We make choices and decisions all day long that can have a big impact on our environment; are you making the right ones? Look over the following habits you should be engaged in and see if you are a benefit or burden when it comes to the health of our environment.
1. Don’t be a drain on resources. There are many ways of saving water, gas and electricity around your household each and every day; adopt new and better ways of doing simple things that will contribute significantly to energy conservation. You will minimize your carbon footprint, save valuable resources and get to keep more of your own hard-earned money!
2. Buy in bulk. Not only will you see savings at the cash register, your trips to the store will be less frequent and that saves on fuel. Anything without an expiration date that you know you will have a use for can be purchased in bulk like toilet paper, paper towels, toothpaste and so on. Clear out a little space in your pantry to make room for the larger quantities and get ready to see real savings from your effort!
3. Walk or carpool. Even a few trips a week that can be combined with your neighbors or accomplished by putting one foot in front of the other will add up to serious savings at the gas pump and in toxic emissions. Walking and carpooling are efficient ways of getting all of life’s necessities without much waste; it can also be fun to mingle with others when carpooling and great exercise to walk!
4. Stop buying bottled water. Using disposable beverage containers is having a hugely negative impact on landfills; most of these cups and bottles we throw away take hundreds of years to decompose. Use a travel mug and other permanent containers for drinking on the go to save from contributing to the landfill problems and also to save yourself a lot of money too.
5. Don’t throw electronics in the trash. Most of them can be recycled for component materials and you might even get cash for them. Look for advertisements in your local paper for electronics recycling day and save your old cell phones, PC parts and other small appliances that don’t need to be thrown out with the trash.
6. Dress to impress without the dry cleaning. Fabrics have seriously evolved over the past few years; you can look amazing and professional in outfits that don’t require dry cleaning. That process is not only costly to you, the chemicals released into the environment are particularly burdensome. Not to mention all the fuel used to drop off and pick up the clothes!
7. Start making your own household cleaners and soaps. Look for simple and harmless recipes online that can get your home, clothing and body just as clean as the store-bought products. You can choose your own scents (or to have none) and make them in larger quantities to save you time. Of course they will be much cheaper than buying them in a store and think of all the plastic containers you will be keeping out of the environmental cycle!
Since going green saves the consumer money, nobody has any real excuse not to do it. “I can’t afford to contribute” just doesn’t make sense. Learn better ways of doing things and how you can be a benefit to the environment and not a burden!
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