10 small actions you can make in your daily life to help the environment
10 small actions you can make in your daily life to help the environment.
hello beautiful earthling,
In many people’s eyes, “protecting nature” is solely two things: picking up trash, and recycling.
But it’s so much more than that.
Protecting our environment can turn into a lifestyle. A lifestyle in which we live in harmony with flowers, birds, and every single living thing on Earth. This lifestyle starts with small steps and changes that we consciously try to make in our day. Slowly, these changes will turn into habits, and eventually a part of our life.
This environmentally friendly lifestyle is beautiful and life-changing. It is a lifestyle where we are honest with ourselves, what our body needs, and where we use our time to take care of every part of our lives.
These small actions might take effort, but it will get easier over time, I promise :)
Compost
Kitchen scraps, such as banana peels, leftover rice, apple skins, and rotten vegetables can all be considered compost. Some things in the garden too can be considered compost, such as dried leaves, droopy petals, etc. Instead of throwing them out into the landfill and producing more waste and methane, you can gather them in a can and when the can becomes full, dump the compost into a hole in your garden. If you live in an apartment, you can try getting a small-sized compost bin, or consider options that can be found in your neighborhood.
Turn off the tap
If you turn off the faucet when you brush your teeth, you could save almost 200 gallons of water every single month. You can also save water in many other ways, such as showering instead of taking a bath, using a dishwasher instead of hand washing, turning off the faucet while you wash your hands, and line drying your clothes instead of using the dryer.
Use a reusable water bottle
This is one of the simplest things that you can do to help the environment, buy a reusable water bottle! In my past school, a lot of classmates would bring a new plastic bottle to school every single day and then throw it out afterward. This produces a lot of plastic and is horrible for the environment. As crazy as it sounds, we produce almost 1 million plastic bottles every single minute. That is 8.6 billion plastic water bottles every single day. Not only are reusable water bottles better for the environment, but they also save you a lot of money. They are much more sturdy and don’t bend or crack easily, if you took good care of your water bottles, you could use them up to 3 years.
Bring your own containers
Bring your own glass jar when going to the bulk section, your own grocery bag when you shop, your own coffee mug when going to Starbucks, ( They actually give you a discount you bring your own cup! ) your own take out container when you go to a restaurant and your own metal straw are all ways that you can cut down on plastic waste. Just by doing this, you can prevent a lot of plastic bags from flowing into the ocean and do your part to help the earth.
Bike, walk and take the bus more
Next time you bike instead of riding the car for 1 kilometer, you can save 271 grams of carbon dioxide from doing into the air! If you take the bus instead of riding the car, you can save 170 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer. If you have trains or metros in your area, try riding those! In the country where I live, a lot of buses only cost 1 -2 dollars, and you can take a bus ride to almost any destination. The buses are mostly electric, and the city provides specialized bus lanes, making bus transport even more efficient than cars.
Donate
This doesn’t mean you only donate money, this also means donating your old clothes, old toys, and even old books! An average American throws away about 37 kg of clothing every year, so, consider donating some of your old clothes to donations and local charities. I suggest that you and your family have a day where you do a big declutter in your house, I bet you will find a lot of unwanted things, such as clothes, books, toys, and stationery.
Make some zero waste swaps
This is pretty easy. You can swap your plastic toothbrush into a bamboo toothbrush. You can swap your normal toothpaste into a zero-waste one, because believe it or not, your toothpaste has microplastics in them! You can swap your plastic shopping bags into a fabric one that you bring yourself. You can also swap your normal shampoo, body wash, hand soap containers into bars! You can also switch your toilet paper into eco-friendly ones. This way, you won’t produce as much plastic and trash, and you can save some garbage from going into the landfill and producing more carbon dioxide!
Recycle
Next time you are about to dump a cardboard box or a newspaper into the garbage bin, think again and throw it in your recycling bin. 500,000 trees must be cut down just to make the Sunday newspapers. Imagine that! The US cutting down 500,000 trees just to make newspapers. But on the other hand, if we recycled all of our newspapers, we could save 500,000 trees from getting cut down! In fact, we are cutting down one football field of trees every single second. Every single tree is a home, a life. Trees are a very basic part of our lives, but they matter so much to all the animals living in the forest. Let’s think of these animals and do our little part to help.
Make sure you are full before going shopping
This sounds weird, but I know this works from past experiences. Whenever my mom and I go shopping really hungry, we tend to buy too much food and end up wasting it, so next time you go shopping, grab an apple or some popcorn before you head out!
Buy organic
Instead of going to the grocery shop, try and go to the farmers market instead, they are much better for the environment! When you eat a banana, you won't be eating a banana that came from the other side of the ocean. When you go to a farmer’s market, you won't be buying everything wrapped in plastic. Bring your own used plastic bags or fabric bags to store your fresh fruits and vegetables. Buying organic gives farmers more opportunities, is fresher and in season, and of course, better for the environment.
Please take a chance and try to implement these changes into your life, make protecting nature a lifestyle. Your journey stars now.
Sources:
Davis, Carla. “6 Times You Can Turn Off the Tap to Save Water.” Sustainability, 5 Sept. 2017, sustainability.ncsu.edu/blog/changeyourstate/6-times-you-should-turn-off-the-tap-to-save-water/.
Plastic Soup Foundation. (2020, March 2). The world’s population consumes 1 million plastic bottles every minute. https://www.plasticsoupfoundation.org/en/2017/07/the-worlds-population-consumes-1-million-plastic-bottles-every-minute/#:%7E:text=The%20worldwide%20consumption%20of%20plastic,to%20583.3%20billion%20in%202021.
How much CO2 does Cycling really Save? (2020, March 16). ECF. https://ecf.com/news-and-events/news/how-much-co2-does-cycling-really-save#:%7E:text=That’s%20about%20one%20tenth%20compared,times%20less%20than%20a%20car!
Beall, A. (2020, July 13). Why clothes are so hard to recycle. BBC Future. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200710-why-clothes-are-so-hard-to-recycle#:%7E:text=The%20average%20American%20has%20been,37kg%20of%20clothes%20every%20year.
USI Web Services. (n.d.). Paper Recycling Facts - University of Southern Indiana. The University of Southern Indiana. Retrieved April 1, 2021, from https://www.usi.edu/recycle/paper-recycling-facts/
Planted, O. T. (n.d.). Tree Facts. One Tree Planted. Retrieved April 1, 2021, from http://onetreeplanted.org/pages/tree-facts#:%7E:text=46-58%20thousand,48%20football%20fields%20every%20minute.
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