Easy ideas!

Going green does not have to be a complicated task or a burden. Going green is only adding one action to your daily life, and then repeating that action for at least two weeks so it can become a habit.

B.F. Skinner theorized that reinforcing the behavior helps to create actual change. For example, a child who plants a flower and receives a "thank you" from his mother receives positive reinforcement to continue this behavior.

The challenge with going green is that we often don't understand the immediate positive reinforcement of our actions. Each of our individual simple green actions can result in a large difference in improved air quality, a reverse in global warming and so on. We may not see these mass changes and positive reinforcers in our lifetime, but our children and grandchildren will.

So, to help each of us continue to practice simple daily green actions, provide a positive "thank you" or a smile to help reinforce those behaviors. When you see someone in the grocery store using their own tote bag to carry out their groceries, say, "thanks for helping the environment." Or, when you bring your own coffee mug to a cafe for your daily beverage purchase, pat yourself on the back for keeping trash out of landfills.

These actions are really quite simple, and most you are probably already doing. So, congratulate yourself for simply, wonderfully, going green.