Living Greener Charlotte North Carolina Real Estate Certified EcoBroker

This will be the first of a series of articles on how you can “go green” and live a more eco-friendly lifestyle, whether you live in Charlotte, North Carolina or Timbuktu. What does it mean exactly to “go green?”  Basically, it’s a choice to live more conscientiously within natures balance. It’s finding a way to live that is not only natural and healthy for yourself, but for those who also share your environment, a.k.a. planet earth.

In our Western consumer culture, living green goes against the grain and can be a challenge at times. Compared to our preoccupation with convenience and consumerism, very little focus is given to sustainability or what is good for our environment. Not to mention – old habits are hard to break.  Americans like their disposables, creature comforts and junk food.

However, with a little help and guidance, we can tweak our non-green habits and move in the direction of a greener way of life. Nowadays green is everywhere and you would literally have to be deaf, blind and dumb not to have heard about it. It’s in the news, politics, technology, real estate, music, fashion, etc. and there are over one hundred thousand websites dedicated to green living on the Internet cyber-highway.

Unfortunately, a lot of the information we hear comes at us from opportunistic angles. We get “green fatigue” and start to tune out messages about “green.” Let s face it, the American way is to find a way to make a profit and green has become a big industry. It’s what we do. Despite this, we can’t allow greed and opportunism to interfere with basic common sense. Deep down we know that green is the intelligent way and that we need to lead greener lives despite the hype and nonsense for the sake of sustainability.

Each one of us can make an impact in our small corner and have a positive impact on our environment. However, people first need to understand how our ecosystems are interlinked and interdependent for green living to have real contextual meaning in their lives. The fact is that everything we do has either a positive or negative impact on the environment and with increased awareness, we can each do our part by the choices we make everyday.

Going Green with Recycling

Take for example, the act of recycling, which happens to be a huge pet peeve of mine when people don’t recycle their trash. I live in a neighborhood of large homes filled with big families. When I walk my dog on trash day, I notice how many people don’t have recycling bins out. I don’t mean to get on my soap box here, but there is absolutely no excuse for this, especially when bins are provided for each house free of charge and they are picked up every week. As I said before, old habits die hard. Our schools can teach our children about the importance of recycling, but if it isn’t reinforced by example in the home, they aren’t going to get the message. We need to recycle because it:

• Saves Landfill Space
• Saves Energy
• Saves Natural Resources 
• Saves Clean Air and Water 
• Saves Money

The bottom line is that what we do or don’t do directly affects the lives and future of our children.  

EcoBroker Certified® Real Estate Professional Charlotte, North Carolina

Leigh Brown is a professional real estate agent of Charlotte North Carolina. She is also also a EcoBroker Certified® professional who genuinely cares about the environment and who walks the talk. Leigh helps her clients take advantage of energy efficiency and environmentally sensitive design in Charlotte, NC real estate properties.  She also helps her clients market their real estate properties with green features so that Charlotte, NC home buyers live comfortably with energy efficiency and environmentally-sensitive choices. If you’re looking to purchase a home in Charlotte North Carolina, contact Leigh Brown, an EcoBroker Certified® professional.