Editor's note: The following online journal comes from Cleveland resident Chuck Ackerman. GreenCityBlueLake invites others to share their experiences with green living.

So for the next month or so I am going to live as “green” as I can and write about it here. Why? I am hoping to learn, inspire (myself and others) and challenge myself. Mostly to see how hard it all is. I am not interested in being a purist. I’m interested in how one negotiates day to day activities while trying to limit your impact (negative) on the planet. I hope you will throw your two cents in on your green ideas, what you’re up to, disagree, and add and subtract.

I hope this becomes a forum that will lead to action. If I sound self-righteous or that this is all about me, I apologize ahead of time, I don’t mean to. To those of you who’ve been doing this stuff forever, thank you.

Without being too much of a talking head, I’ll throw out some thoughts about how the things I do (or more likely the things I don’t do) affect those I love and live with, my son Robbie and “min sambo” Catherine.

Some context: I have lived in the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood in a too-big house for almost 20 years, own a 2001 Honda Civic, work at the Cleveland Housing Network at E.30th and Payne (about 4 miles from my house).

I have a head start on some things, so let’s start there (see my entries below).