It’s St. Patricks Day, and there are few other symbols more synonymous with the Irish or the holiday than a four leaf clover. The leaf is rarer than the three-leaved clover and is supposed to bring luck to the person who happens to find it! According to legend, each leaf represents something special and important: hope, faith, love, and luck.

And author Julie Urlaub translated the four leaf clover into ways to be a good environmentalist in her article, “A Four Leaf Clover of Sustainability for St. Patrick’s Day 2011.” Check out Urlaub’s tips on how to go green this holiday!

“How can we translate the concept of being good to the environment into tangible, lasting eco behavior? Let’s take a look at what each clover on a 4 leaf clover looks like as a sustainability concept transformed.

Hope:  Hope is a belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in ones life.   With the over saturation of negative media today, it’s easy to lose sight of good things to come.  Identify areas in your life or business or personal life that have an environmental impact and that you are also willing to change and improve.  Look at going paperless at home or in your office, perhaps improving air quality or maybe start recycling.  These changes don’t have to be hard or cumbersome, create an expectation of ease of transition using hope.  Hope for good things to come in your life, work, and for the environment.

Faith:  Faith is the confident belief in the truth of or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing.   Focus your attention with anticipation of a positive outcome.  Stretch your imagination and take action.   If you started a paperless program or energy efficiency program as part of your sustainability plan, then start looking for the savings on a monthly and quarterly basis.  Intangible benefits that aren’t as easily measured may be the first evidence of taking action based on faith: improved employee morale, stakeholder impressions changing for the better or family members and neighbors feeling good about taking environmental action.”

To read about how to use love and luck to be a good environmentalist, check out the Taiga Company‘s page where Urlaub’s article is featured!