Being environmentally conscious is about making daily decisions determining the planet's future. You can be more conscious about protecting wildlife, reducing your carbon emissions, reducing pollution, and conserving the available natural resources to conserve the planet.
Every person has an opportunity to make a difference in conserving the environment. All you have to do is decide to start making environmentally friendly choices a habit. You can also influence your family and friends to join you. Practicing ecologically friendly habits is not only good for planet earth but has far-reaching personal benefits. Environmental and social practices will tap into your creative side, help you become proactive in your beliefs, help you to integrate well with your community, and contribute largely to a healthier lifestyle.
Simple Practices That Will Help You Protect The Planet
Reducing, Recycling, and Reusing
Recycling is a process that involves cleaning up waste products to reduce pollution, save energy, and conserve the available natural resources. Most recyclable materials include paper, metal, plastic, and glass. Recycling helps in the creation of valuable resources. For instance, recycling aluminum makes manufacturing a viable business as recycled aluminum is more efficient than raw materials.
You must start practicing environmentally friendly habits like reducing, reusing, and recycling your waste products. Once you develop this habit, it will help in conserving natural resources.
Volunteer in Environmental Friendly Practices
Different people have different reasons for environmental volunteering. For some, it is the desire to pursue a cause they are passionate about. Others do it to enjoy the company of their friends, and for some, it is the thrill of a new adventure. It does not matter what motivates you to become an environmentalist volunteer. For whatever reason, your volunteering effort will pay handsomely in conserving the earth. It will also help in enhancing your bond with nature.
Your participation as an environmental volunteer will have other impacts like revenue generation. For instance, if you travel to a place to plant trees, you may have to pay for your food and board, which will benefit the local economy. If your volunteering takes you to an unknown destination, you may need the assistance of a local guide. This will also impact that place's local economy and help reduce the unemployment rate if it is in an underdeveloped country.
Environmental volunteering will give you a perfect trip if you love traveling or discovering new places. Additionally, ecological volunteering will allow you to meet and interact with different people worldwide, enabling you to experience their diverse cultures.
When it comes to environmental volunteering, it does not matter whether it is a small community clean-up or being a part of a large organization with far-reaching impacts, as every step you take in conserving the environment goes a long way. Sometimes you do not have to go out cleaning up or tree planting if that's not your cup of tea, but you can chip in your way. You can run an online campaign creating awareness or help organize the group that will participate in the community clean-up.
Educate and Create Environmental Awareness
There is a lot of information regarding environmental conservation. You can further your understanding of environmental issues and educate others on the value of natural resources. To increase environmental protection awareness, you should endeavor to have others know the importance and how they can help.
Information regarding environmental issues like water pollution, air pollution, garbage collection and management, and the ever-changing climatic change is just. Still, of the challenges affecting our planet. Ensuring that people learn the importance of these issues is of great significance in your effort at environment conservation. In most cases, many people do not know the effect of their actions on the environment. Education plays a critical role as it helps people understand the repercussions of their actions. When you educate communities on the issues affecting the environment, they become aware and can be proactive in creating solutions to some of the environmental challenges.
Conserve Water
Water is vital in our day-to-day lives. Whenever you use water, you have the potential to conserve it both inside and outside of your house. It is essential to know that water conservation should not be limited to only during water shortages, but you should practice good water conservation habits at all times. Using your water sensibly will help reduce the stress imposed on the resources, and you can achieve this by lowering wastewater distribution. Water conservation reduces the amount of wear and tear on water resources like wastewater treatment facilities.
Avoid Printing as Much as Possible
Sometimes if you are a student, you have some teachers asking you to make a copy of all your reading materials. This is good, but printing uses too much paper, which is detrimental to the planet. One way to solve this issue is to use a laptop or an e-reader and download the reading material.
Stop Using Plastic Bags; Use Reusable Shopping Bags Instead
Plastic is popular in modern life because it's lightweight, cheap, and lasts long. These characteristics that make plastic popular make it dangerous to the environment. Plastic bags affect our ecological system negatively. Since plastics take a long time to decompose, they pose a significant danger to the wildlife, oceans, ecosystem, and air we breathe. Millions of marine animals die yearly from plastic that they mistake for food, and plastic bags also suffocate other animals. The best you can do is to start using reusable bags for your shopping and encourage others.
Use Energy-saving Bulbs
When you use long-lasting and energy-efficient bulbs, you will be reducing greenhouse gas emissions. You can invest in LED light bulbs, which last longer and use less energy than incandescent bulbs. LED bulbs are safer as they emit less heat, making them more efficient in energy saving.
Always switch off lights whenever you leave a room. You may think you are not saving much by constantly switching off the light bulbs, but these costs add up with time. Therefore when you switch off your lights, you are not only saving on the cost of electricity but also reducing your carbon footprint.
