Earth Day 2009 is upon us!  Almost 3 years after the much anticipated and wildly received Al Gore documentary “An Inconvenient Truth”, we at Neela have been asking ourselves what changes we have made in our own lives to make a difference in protecting our beautiful planet.  The core foundation of Neela is in direct parallel with the message behind the movie.  What can each of us do in our daily lives to collectively make a difference and do our part to slow the process of global warming?

Some of the simple changes we at Neela have made are using reusable shopping bags (no brainer) for all of our shopping needs, and using reusable water and coffee bottles instead of paper and plastic in our offices.  We have also paid close attention to the products we are putting into our Neela bags.   We’ve drastically reduced  packaging by buying products in bulk and are recycling any bags that have seen their lifetime come and go!  We are continually looking for additional ways to contribute to saving the planet from the harmful effects of excess human consumption.

Personally, we also try to buy from local suppliers whenever possible and are eating healthier by purchasing fresh, locally grown foods from farmers markets.  Here are some tips on simple ways to live a little more green, compliments of “The Inconvienent Truth” website:

• Buy locally grown and produced foods.  The average meal in the United States travels 1,200 miles from the farm to your plate.  Buying locally will save fuel and keep money in your community.
• Buy fresh foods instead of frozen.  Frozen food uses 10 times more energy to produce.
• Seek out and support local farmers markets.  They reduce the amount of energy required to grow and transport the food to you by one fifth.  You can find a farmer’s market in your area at the USDA website.
• Buy organic foods as much as possible.  Organic soils capture and store carbon dioxide at much higher levels than soils from conventional farms.  If we grew all of our corn and soybeans organically, we’d remove 580 billion pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere!
• Avoid heavily packaged products.  You can save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide if you cut down your garbage by 10%.
• Ensure you are properly recycling at home.

In honor of Earth Day, please share your success with you friends and family and encourage them to join you in your mission to live more green!