The care for the environment is a responsibility that must be shared by every individual. One does not need fancy investments to go green but instead require changes in the everyday lifestyle. These little changes by everyone can go a long way in reducing the burden of environmental issues on our planet ‘Mother Earth’.
With rapid increase in population and industrialization, we have been seeing large scale cutting down of trees and forests to make way for homes and industries. This not only affects wildlife but also have an adverse affect on the environment as well. While all this is going on, small and simple changes on our daily lives can go a long way in reducing our carbon impact on the environment.
The following are simple methods of going green in 2017 that can go a long way in saving the environment without using lots of cash.
- Installation of CFLs. CFLs are a common method of going green. They last longer and help in the saving electricity bills.
- Purchase of solar heaters. Despite the high prices of solar heaters, they may be cost effective in the end since solar energy is a renewable.
- Shift from disposable to reusable. Most disposable utensils add to the wastes present in a household. The reusable and durable products tend to reduce the expenses used and save the environment as well.
- Eat in. The home cooked meals are cheaper, healthier and do not hurt the environment. The copious amounts of packaging materials used in fast foods are environmentally hazardous since they lead to addition of wastes.
- Switch to bicycle. Unlike a car, a bicycle saves on fuel and does not cause air and noise pollution.
- Avoid drinking bottled water. Bottled water causes wastage and hurts the environment significantly on the account of plastic pollution.
- Changing of the laundry skills. Always use detergents and cleaning products in moderation. Also, wash your clothes only when they actually warrant a wash.
- Recycle and Reuse. Recycling household products, obsolete electronics and plastics are amongst the impressive ways to save and conserve the environment. Reusing plastic wrappings and grocery bags also proves to be nifty and environment friendly.
- Go for herbal and organic beauty products. You would be surprised to know that there are so many things in your kitchen that can be used as organic beauty products. Go the organic way to keep your skin as well as the environment happy.
- Turn everything off. It is one of the easiest things to do to go green but most people take it for granted. Turning off electrical appliances such fans, TVs, heaters when not in use is among the cheapest ways to go green.
- Use energy efficient light bulbs. Energy efficient light bulbs are a simple way to reduce the amount of power you use.
- Turn your computer off overnight. If you turn your computer off every night, again you will reduce the power you use. You can save up to an average of $14 a year.
- Do not pre-rinse the dishes. If you can’t live without your dishwasher, then at least cut the pre-rinse. With a decent detergent, your dishes will be just as clean and you can save huge amounts of water per washing session.
- Don’t pre-heat your oven. Pre-heating the oven is absolutely non-essential unless it really mandatory. The option is to set it on only when you are prepared to begin cooking.
- Always recycle glass. Instead of throwing away reusable glass, use it even more because throwing it the landfill really harms the environment. Glass takes up to a million years to decompose. When glass is recycled, it also reduces the environmental burden of manufacturing new ones.
- Choose your diapers wisely. Whenever possible, chose dippers that are recyclable and those that are easily decomposable. Dippers take hundreds of years to decompose and constitute about 3.5 million tonnes of landfill waste.
- Use the cloth line to dry your clothes. By hanging your clothes on a line to dry, you save the energy costs of using the dryer. The materials will also last for an extended period.
- Have a vegetarian day. Having a schedule whereby you commit to a meat free day is good. It takes lot of water in the production and processing of beef. So, by having a vegetarian day you are actually conserving water.
- Launder sensibly. To save lots of cash for yourself while helping the environment, you can wait to carry out a full-launder rather than laundering in bits. It saves on water and electric energy used in warming.
- Don’t waste napkins. At one point or the other, we’ve damped away an unused napkin because you thought it didn’t fulfill its purpose. For instance, if one thousand people dump unused napkins, it translates into huge amounts of waste in the landfills. By saving that napkin for future use, you save the money you would use to buy a new one.
- Use all of the paper. Every time you use a piece of paper, we tend to throw it in the trash. Instead, save the paper and use it at a later time to jot down some important points. For business premises, utilize the paper as much as possible and ensure the wastes are sent for recycling.
- Never throw away newspapers. Recycling of old newspapers is among the cheapest ways of going green. Millions of newspapers are thrown away on daily basis which could instead be useful in other purposes such as wrapping or sending them to factory paper recycling. Besides, we can rather read the articles online. By recycling papers for a week, the world can save more than 500,000 trees.
- Personalize gift wrapping. Gift wraps contribute to serious wastage of paper. Creatively re-using the wrappings, tags and bows can offer cheap ways of saving the world’s trees.
- Re-think your water consumption. Instead of continuously buying bottled water, you can retain one bottle and have it refilled with tap water every time you leave the house. In the long-term, you’ll be reducing the number of water bottles ending up in the landfills.
- Opt for a shower. The use of shower can significantly cut back on water use while at the same time saving on costs of buying and recycling water.
- Turn the tap off when brushing. It is estimated that brushing teeth with the tap running wastes five gallons of water per day. Not keeping the tap running when brushing your teeth saves on costs of buying and recycling water.
- Share a shower. Again, on matters regarding saving on the costs of buying and recycling water, showering together can address the issue. Furthermore, there is lots of fun in sharing a shower!
- Shorten your shower time. By shortening your shower time you can slash water wastage by more than half. Again, it saves on the cost of buying and recycling water.
- Each and every person to plant a tree. Every person needs to plant his/her tree. For instance, if the entire teenage to adult population is 3 billion, it implies 3 billion new trees will be planted. That’s a very cheap way to go green!
- Use cruise control. The use of cruise control during driving not only helps to improve mileage and fuel–efficiency but also protects the environment from excessive emission pollution.
- Buy second hand. Many things and household products such as laptops, utensils and furniture can be sourced second hand. Why not save your money and also reduce the dependence on the exploitation of fresh raw materials for manufacturing, processing and packaging.
- Buy local. By all means necessary, purchasing local products offers an impressive way of reducing pollution that results from supply chain logistics such as transportation over long distances.
- Adjust the air-condition temperature. Adjusting the air conditioning temperature can save a great deal of energy. By reducing the temperature by just one degree Celsius, one can save up to 10% of energy use annually.
- Invest in a travel mug. A traveling mug can come in handy during times of travel. Most importantly, the mug keeps the coffee or tea hot for an extended time and also reduces energy wastage by eliminating the need for re-heating or re-boiling.
- Carry out errands in batches. Many people have a tendency of doing errands in bits. It is expensive and environmentally unsound on the account of more vehicles on the road and packaging. Sharing errands or running them in butches saves cash, reduces the overall costs on fuel and cuts back on emissions.
- Turn off lights when you’re not in the room. If you are out of a room, why do you need to leave the lights on? You can save energy and money by switching off lights when not in a room or every time you are leaving one a room.
- Opt for manual gardening. All sorts of manual gardening save on water usage, protect the soil, and reduce environmental pollution. For instance, use of watering cans to water plants instead of the hose pipe saves on water usage. Manual weeding and land preparations instead of mechanizing the operation or use of chemicals save on fuel costs and limits emission as well as agricultural pollution.