Plant Trees
Planting trees is an excellent way to ensure clean air and food. Trees also help in combating climate change and saving energy. Planting trees also helps in rainfall formation and in preventing soil erosion.
Buy What You Can Consume
Americans are known to be huge consumers of food, cars, household products, furnishings, electronics, and recreational equipment. Most people buy much more than they can use. Excessive consumption of goods will lead to higher costs of production which will be detrimental to the environment. This cost can be either direct or indirect. It will result in pollution during the extraction of the raw material, manufacture of the commodity, transportation of the finished product, and the disposal of the waste products.
You can substantially reduce direct and indirect costs by minimizing impulse purchases. You should also try to make a realistic assessment of what you need before going out to buy. Some items you do not have to buy; you can rent them and return them after use.
Reduce Your Carbon Footprint By buying Products Containing Less Packaging
Product packaging fills most of the waste landfills. You will realize that packaging makes up a large portion of wastage, with municipal wastes being nearly 30% or slightly over 78 million tons. Out of these wastages, about a third is recycled while the rest fills water landfills. If you go for products with less packaging, you will help reduce the carbon footprint of the product and also its production cost.
If it is not possible or viable to avoid product packaging, bubble wrap, and styrofoam fillers, you can buy reusable containers. Another concern regarding product packaging is the greenhouse emissions from these items' manufacture and waste disposal.
Avoid Single-Use Plastics Containers
The best way to avoid single-use plastics is to stop buying them. Instead of having a takeaway, you could start cooking at home or take the time to eat at a restaurant. By doing this, you will have to use real plates, forks, and spoons rather than the disposable utensils that come with takeaways.
For picnics and parties, you can store away some durable flatware and glasses. Also, use rags, diapers, napkins, and rechargeable batteries to avoid single-use products.
When you are out doing your grocery shopping, try to avoid purchasing items containing plastic disposables. These items include makeup wipes, toothbrushes, razors, floss picks, and cotton swabs. Instead, buy their alternatives. For instance, you can buy your toothbrushes and razors with replaceable heads. Ensure your purchases have paper sticks instead of plastic ones.
Consume a Diet Consisting of Less Meat
Most meat products are from livestock, and to raise these animals, forests have to give way to pasture land for grazing, growing animal feed, and large-scale breeding facilities. Even without the issues of deforestation, the massive consumption of meat possesses several problems in terms of environmental health and economic issues. Raising animals like sheep, goats, and cows for meat increases methane production to hazardous levels. Methane helps trap heat in the atmosphere, a condition that will negatively affect the planet.
On the other hand, meat consumption increases soil degradation and strains the available water resources. When you clear land for grazing, you are removing native flora, which could be detrimental to the environment. Also, when you reduce your meat consumption, you are helping in slowing global warming.
Dry Your Clothes on a Clothesline
One of the largest energy consumers at your house is the clothes dryer, emitting a lot of carbon in a year. When you invest in a clothesline, you will reduce your household's carbon emissions. You can buy indoor accessories and racks for indoor air drying your clothes. Another way to minimize your carbon footprint is to set your dryer to shut off automatically when your clothes dry. By doing this, you will consume less energy while drying your clothes. You should know that adding a wet load to partially dry clothes will lead to energy loss.
Reduce Your Energy Consumption
Reducing your energy consumption from gas or electricity usage takes time. You may think it's impossible, primarily if you reside in an older building. But developing environmentally friendly practices takes time; you can start by implementing energy-saving habits that do not cost you. For example, you can stop using your air conditioner during summer, open your windows, and enjoy some fresh air.
Sometimes, ignoring heating in the North or air conditioning in the South may be unreasonable for most people. However, you can invest in blinds, double-paned windows, and curtains to help you in energy conservation. During winter, always open the blinds to let sunlight in and keep them closed in summer when sunlight shines into your house.
Install a thermostat or add insulation, and these will go a long way in helping reduce your energy consumption. Also, ensure your food cools off entirely before being in the refrigerator.
Residential energy consumption plays a crucial role in climate control, and when you reduce your consumption, you are one step ahead in environmental conservation.
Install Solar Panels
Installing solar panels at your home or workplace will also help environmental conservation. Solar energy helps environmental protection by not emitting greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. Additionally, since the sun provides solar power, it is a clean and natural energy source.
Contact A Solar Installation Service Near Me
Taking part in environmental conservation should be part and parcel of your life. One way of accomplishing this is installing solar panels, especially if you live in a sunny place like Northern California and the Bay Area. Taking advantage of the sun will ensure you always have power and a high ROI.
Deciding to switch to solar energy requires weighing its pros and cons. You do not have to decide blindly, as you can consult a licensed contractor. At Sun Solar Electric, we are a licensed solar installation service. You do not have to worry as we have experience in the field and will advise you accordingly. If you have any questions about switching to solar, contact us at 707-658-2157 and schedule your first non-obligatory consultation session.