We, Prana Yoga Center, believe that any effective yoga studio in today’s world must include an ecological perspective that is fully integrated into our everyday lives.Living ‘green’ is a continuous process.Try just a few of the suggestions below and see what else you can add as time goes on. PranaYogaCenter, a ‘green yoga studio’, is a “Founding Business Member” of the Green Yoga Association.We are active in education in helping the community make effective environmental choices, enhancing awareness of living a life of consuming less and consuming wisely, cultivating an appreciation and conscious connection to the natural environment that we live in and doing other actions that help to make a difference in this world.
Continuously review your patterns of consumption and their effects.Identify what your true needs are and ask how they can best be met without harmful consequences? Every purchase we make is a vote for the kind of world we want.In each purchase we are commissioning more of the same, produced and supplied by the same people in the same way.Our purchases CAN, therefore, encourage many positive initiatives.Examples of this are the organic and vegan movement, fair trade, local produce (Farmers Markets).Although many of the ways to help out the earth may cost more money, it is money well spent, and in many ways will save money down the road.With thought, the extra financial expense, can be offset, by savings made by reducing unnecessary consumption or by acquiring things second hand where possible.
In the Book, Ecology, Economics, Ethics, edited by F. Herbert Bormann, and Stephen R. Kellert, they say, “If the future really mattered to us, we wouldn’t be talking about waste management we would be talking about resource management.Nature makes no waste.We make waste, nature makes soil. One creature’s waste is another creature’s nutrients.Nature recycles everything, or rather it did until we started to put our synthetic materials into the environment.We, as consumers, make waste by mixing all our discarded materials together.When we mix the smelly with the non-smelly, everything becomes smelly.When we mix the toxic with the non-toxic, the whole mixture has to be treated as toxic.And, if we mix the useless with the useful, the whole lot becomes practically useless.This act of mixing all our discarded materials together creates a very negative attitude toward the mixture…..waste, trash, garbage, refuse, rubbish.This negativeattitude predisposes us to want this material out of our lives as quickly as possible.But, as environmentalists have pointed out, there is no "away".The "away" we are using for most of our trash in the US is landfills.Landfills are causing many problems (running out of space, toxicity from landfills getting into surface water, and groundwater, smells, and much more)."
Buy products in largest size you can to avoid excess packaging and save money by doing so.
Avoid buying individual use containers, for example, juice boxes, individual cereal boxes, individual raison boxes, bottles of water.
Buy products in containers that you know that you can recycle or compost. The goal is to be recycling and compost more garbage than you are throwing as waste.
Buy reusable and long lasting items, for example, real camera instead of disposable ones, real razor instead disposable ones, rechargeable batteries, cloth napkins, towels, wash cloths and diapers, washable plates rather then disposable ones, high quality tires, high quality eco friendly yoga mat, washable commuter coffee mug for your morning coffee/tea, water bottle rather then individual bottles, clean and service appliances, computers and cars so that they will have a long life, consider sharing equipment that is infrequently used, ie: chain saws, hedge clippers etc.
Driving less doesn’t mean staying at home; Try car pooling, riding your bike, walking, shopping online or by phone, taking public transit (bus, train), telecommute.Try using the kids Burley to hold items that you would normally use your car for when taking your bike.
Driving smart keeps pollution at a minimum:accelerate gradually, use cruise control on highways, obey speed limit, combine errands on same trip, keep car tuned, replace car’s air filter, keep car tires properly inflated,and don’t top off at gas pumps.
Support smog check program.
When stuck in traffic and not moving for periods of time, turn you car off.
Appreciate the financial wisdom of spending more for bigger purchases while saving energy.Finding ways to conserve energy in the home will also pay for itself, so such actvities can be seen as a wise investment, as well as, making an environmental contribution.
Turn lights off when you leave a room.
Change out your light bulbs to the energy efficient ones.These save money on your electric bill and last much longer.
Recycle aluminum, paper, plastic, styrofoam…Visit your town website to find out more.
Have plants in the home; Nourish them.
Plant more trees:Excellent way of ‘fixing’ CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) from the atmosphere and providing conditions for diversity of life.Helps reduce emissions.
Support local farmers; buy produce from them: French and Farmers Markets.
Learn about composting.
Grow your own garden; plant wild flowers.
Improve our immediate local habitat: Create safe haven for wild life: bird houses, bird feeders, planters, bird baths, nest boxes, wild flowers, compost etc.