GUEST POST: Honoring Your Mother (Earth)

Guest Post by Allison Dudas

With Mother’s Day around the corner, its time to think about how to celebrate these special women in our lives. The women who raise us leave an imprint: for better or worse, we inherit many of their habits, values and passions. We at the Green Alliance have been thinking about how our mothers influenced our commitment to green living and/or might have played a role in our transformation into green business owners. While the verbiage of “going green” didn’t exist when we were little, the women in our lives embodied, and continue to embody, the spirit the Green Alliance strives to live out.

“My mother was respectful and conserving of every resource used in my childhood and she always took the time to explain to me why that was important.  I realize now that this organic conservationist attitude was really the spark for all of my environmental advocacy,” says GA founder Sarah Brown.  “For example, I remember my Mom was always on me when I was a teenager about not taking 15 minute showers; but what really worked was the fact that she would explain to me why I shouldn’t do that; that there was an impact on the earth for using, pumping, heating and then cleaning that water.”

Indeed, the word “gratitude” kept coming up our recent conversations surrounding Mother’s Day. Whether it was Sarah’s mother explaining the “why” of green choices, Jim’s mother passing down the notion of stewardship or Becky’s mom teaching her how to advocate for what’s right, we certainly have much for which to be thankful.

Given the huge debt we feel towards our mothers, it’s only natural that Mothers Day be a vehicle for reflection on just how much our mothers helped us to become the environmental advocates or green business leaders we are today.

Les Veilleux, the owner and found of Eco Firebox,  a company that specializes in super efficient masonry wood heaters recalls how his own mother instilled in him a love of nature that most definitely set him on a course toward environmentalism. “I remember when my Mom used to open the kitchen window this time of year and a large lilac bush flooded the house with its gift. Every time I see or smell one it now it brings me back to that feeling and love for the nature that surrounds us”.

Even today, women are the primary decision makers in most U.S. households when it comes to shopping and meal planning and, according to The NPD Group (a leading market research company), women are more interested in “green” products than men (57% vs. 47%). Women are leading the green movement and they are doing so with their attitudes, actions and pocketbooks. It’s inspiring, it’s amazing and we hope it continues.

Indeed as the Green Alliance opened up the discussion among it’s near 3,000 consumer members a flood of Green Card holders responded with wonderful stories about their own experiences.  “Both my grandparents were farmers, so my parents were raised on farms. They grew and raised much of what they ate, and nothing was wasted. My parents left the farms when they married, but took with them their love of fresh and local food, and raised us on it, which has influenced me and how I raise my own daughter. Wasting is offensive in my mind, since I was raised that way, and whatever we can't eat, now or later, returns to the earth to grow more food.  This has us composting today with Seacoast green business EcoMovement,” says GA member Michelle Alexander.

“Even though my mom wasn’t particularly religious she definitely instilled in all of us the importance of stewardship; that we have a responsibility to respect and protect the great gifts this earth has given us,” elaborates Jim Cavan, Director of Media and PR at the GA. Indeed, as the Green Alliance writer in chief, Jim has told many a story that has educated and inspired others to live greener lives.

“I can tell you that my own mother was the person that taught me about the importance of advocacy,” says GA Assistant Director Becky Holt.  “Because she gave me the tools to empower myself,  I now have the confidence and enthusiasm to spread the good green word.  And, I feel like I can really go the long distance with my green values here at the Green Alliance!”

Sure, Becky didn’t inherit her mom’s green thumb (she promises she can kill a plant in less than a week!) and Sarah doesn’t always heed her mother’s advice about short showers, but our mothers are with us always. They’ve called us to care for the world around us and for that we are grateful.

Honor your Mom with a Green Alliance membership for Mother's Day or if you are looking for something more tangible for the green Mom in your life, get a regular GA membership for $35 and pick up your free Green Mom Survival Bag filled with $100 in GA goodies at the Green Alliance office in downtown Portsmouth!

Learn more about the Green Alliance at www.greenalliance.biz or pick up a membership for your Mom and get the free Green Mom Survival Bag at 75 Congress St. Suite 304, Portsmouth NH.