So I was thinking today of our planet today and all the damage we’ve inflicted upon it since the onset of the Industrial Revolution, but that became a bit overwhelming and, anyways, most of that wasn’t my fault anyway, so I tried to narrow it down and think about the damage I have personally inflicted on it.
Saving our planet ... one wedding at a time
In my younger years I did probably create my own personal ozone hole with all the gasoline I bought for my 72 Chevy Impala and all the styrofoam Big Mac boxes I nonchalantly tossed into the trash (which I’m sure are still sitting intact in a landfill somewhere in northern Ohio). But in the last 10 years I have made a much more concerted effort to be kind to our globe, and Groomasaurus Gal and I do whatever we can to recycle, reduce our fuel consumption (she has a Prius, me a Mini Cooper), turn out lights when leaving a room, rub our brittle hands together during the winter in our frigid house (Groomasaurus Gal keeps the thermostat pretty darn low), etc.
Which brings me to our wedding … today I feel a bit guilty because we’re having a destination wedding in Mexico, and all those people flying from Denver, St. Louis and various points west aren’t exactly making life any easier for Sammy the Engangered Snail or Ollie the Asthmatic Osprey. Airline travel is a big, big polluter, and there’s no rationalizing around this. So what to do…
To try and balance things out, we decided that we would try to cut back on some items. For instance, no printed paper invitations (we will e-mail all save-the-dates and invites). Buy “previously loved” wedding attire or use something we already own (which should give us ample selection). Stuff like that. In addition, we are leaning toward buying carbon offset credits from a site like CarbonFund or TerraPass so our CO2 emissions can be offset with green activities elsewhere.
Earth Day is great because it increases awareness of how we care for our environment, but it’s action that will make a difference. Hopefully we can do our small part to offset our wedding emissions (probably the first time those two words have been used together, and for good reason … it sounds like a farty wedding party).
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This is such a great post! It really is important that people realize that they can combat some decisions by buying carbon credit. And, if you’re looking for other ways to go green in the wedding planning process, here’s our list of 50 Green Wedding tips: http://www.theweddinglens.com/green-wedding-tips.
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