These Tips Can Help Save the Environment
There has been research and numerous studies done on how our lifestyle is damaging the planet. People consume energy at an alarming rate and with the massive world population, that energy consumption is multiplied to a large degree. It can seem disheartening to hear all the statistics about how we’re damaging the planet, to the point that people often feel helpless and don’t feel there’s anything they can do to help. However, there are many simple ways we can adjust our daily lives to be more eco-friendly.
Change Your Transportation
One way you can help the planet is to change the way you commute to work each day. If you typically drive to work, opt to leave your car at home and walk, ride your bike, or take public transportation to work. If you live a long distance from your job, see if you can find someone to carpool with or, better yet, ask your boss if you can telecommute a couple days a week.
Switch Your Routine
Do you tend to spread your errands out throughout the week so you have more free time on the weekends to do other things? This habit could be harming the environment because research has shown that taking many shorter trips throughout the week may actually be using more file than one longer trip. Choose to lump your errands together on one day, which may even work out better for you in the end by freeing more time up during the week to do other things.
Reduce Food Waste
Americans throw out an alarming amount of food each year– enough to feed almost 1 billion people. Make a plan to reduce old waste by only planning to buy what you’ll eat and composting any extra food you might otherwise throw out to use as garden fertilizer. You may also be able to repurpose leftovers into other meals, such as turning leftover vegetables into soup or cutting up excess chicken to put on a salad. Before you toss out food you may not want, consider donating to your local food kitchen.
Learn to Love Reusables
While it’s encouraging to hear that people are making healthier lifestyle choices by opting to drink water over bottled soda, this hydration habit is also increasing the number of plastic bottles that end up in landfills and our oceans. Invest in a sturdy reusable water bottle and keep it handy whenever you need to quench your thirst, other way is to try filtered water instead of buying water every time you want clean water, there are some great water purifiers at pure osmosis that could be really useful for this purpose. Some companies, such as the Cadiz Water Project, have created a plan to help the environment by using groundwater that’s currently being lost to evaporation and putting it back into our water supply. If you’re a coffee drinker, you can also swap out that disposable coffee cup for a travel mug and enjoy your coffee hotter longer, which is a bonus for everyone.
Support Local
Did you know that by opting to support your local businesses you’re actually effecting change on multiple levels? Shopping local reduces our carbon footprint since you don’t have to travel as far for your goods, and you’re also stimulating the local economy, which can help create jobs, lower taxes, and bring new opportunities to your area.
Be Crafty
Before you toss out those baby food jars, peanut butter containers, tin cans, and coffee containers, think about how these items can be repurposed. There are countless ideas on the internet on how you can turn old items into something new. If being crafty isn’t your style, gather up these old items and take them to your local school or daycare, who often look for these items to use in their crafts.
These small changes to your daily behavior can make a huge difference in the health of our environment. If we can start a chain reaction of people who are willing to make a difference on a small scale, it can have a ripple effect and become a major movement towards saving our planet.
We just had solar panels added to our roof to help with costs. They have really helped and we love them!
Thanks for sharing so wonderful tips.
I always take small steps to be more and more sustainable.