The Most Important Steps to Take on the Way to Eco-Consciousness

Drive Less

Being car conscious can reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly. As per the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), we can reduce your gas emissions by staying off the road two days a week or more. You can combine your errands in one trip. Working from home is also another option that you can entertain. Being car conscious also means maintaining your car properly, using less air conditioning, and upgrading to a fuel-efficient vehicle. It’s also good to remember that a lighter car is more fuel-efficient so clean out your car and remove items you won’t need to be there.

Don’t forget to carpool with family and friends, or better yet – bike!

Plant a Tree

Carbon Dioxide is widely considered as the major contributor to the greenhouse effect, warming the earth’s surface, and creating an invisible layer that causes global warming. One young tree can absorb five kilos of carbon dioxide. And by the time this tree reaches 10 years old, it can already absorb 21 kilograms of CO2 per year.

Planting trees is good as they are renewable, recyclable, and biodegradable.

Volunteer

Volunteering for the environment is easier than you think. There are many organizations focused on saving our natural resources. Tree planting, beach clean-up, helping out on an urban farm, and even being a trekking guide – all are awesome ways to volunteer and take your environmental stewardship to a new level.

Don’t send chemicals into our waterways

While many of us think that industrial factories are the major culprit in dumping chemicals into our water system, the truth is many of these toxic pollutants come from our roofs, driveways, sidewalks, and lawns.

If you intend to change your car’s oil yourself, be mindful not to dump the old oil on the sidewalk or in your lawn. Many auto parts stores will take your used oil and recycle it properly. When changing your pool water, make sure to sit your water untreated for several days before draining them. Inside our home, we can do our part by not using toxic chemicals usually found on cleaning products or dumping our used oil in the sink. By doing this, you can avoid a huge wrench into the sewage treatment process.

Educate Yourself

When you further your own education, it would be easier to help others understand the value and importance of our natural resources. By educating yourself, you would understand better the problems faced by Mother Nature and the solutions to counter these issues.

There are many free online resources available that can help you research and understand what’s going on with the planet.

Use Your Voice

Speaking up is one of the most powerful things you can do especially if it is for the greater good. Talking to the right people who can actually make change is better. By reaching out to our local government to implement and create laws to protect the environment, to contacting your favorite brands and ask how their products are sourced – you can make your voice heard and effect change.

You don’t need to be a WWF ambassador to use your voice. Simply by being more outspoken during dinner parties or gatherings with family and friends, and subtly educating them on ways to save the environment, you are already doing your part.

Buy Local Products

Whenever possible, buy local products. Not only you get fresher produce and help your local community, but it also reduces the environmental impact caused by transporting goods long distances. This is exactly what companies like Credit Cop nonprofit are doing with their eco-friendly offerings. It stops so much use of fossil fuel. By supporting small scale farms, there are fewer fertilizers, GMOs, and pesticides used.

Find Ways to Donate

There are many environmental charities that you can donate to and supporting these organizations help them carry out their projects. The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, and Environmental Defense Fund are considered as the most trusted nonprofit organizations that you can check.

Aside from donating money, you can also check out your local food banks/food kitchens and check what kinds of food they accept. Donate your used items to your local goodwill store, too.

Bottom line

Saving the planet seems like a difficult battle to win, especially if you’re doing it alone. But if everyone does just a little bit, over time, these small changes will add up to a big impact on the environment.

No effort is too small – so pick one of these new habits and start now!

3 Keys to Preserving Our Planet

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

These are three great ways to eliminate waste and protect the environment. The 3Rs are all about reducing the waste we produce, reusing products as much as we can, and turning any materials for a new purpose.

Reduce should be the number one priority to combat climate change. Start by cutting down on what you use in your everyday life – from ditching the plastic bags, to bringing your own reusable containers when grocery shopping, and making a meal plan to avoid food waste.

Talking about food waste, do you know that Americans throw out 60 billion kilos of food each year? That equates to 40% of U.S. food supply going into the dumpster. Aside from making a meal plan, always check the items in your pantry for their expiration dates. Food expiration dates refer to food quality and not really to food safety per se. It is not about drinking spoiled orange juice for the sake of saving the environment, but if you’re tossing the yogurt and the bread as soon as they hit the sell-by date, you could be wasting a lot of good food.

Cans, jars, textiles, and papers are only some of the items we can recycle and repurpose. It only needs some imagination and determination to do our part.

Eat Sustainable Food

How do you eat sustainably? By eating more whole grains and less red meats, also by avoiding processed food and growing your own fruits and vegetables – all these could conserve our natural resources. Do you know that two pounds of beef release 132 pounds of harmful greenhouse gasses? Wonder how much carbon dioxide two pounds of peas release? Just 2 pounds. That’s why the eco-friendliest diet is plant-based.

 If we don’t want to contribute to the 25% greenhouse emissions caused by large-scale food manufacturers, eating sustainably is the way to go. One word of caution though, foods that are often air-freighted comes at a cost. These foods, such as asparagus, berries, and green peas, require to be flown as they won’t survive a long-distance truck or boat trip. By flying them in, it produces fifty times more carbon dioxide emissions than sending them by boat.

Use Long Lasting Bulbs

By simply switching to LED lights, you are greatly contributing to reduce the environmental impact of your home and office. Not only you save energy that translates to making your home greener, you are also reducing waste as LED bulbs can last longer than the average light bulb.

LED bulbs cost more than incandescent and CFL bulbs, but they are super energy efficient and can last around 25,000 hours compared to the 1,000 hours of an incandescent bulb. If you haven’t already, start replacing your old bulbs with LED lights and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save up to 80 percent in energy costs per year. Since we are on the topic of energy saving, flip the light switch off when you leave the room.

Our Mission: Saving the Environment!

We only have one planet. Even if we’d like to think that the bounty of the earth is infinite, it’s not. Unconsciously or not, we abuse the earth’s resources and if it runs out, it may not be possible to repair or replenish them.

In a United Nations report, climate change is the defining issue of our time. From the rising sea levels to the shifting weather patterns, the impact of climate change can truly be catastrophic unless everyone – the government, the industries, and all of us share the responsibility of saving Mother Earth. It is everyone’s obligation to preserve and protect our planet for future generations.

Most of the things mentioned in this list not only save the environment but will also save you money. Truly win-win!

Conserve Water

There are many ways to conserve water and with American families consuming 127,400 gallons of water a year, households can help immensely in avoiding water waste. We all need to remember that freshwater is a limited resource, and a costly one. We need to practice using water efficiently to reduce unnecessary water usage.

You can start by breaking a bad habit: turn off the faucet when not in use. By not letting the water run needlessly while brushing teeth, washing hands, and rinsing dishes, we can already save 2 gallons of water per minute. You should also consider watering the plants by hand as it saves 33 percent water compared to an automatic irrigation system. Much better if you can capture rainwater for use in the garden.

Homeowners should also fix water leaks that account for one trillion gallons of water waste in the United States. Start by repairing dripping faucets, showerheads, and toilet flappers.