What is the Authoritative "Green" Website?

I received an email from a reader who had no doubt read one of my "green" eco-articles, possibly having to do with reducing one's car or truck fuel consumption, or how to make distilled drinking water in the home, or how to wash your clothes by driving your car.

The Question

John,

I am writing to you to find out what organizations have the best information on going green. What I mean is not just cutting back on driving, recycling, and low energy consumption. I want to know if there is a list of anything and everything one can use to change or buy instead to go as green as possible in everyday life.

Of course I mean methods that don't entail living in a tree and hunting for food although, I praise the people that can live without a pc or cell phone.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours truly,

- Lauri

My Answer

Though seemingly innocuous at first, the challenge of Lauri's question is especially powerful. Basically, Lauri's asking whether there is a singular resource you may consult for "going green in all ways".

Whether she knows it or not, Lauri's question is somewhat loaded - several layers to it - and here's why...

What does "Green" Mean?

Before I (or anyone else) can begin to give an answer, let us first make note there is no specific agreement among various groups as to what "green" really means.

As I've noted in a previous article, without an agreement to define things, we can do little to nothing in the way of discussion that leads to a workable conclusion for us. For lack of a handy definition for "green," let's look at how some other folks define it.

Green... According to What?

Dictionary.com has it, green means environmentally sound or beneficial. Sounds good. But what does "environmentally sound" means exactly? Hmmm...

Merriam-Webster does a little better: concerned with or supporting environmentalism. MW provides an additional definition: tending to preserve environmental quality (as by being recyclable, biodegradable, or nonpolluting.

So, even the various "authoritative" sources show some variation on their take for what "green" means. Up to now, the common theme is "environment" and things having to do with that.

Green... According to Whom?

Back to Lauri's question. We have yet another layer added to the fray...

A Scientist's Perspective

So, when asking people what "green" means to them, you find even greater breadth in the interpretation.

My friend Jeff is an environmental remediation scientist specializing in coal pollution, and he naturally shares a balanced scientific and idealistic viewpoint.

Says Jeff, "The earth is our mother in a sense. We've been able to live with her for this long. Lately we've been mining, hacking, and scraping away at her skin (earth's crust), and as a result we've seen the effects of concentrated chemicals that we otherwise would not exposed to. So, taking the perspective that we humans are a part of the earth's environment - not an element separated from it - it's within our interest not to mess with Mother Nature. If not for her sake, then at least selfishly for ourselves."

An Eco-Warrior Perspective

In asking yet another, eco-warrior Jamie, this one an ardent activist, what her take on green was, Jamie responds, "Go all out! Anything and everything you can do to reduce your impact on the environment - just do it! Ride your bike to work instead of taking the car. Buy your clothes at the thrift store. Become vegetarian, or vegan. Buy as much as possible from local resources, and eliminate any buying from foreign sources to reduce transport pollution. Hell, I could go on and on. It's all a matter of self-education."

Is There a Single Authoritative Resource on "Green?"

Is there a single authoritative resource that Lauri can go to? By all means, yes. And when I say "by all means", it literally means that.

Jamie's last comment hits the nail on the head as the answer. While some sites like Yahoo! Green may attempt to cover the gamut in what there is to know about green, they serve only as an index on the topic - albeit a pretty good one.

Other websites may attempt to do what Yahoo! does. But more often than not, they specialize in a particular area of the green issue. Others are mere "greenwashing," - commercial sites that have splashed a green color motif onto their background, put in a few trendy catchphrases, and otherwise continue to sell products made at factories that pollute the environment as they always did previously.

Green Self-Education

Back to Lauri's quest for a single authoritative resource on "green." I defer to Jamie's answer above:

Seek The Answer Yourself

Lauri, go out there, speak with others, read books, read the web, travel the world (while polluting the air as little as possible, of course) and see how others do their "green thing."

Basically, the issue at hand is self-awareness. Know that what you're doing promotes green, as well as be aware of how others do it, too. Change your ways, and change those of others, too, if given the chance. Become your own living repository on what green means to you. By bringing it home to your heart, and making it work for you, you make it matter. What else works?

Seek The Answer In Yourself

While you may have been seeking a website that will give direction on how to live a green life, don't trust any - or all - of them as the authority. Concurrent to my advice for self-education and self-awareness comes self-sustenance, also known commonly as independence.

While it's appropriate to trust others to a certain degree, the journey through life is yours. How you make it a "green" life is up to you. You have the final say. You are the authority.

Your answer is: you. A self-aware, well-educated, green you.

Is there any single source better than that?