The 148-smile diet (Day 217)…
October 3, 2007
Most of the green changes I make for this challenge are of a physical nature — switching to an eco-friendly product or service, reducing or limiting the amount of what I consume, relying on my own energy rather than petroleum to get places, and so on. But it’s just as important to green the world in a social sense, too.
This is why, for example, I’ve already taken up small-scale activism with my sticker campaigns and have registered for a couple volunteering gigs. I give money to green causes and sign petitions every week. But a friend of mine recently suggested yet another way in which I can affect change:
Smiling.
It seems a little flaky, sure (he is from Portland, after all, so let’s cut him some slack), but in a roundabout way, it’s a pretty legit idea: If I make a point of flashing my pearly whites at at least one person every day — a stranger, a shopkeeper or at least someone I’m not actually friends with — it not only sends out a warm and fuzzy vibe but subtly reaffirms the fact that we’re all in this together, we’re all sharing the same planet.
To quote my friend: “A person who feels that they live in a nurturing, thriving community of warm-hearted people, rather than a cold, isolated place, is going to be more likely to get involved in improving their community. They’ll learn to trust their neighbours [ed note: I added the "u" in there], and thus be more inclined to share resources.”
So there you go — as of today, and for the next 148 days, I’ll be making the world greener one smile at a time.
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