Painting the world green

The world could do with some more colour.

So I whipped out a brush and painted the world green. One plant, one fluorescent light-bulb and one home-grown vegie at a time.

This simple action of booking a home consultation with the Enviro Saver Program and planting native plants and vegetables in my garden was inspired by the ActNow Incubator.

My green day began at seven am. I’m not sure what possessed me to make the appointment at this ungodly hour. Yawning, I crawled out of bed, got dressed (in green, of course) and decided this was a great way to start the day after all.

Kris the Enviro Saver representative was very helpful, giving free advice on ways to make my home environmentally friendly and installing fluorescent lights throughout the house. This was done before I had a chance to blink and the whole process took half an hour.

As Kris was doing this, he explained why fluorescent lights are environmentally friendly. They last 15 000 hours (so seven to ten years) and use 80% less energy than normal globes. With that much saving, it almost feels like a crime not to. I took this chance to find out a little more about Enviro Saver, a program which has existed since November 2006 and is funded by various energy companies. Apparently Enviro Saver is very popular and they have a five week waiting list. I'm glad that many people are also craving green.

Next on the agenda was planting my vegetables and native plants, putting my neglected shovel (and arm muscles) to good use. Mine is an amateur’s vegie patch (scattered here and there). But if all goes well, I’ll be munching on home-grown beans, herbs and cherry tomatoes in no time.

Native plants need less water than others, which is why I decided to put them in my garden. It also doesn’t hurt that they look and smell beautiful and might attract native animals. Despite some insects befriending me (ouch!), it was relaxing. Sometimes there’s nothing like the smell of freshly ground earth to make you feel alive.

I realise that changing my light bulbs and scattering plants isn’t enough to save the planet. But small actions are better than none and it’s a good place to start.

So there you have it, my green day. Am I now up to the challenge of making it a green life?