Going green, to me, means a lot of things. Anyone happen to notice how much more pollution there is in the world, just since the U.S. started depending on other countries and imports?

The more we buy from China and other countries, the more ships have to cross the ocean, the more trucks have to drive across the country to bring those products. All of this brings all the more pollution in our air.

China, until recently, had no regulations what so ever, over the bilging, polluting fumes from smoke stacks. What remains in their air eventually travels across the waters and into our air.

So does it still make sense to keep buying products made outside our country? We wound up shutting down our own factories, leaving us with little supply coming from within our own borders and eventually turned our economy on its ear.

So what does going green mean to me? It means ceramic and stoneware dishes instead of plastic. It means ‘paper instead of plastic’ bags. It means cutting down on worldwide traffic just to satisfy our whims. It means buying products from our own country.

Our own local artists should be on the rise, producing pottery and kitchen wares for a knowing public. This not only cuts down tremendously on pollution, we ourselves are causing, it also helps to bring dollars back to our own neighborhood and making room for more jobs.

The next time you’re thinking more bowls for the kitchen, why not visit the local pottery outlet and give them the business instead of China? Why buy that next vase imported from another country, instead of supporting your local artist?

I wonder if anyone realizes what they’ve done to the ceramics industry in the U.S., by replacing them with imports? I know it’s a small subject to most of you but countless, hundreds of ceramic shops have closed their doors in the last 20 years due to the competition with outside countries.

If you’re thinking ‘green’, think about your own neighbors and what they produce and support them. Even that helps.

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Those caught in the middle class sector are getting squeezed the hardest. Jobs are falling off the board and real estate prices are dropping.

If you own a home, you’re sweating if those mortgage payments are getting the best of you but you can’t get out from under them.

First, let me tell you those real estate markets will rise again. How long that takes, nobody really knows but I’ve never seen it take longer than one Presidential term.

It took bad decisions to get us here. It will take wise decisions to get us out. That takes time.

How did we get here in the first place? Buying China and letting China buy us. That puts us between a rock and a hard place because now that the dollar is so short, it’s hard not to keep buying from China because of the prices.

One might ask themselves, every time they reach for something made in another country, just how badly do we need that item.

Back to what do we do now, to survive. Right off the bat, I have to say that if you can’t make it with your own two hands, then it doesn’t have to sit under the Christmas tree.

I realize this just makes matters worse for the retail market but it’s time to think survival and stick to those things most needed like groceries, electricity, gas.

Must you wear the latest fashion? The answer is a flat ‘no’. That happens to be a huge luxury. We have become so spoiled that our every day living habits have completely changed from just 50 years ago. Your parents and grand-parents didn’t die from the lack of those things you have today, and neither will you.

Stop with the video games. Stop the feverish shopping habits. You don’t need them. Cut up those credit cards and do all you can to pay them off. Don’t ever again, get a credit card. You’ve already seen how they can sink you in a pinch.

If you own a house, do all you can to keep it. It will pay you back. If you don’t, now is the time to cut out all the fluff, go into survival mode and save! Save all you can because the market will come back and you’d like to be ready before it comes completely back up to the inflated prices of yesterday.

When your kids whine, show them pictures of how other countries are living. I survived, listening to ‘think of all the starving children in China’ and they will too. Teach them about real life and what happens to a dollar. Show them how to save for what they want, instead of thinking the world just owes it to them. You’ll be doing them a tremendous favor.

Considering if you’re of child bearing age, you’ve come out of a comfortable childhood. If your parents had taught you the proper use of a dollar, you wouldn’t be suffering today.

If you’ve lost your job and just can’t find another, it’s time to put all your energy to work. It’s now, you against the world. Instead of thinking about what you can’t do, it’s time to take charge of what you CAN do.

Are you good with book keeping? Visit the small gas stations and ask if they are in need of a book keeper. You might be surprised. Can you chop wood? If you also happen to have a chain saw and a pickup, you’re in business. Get a permit and find out where the wood is to be had.  If there’s any way you can borrow another pickup, you can have your wife sit on the corner and sell it, while you go out for more. People are cutting back everywhere and those with fireplaces are using them, instead of paying for high priced electricity or gas.

It’s better to have that low paying job than no job at all. You can always keep looking for better. In the meantime, you have a family to feed.

If you have teenagers in the house, sit them down and explain the situation. Tell them you need them working at the fast food place and bringing money into the family. If that happens, you also need to include them on the household budget. It’s temporary and they need to understand that.

Too many cars?  Or you think you need that third vehicle? Get rid of it. It’s eating insurance money and depreciating every day. If it’s paid off, sell the one that’s not.

Do every thing you can, to drop monthly payments. Get light weight!

Your ancestors survived on beans and potatoes through the great depression. That is, if they were one of the lucky ones. You don’t need wine and beer to survive. You don’t need fancy cheese. You don’t need the best cut of meat.

Get through this time and hang onto all you can: your house, a car, your furniture. Your biggest investments. You will need them when this time passes and the economy begins to improve.

Think and survive. Who cares what the neighbors think. If they aren’t suffering, they soon will be. Set the example.

Has anyone taken note of what’s happening in Las Vegas? It’s practically a ghost town. Building has stopped and jobs lost. They too, are trying to survive.

You’re not alone. You’re just not hearing all the truth around you.

To the wives or the household cook-learn how to stretch meals with rice and gravy. It won’t kill you.  Buy larger pieces of meat and save the bone. That bone is full of nutrition. Boil it down and use the broth for soups. Then give the bone to your dog. Waste nothing. Eating out, is a dollar sucker.

Learn to sew and use yesterdays clothes to create new ones. Patch knees and elbows.

Learn how to live within your means and even tighter, if possible. A dollar you save today, may be your survival tomorrow. Don’t spend it on earrings.

Keep a budget, even if you can’t make ends meet. At least you will soon discover where you are throwing money away. Absolutely everything you normally spend money on, is now on the auction block and being examined. What is necessity and what is not.

The economy is in worse condition than most people are willing to believe. It’s time to put on your thinking cap and be prepared.

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