It's just a trend that will soon pass.

Going green (becoming more sympathetic to our environment...adopting an eco-friendly lifestyle...whatever you want to call it) is about taking measurable actions to protect our planet's livelihood. Through our behavior, we can ensure that generations to come will still have a place that they can call home with all of the natural beauty and normalcy that we have been privvy to up until now. It may seem as though it's the hip new thing to do, but environmental awareness has been around a very long time -- it's just that the majority of us are finally paying attention because we have been witnessing firsthand that things have become noticably screwy outside our windows. Weather patterns are more than a little odd, heat waves have been oppressive, droughts widespread, polar ice...well, you've read the news. If you think for a moment that a year from now, the hot new trend will be going purple and we'll have forgotten all about this eco mumbo-jumbo, think again. If we continue living irresponsibly, depleting our planet's resources and churning out non-biodegradable waste like there's no tomorrow, then before we know it, there really will be no tomorrow.

It's just a diabolical marketing strategy that companies have devised.

If I had a nickel for every single time a friend or colleague claimed that going green is just a vast sales conspiracy, I'd have singlehandedly funded the cleanup efforts of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch by now. I'm quite sure that companies are absolutely thrilled to have a new sales angle to pursue, and there's no denying that if they had their way, every household in the world would kick all of their old stuff to the curb in favor of replacing it with brand new eco-friendly items. Be that as it may, these companies didn't arrange a pact with the devil in order to ensure healthy sales for the indefinite future. They may be taking advantage of our really unfortunate eco-reality and the majority of them might even be responsible for contributing to the current state of our planet via their irresponsible (and in many cases flat out criminal) manufacturing processes, but science doesn't lie. What's happening to our planet is not a fabrication or an outlandish story -- between the palpable climate crisis, loss of major wildlife species and burgeoning global population, we are living-breathing-witnessing the changes with our own two eyes and verging on the point of no return.

It's just a ploy to get me to spend more money.

If you want to follow the cue of manufacturers that have jumped on the going green bandwagon, you could certainly drop a wad while converting your entire household and its contents over to eco-friendly goodness...but guess what? It is entirely unnecessary. Think back to the way that our grandparents and their parents lived and it's not hard to recognize that they were green before the catchphrase was ever even coined. Making things with their own two hands, growing their own food, reusing, repairing...it was all part of a simpler, practical and more economical lifestyle. We should all bear in mind that our insatiable appetite for purchasing shiny-new trinkets is part of what got us into this mess in the first place. If we stopped buying junk designed by manufacturers to last no more than a year tops, then perhaps we'd really make a dent in our pattern of consumerism...oh yeah, it wouldn't hurt if we also resisted the temptation to strut through stores merely as a form of weekend entertainment. It may sound like a crazy concept, but if you stop window shopping, you won't even know what you're missing -- you might just find that you appreciate what you already own a lot more, too. And for those who claim that purchasing organic food takes a huge bite out of one's budget, while I heartily agree, you'd be amazed at how many manufacturer's coupons exist for the vast majority of those brands. When you use them in conjunction with a sale (at a store that honors double coupons), you'll be sitting pretty.

It's only for elitist snobs.

A friend of mine who shall remain nameless recently made fun of the fact that I refuse to buy conventional milk, claiming that the $1.59/gallon version was suddenly beneath me. I explained that after checking various sources and really taking the time to understand what is actually in regular milk (a lot more than vitamin D, folks), I made a commitment to purchase that household staple exclusively in its organic form. Ditto for all forms of meat and eggs. Am I a snob for being concerned about what I put into my body? For far too long, I ate whatever items were the cheapest without once thinking that there was a much more serious price to pay for all of the deals that I scored. I never thought about my health, the way that the animals were being raised/treated and as for the environmental consequences -- I was absolutely clueless. Then, I joined a green social network, started reading what other people had to say and made a point of educating myself. A few years into the whole going green thing, I refuse to support factory farming, I choose organic whenever possible and know that my purchasing choices make a huge difference in honoring the green movement. Just in case you were wondering, I do it all while armed with a fistful of coupons and even purchase the majority of my organic food on clearance.

It's what crazy extremists do.

I can understand how those who are on the threshold of the green movement might be digging their heels in, not quite sure if or when they should commit based on a few antiquated and flat out silly notions. First off, yes, there are a few tree huggers out there who lean to the loopy side of crazy (my own Aunt included) but then again, there are plenty of wackadoodle people in the mainstream population, too.  If you think that going green will instantly brand you as a cuckoo granola nut, then you are dead wrong.  In fact, shun the notion that anyone really even cares what you are doing with your lifestyle -- make the commitment to do it for your own conscience, and if not for you, then for your children or your sibling's family. Secondly, living an earth-friendly lifestyle does not require that you abandon your razors or body care products or dedication to personal grooming. You can be squeaky clean and well-put-together and still live in a way that honors resource conservation.

It requires a lot of time and dedication.

As with any habit, it takes a period of time to adopt a new behavior into your lifestyle and then before long, you can do it in your sleep. As a pre-teen, I recall my city implementing a recycling program for the very first time and I actually thought to myself what a pain in the neck it was going to be. Then, I was put in charge of all of my household's recycling efforts and once I got into the swing of things, I started feeling pretty good about it. Ask any seasoned recycler how long it takes them to collate their materials and they'll probably say that it doesn't...they just do it in the flat second that other households are chucking things in their garbage cans.  It literally is a matter of flipping a switch on in your brain and embracing the effort to reduce your negative impact on the environment.

Who wants to become a full-throttle vegetarian?!?!

While cutting down on the amount of meat in your diet is good not only for your body but also for the environment, no one is putting a gun to your head saying that you must do without. This is one myth that absolutely must be dispelled once and for all -- if you are interested in going green, go for it and do it in the best way that you can. Personalize the effort, make it your own. For some, it means that they are highly dedicated and eschew everything from grid power and animal protein to toilet paper, but there are so many other shades of green that still benefit the future of our planet. You can still have your steak and eat it too, just make it organically raised for a good green high five to your bod and the planet. So many people forget that the majority of us are already semi-vegetarians without breaking a sweat -- all of those peanut butter & jelly sandwiches and plates of pasta marinara are a lot more eco-friendly than you ever realized. If the threat of vegetarianism has prevented you from taking the green plunge, relax -- it's definitely not a requirement.

It's too hard to implement in my life.

Really...it's not. Like Nike says, just do it. As with anything else in life, it may take a little bit of time to get accustomed to implementing the changes, but once you're riding the bike, you'll never forget how to maintain your balance. Living a greener lifestyle is somewhat like living a selfish, wasteful lifestyle in that instead of throwing things out, you're saving them. Ixnay on the garbage can, all hail the recycling bin. It is the complete opposite mindset of what all of us used to embrace, but once it becomes the norm, you are on auto pilot and running a tip-top green ship.

It's about sacrifice rather than choice and commitment.

No, no, no -- you aren't giving up your freedom or ability to live your life the way you desire. You actually never really wanted to use up and spit out stuff like it was yesterday's news...you just got sucked into the consumerism trap. You never worried about or realized that there was a measurable consequence each time you discarded the material items in your life. Truth be told, all of that stuff you accumulated in your personal environment has never really even made you all that happy, has it? So, what are you really giving up? By changing your lifestyle to one that conserves rather than perpetually purchases and purges, the only thing you are sacrificing is material misery. Finally, you are taking back the reins of your life and navigating a course of liberation from stores, superfluous spending, plastic junk and toxic food and doing something to create a better cleaner greener future for Mother Nature. Take a deep breath, embrace your decision and stay the course  -- it feels good, right?