This section provides simple tips on how to be green. To live along these guidelines will be rewarding to you peace of mind as you will be helping to protect the planet.
1. Make your home well insulated, avoiding heat waste can save money on your heating bills and save avoidable heat loss
2. Install low energy light bulbs to cut electric bills and save avoidable energy generation.
3. If applicable, invest in alternative energy supplies to power your home, i.e. solar and wind technology.
4. Be sure to turn off unnessecary electrical appliances as opposed to leaving them on standby. It may seem like a small detail, but when you apply this to the nations standby lights as a whole, you'll be surprised how much energy is wasted.
5. Avoid chemical based cleaning products around the house. When poured down the sink they will eventually find there way into the local ecosystems. There are many less harmful products on the market and they are perfectly adequate for household cleaning. Additionally, intensive sterilised cleaning around the home can reduce the effectiveness of our immunity systems.
6. Reduce water usage by taking showers instead of baths and install (if applicable) a water butt to catch rainfall. This can be used on your garden instead of tap water which will have been intensively treated.
7. Make your garden nature friendly. Having ponds and plants is a great way to encourage wildlife and this will bring you closer to nature and appreciate the planets beauty.
8. Compost biodegradable kitchen waste and use on your garden or alternatively, give it to a gardener who may appreciate it.
9. Growing your own food or buying locally i.e. farm shops ensures minimum transportation, leading to less CO2 emissions and fresher produce.
10. Re-use, repair, reduce, reclaim. This statement speaks for itslef, by being resourceful is satisfying and once you start thinking this way from an environmental perspective, you can find it compellingly addictive!
11. Recycling waste products is now an easier prospect thanks to the recycling facilities you find in every city/town and also the schemes that are being promoted regarding collection of recyclable waste. There are many household items that can be recycled i.e. glass, tins, plastic, aluminum foil etc and there waste procucys can be reproduced into other useful items. Recycling helps prevent unnessacary waste going to landfill and saves on production emmissions, as to produce a new product from scratch (as opposed to being produced from a recycled product) takes extra energy. If possible its best to reuse a product instead of recycling it, maybe for a different use than it was originally intended i.e. jars as storage containers, this echo's the sentiment of being resourceful in the previous tip.
12. Use a mug, millions of polystyrene and plastic cups are used each year with most going to landfill. The alternative is to use your own mug which will reduce avoidable waste.
13. Run a car that's fuel efficient and use alternative forms of transport when you can i.e. Cycling, public transport, walking etc. By cycling and walking you will improve your health as a positive side effect!
14. When shopping, resist items that haveexcessive packaging. It create unnessecary waste and you will pay extra for the product. You pay for what you throw away.
15. Use real nappies as opposed to disposable versions. This helps reduce usage of landfill and can be cost effective.
16. Reduce black bin liner usage. These will eventually find there way to landfill where they take hundreds of years to decay and as they corrode they'll produce methane gas, which contributes to global warming. Be re-using carrier bags is a way of helping if they are of the biodegradable variety.
17. Use both sides of paper instead of one and of course you'll save 50% of paper usage. Millions of trees are felled needlessly to provide paper, so use it well.
18. Use emailing as opposed to conventional mail (where applicable). This will save paper and excessive transportation.
19. Be aware of ethical and ecological practises when living your day to day life. Be informed and support trades and charities that endeavor to work with ecological efficiency. On the flip side, boycott products from companies that don't work with a good sense of ethics.
20. Spread the word, the planet is starting to dictate back to us the harm, as a race we have done to her and this will back up your views. (Be careful who your expressing your views to, as some sceptics will overuse bad ethics, just to aggravate which is no use to anyone, especially them and their karma).
21. Enjoy the planets beauty, this will promote your love of her and can further your desire to protect her.
