Later is over.

In his latest book, Hot, Flat and Crowded, Thomas Friedman makes a great case for Code Green, a whole new way of living. You should read it. It will inform you and scare you. Hopefully, it will convince you to change the way you live and to help convince others to follow your lead, to do Five Green Things…then five more…and more, until the Earth is indeed a green, healthy, sustainable place to live.

While Friedman has many vital messages, I was struck profoundly by just three words: “Later is over.” We’ll catch up on our debts later. We’ll worry about the pollutants in our air, water and soil later. We’ll deal with second- and third-hand smoke later. We’ll worry about the run-off from mining later. We’ll deal with deforestation and massive animal extinction later. We’ll just let later generations deal with the natural inheritance we squandered.

Bridging The Gap volunteers and staff attend events and make presentations to thousands of people, over 30,000 in the past year. Some 1600 of them have committed to do Five Green Things, reducing their carbon output about 5800 pounds each, together cutting over nine million pounds in a single year.

Phelps Murdock staffing a Bridging The Gap information table at the annual Troostwood Gardens event.

What if 30,000 of us had made the commitment? We would have cut carbon by 174 million pounds, reducing other pollutants and saving thousands of dollars at the same time.

When we get everyone on board, “green” will make our communities better places to live. “Green” is about doing the right thing for you and everyone around you. It’s about doing everything possible to make our community healthier now and sustainable for the long run. “Green” is about: conservation and efficiency; clean air that reduces respiratory problems; adequate, clean water without antibiotics and hormones; nutritious food grown locally without toxic chemicals; reducing the incredible waste that causes us to use 25 percent of the Earth’s resources when we represent only 5 percent of the population.

Or should we just “Go Green” later...?

Learn more about Bridging The Gap