October 15th is Blog Action Day for the Environment. For me, I won’t go into what things I’m doing or plan to do to reduce my impact. My goal and message today is simple: Understand. Through a variety of avenues and turns of events, society in general, particularly in the U.S., has become less and less aware, with each generation, of what’s actually going on.

Let’s take shopping for clothing as an example. What happens to deliver new clothing to the mall stores? What happens to keep the lights on at the mall? What happens to keep the mall clean, day after day? What happens to build the mall? What happens to waste when a new store opens at the mall? Where do the raw materials come from? How are the materials processed? What waste is generated? Where does it go? What materials is the mall itself made of? What will happen when a new mall is built? What’s the impact? (and is shopping Amazon.com any better?)

For me, it comes down to Impact. Over the past few years, little by little, I have been learning with my family and understanding more about impact. The impact of buying limes from Chile, salad greens from California, toys for my kids from China (never mind the lead), and wine from France. I can’t say I’ve reached the point where each bit of understanding has led to an actionable item. But understanding is building. The blinders have come off, and there’s a reservoir waiting to be filled, where previously there was none.

On this day of action, if you’re looking for an easy way to start, or an easy way to expand your eco-friendliness, try to Understand.

Note: Picture courtesy of howstuffworks.