehicle. For years I have slowly but surely given up the convenience of wastefulness in the hopes of making a difference. This year we're even going to compost the jack-o-lanterns. (Clearly it is time; they've gone from really scary to just plain frightening).

I was inspired; my oldest son developed a passion for animals at a young age. He absorbed every tidbit of knowledge he could about creatures big and small, and when he learned about the plight of the polar bears and their disappearing habitat, he was devastated. "Can we save them, Mom?" he asked, full of four-year-old earnest. And of course I promised him I would try...so we have been ever since. But as I trekked up the Wegman's parking lot, reusable shopping bags in tow, it occurred to me that lots and lots of people still just aren't trying. But why? Well, maybe they lacked inspiration - and just maybe I could provide some blog-based inspiring.

So back at home and ready to blog...this should be easy, right? A YouTube query for "green + planet" yields what seems to be just what I'm looking for "Save the Green Planet." Jackpot...

OK, so I may need to try a little harder at social-relevance, and a little less at horrifying unsuspecting visitors. Revise search to "global warming."

Closer...but will my target audience of newbie-greeners know what to do without step one? And are any of them speakers of Asian dialects? My blog seemed to be going a little off track. I thought back to my own original inspiration, and queried one more time..."Polar bears". And there it was, all full of the same little-kid-cuteness and relevance and inspiration that got me years ago...

If that doesn't get you to say "Paper, please" then I'm not sure what will. But I hope it does, you can join me and Kermit in that familiar lament:

Happy Birthday old frog!