The media and the Internet are full of initiatives and calls to action to “save the planet,” but these are big words in a world full of social injustices. Not all people can lead by example. However, we can all afford to think globally and act locally.
Small changes to our daily lives will help us save the planet and money, which is a win-win situation and a sustainable concept.
1. When was the last time you planted a tree?
We all remember our school days when teachers took us to the schoolyard or the local park to plant a tree. In fact, planting trees is child’s play, so why have we stopped planting seedlings? There is no reason not to teach our children to plant trees, just as we were taught in childhood. We should look up to those 35,000 families in Dehradun who have planted lakh trees.
2. There is more than one way to commute
Big cities have mass transit systems that were built with commuters in mind. Owning a car is a good thing but leave it parked in the morning and head to the nearest bus stop or train station to hitch a ride to work. Otherwise, you should prepare for bumper-to-bumper traffic. Just imagine the CO2 emission during rush hour in metropolises!
Changing your committing behavior isn’t easy but making the effort to switch to more eco-friendly forms of transport will make you healthier. Cycling and walking are actually considered physical exercise as if you went to the gym. Reducing greenhouse gases and good cardio are direct benefits of making the seemingly unimportant decision to leave the car in the garage.
3. Water conservation
Shortages of potable food have become widespread across India and the world. Some would even argue that WWIII will be fought over water springs, rather than oil wells. If you wish to conserve water, the first step is to start perceiving it as a valuable resource or a national treasure, if you will.
However, you won’t have to sacrifice your present lifestyle to conserve water. Turning off the tap while brushing your teeth or washing your face isn’t that hard. Or is it? Furthermore, you should replace all the faulty rubber gaskets, so there are no water leaks in the bathroom and the kitchen. Finally, you should switch from a bathtub to a walk-in shower, as a shower requires much less water than filling the tub.
4. Eco-aware consumerism
You can help save the planet even as a consumer. Water bottles are a great example, as you should refill them as many times as possible with tap water, instead of constantly purchasing new water bottles. Moreover, the bottles should be made either from recycled plastic (salvaged from the ocean, ideally) or made from eco-friendly materials.
In general, you should look for green labels (ecolabels) on products that state the manufacturer’s dedication to preserving the environment. As a consumer, supporting these companies through opting for their products means that other manufacturers will want to jump on the bandwagon of eco-friendliness, for financial reasons, if nothing else.
Also read:
Can You Transform Water Bottles Into Smiles? This Gurgaon Family Is Doing It For The Last 3 Years.
5. Bring your own shopping bag to the store
There is another action you can take to save the planet while shopping. Namely, you should get a reusable shopping bag and carry it with you every time you go to the local store. The bag can be made from linen or recycled materials. Also, when picking out fruit, grab a paper bag instead of a plastic one.
6. Repurpose “waste”
Just like water shortages, waste disposal is a growing global issue. We are running out of sustainable locations for landfills, so it helps when individuals make the effort to produce less waste. One way to achieve this eco-goal is to refuse a plastic straw or a bag, as mentioned earlier but you can reduce the amount of waste you generate by repurposing it.
If you have an old chair missing a leg lying behind the house, use it as a raised flow bed. Plastic cups leftover from a birthday party can be used as provisional flower pots when replanting the garden or introducing seedlings. Old newspapers can be recycled and turned into blank sheets of paper children can use for drawing.
Finally, organic waste can be reused through composting. If you have enough space for a compost bin in the backyard, you can turn food leftovers and even roses into compost which you would later use to fertilize the garden.
7. Grow your own food
Speaking of the garden, it can feature more than colorful and fragrant flowers. Namely, a vegetable or herbs garden will turn you into a subsistence farmer, even if the garden is located on a balcony. It is not about the volume of production.
Organic gardening is great because you get to grow your own food, overseeing every step of the process, from planting the seed to serving fresh tomato, for instance, to your family for dinner. An organic garden is easy to cultivate, as you need a spot with plenty of sunlight, while you already have fertilizer in the form of compost.
The final factor is water, so get an auto wind hose reel to reach every corner of the garden and water the plants respectively, without wasting a droplet of water. Moreover, if you live in a rainy part of the world, you can connect the drain to water tanks to collect rainwater that would, later on, be used for watering the garden.
8. Eco-friendly home improvements
Although a home improvement seems like the least expected action that can become eco-friendly, you can actually build a green home. From the materials you use for insulation to installing solar panels on the roof, every home improvement is an opportunity to preserve energy.
Also, while renovating your home, repair furniture whenever possible. Instead of throwing away an old armchair, you can have it reupholstered and save at least one tree that would have to be fallen to make a new armchair. When replacing the entire roof, you can reuse the sheets of metal to build a shed or cover the garage.
9. LEDs throughout the house
You have probably made the switch to LED lights by now in most rooms of your home. However, the attic and the basement lights are probably still incandescent light bulbs, right? Well, you should head to the local hardware store and purchase enough LED light to replace all old light bulbs.
The reason why this change is important is that LEDs use 95% of the energy they receive for generating light, while only 5% is wasted on heat. The ratio is reversed for incandescent light bulbs, so you’ll save neither the plant nor money if you keep them in your home.
A bit of friendly advice, though, choose LEDs that have 3000K written on the box, as this light is most similar to sunlight in terms of warmth and it doesn’t strain our eyes like blue light (4000K and upwards). There are now cheap LED strips you can use to decorate the vanity mirror in the bathroom, doing away with the need to turn the lights on.
10. Use fewer plastics
The struggle to clean our oceans of plastic debris is an epic one. To face the truth, it is impossible to remove all the plastic from the ocean, as microplastics permanently remain inside the marine life we later consume. The end of the vicious cycle lies on the other side of the spectrum, in reducing the use of plastics in our daily lives. There are so many alternatives to plastic, from wood to metal.
Refusing to buy a plastic bag can help save marine life, as well as buying coffee to go in a paper cut. These gestures might seem symbolic but just imagine what would happen if everyone practiced them. Of course, you can always join an initiative like that of Vivek Gurav’s and actively collect plastic waste to clean the environment.
11. Dimming the computer screen
If you have ever looked at which processes use up the phone/laptop battery the most, then you know this is the screen. Not only does this bright blue light hurt our eyes, as mentioned earlier but it’s a big waste of energy. The computer screen should be on only during the time we are actively using the device.
As soon as we leave it idle for a while, the screen should dim. Go to the settings screen of your device and set the display to turn off when inactive. Also, consider reducing the screen’s brightness level and use the night mode most websites offer.
12. Shop for local products
We all like to try exotic food and drinks made halfway across the world. However, such delicacies cost more to ship and display on shelves of the local supermarket than regional products. Every time you purchase a beer made in the Czech Republic or a jar of peanut butter produced in the United States, you are fueling the global trade industry which is everything but eco-friendly.
There are local producers of pretty much every food variety made abroad, so you can give these brands a try. The recent trend of craft breweries means that you can drink local beer, supporting the national economy and leaving a significantly smaller environmental print while enjoying a pint of your favorite lager.
13. Refrain from printing e-mails
Everything has gone digital nowadays, from shopping to government certificates. However, people still prefer ink and paper, so they often print e-mail even when that isn’t necessary. Whether in your office or home, refrain from printing e-mail and other forms of digital correspondence; Earth’s forests will be grateful for this effort.
As you have seen from these 13 actions that you can practice daily, saving the planet isn’t hard and it won’t even require you to dramatically alter your every-day routine.
To put it in a nutshell: to change the world, you first have to change yourself.