These days, the earth is facing a lot of challenges. Some of these challenges include things like pollution, global warming and deforestation. To face these challenges and overcome them, everyone is going to have to take part by making changes to their behavior and everyday lifestyles. Thankfully, many of these changes are actually easy to make. Below are six you should consider.
Swap Our Your Incandescent Light Bulbs
One of the easiest changes you can make to help transform your house-hold into a more sustainable model is by removing your incandescent light bulbs and replacing them with LED light bulbs. According to the US Department of Energy, LED light bulbs use far less energy than incandescent bulbs and last much longer as well. Your home will not only be more eco-friendly, but you will also save on utility bills and light bulb replacement as well. LED stands for light emitting diode. These diodes operate much cooler than the tungsten filaments inside incandescent bulbs and require far less energy to operate.
Switch to More Eco-Friendly Home Goods
Another easy switch you can make regards your weekly trips to grocery and department stores. Many home goods unfortunately have a significant negative impact on the environment. They can be made from finite resources such as trees. Some even pollute the environment during their production processes. Instead, switch to sustainable home goods. These are created in a way that puts far less pressure on natural ecosystems. This can include items like recycled tote bags for shopping, reusable cloth napkins, bamboo cooking utensils, loofah dish sponges, Eco-friendly dish powder and more.
Grow Some of Your Own Food
It may be quite difficult for most families to grow everything they need to feed their families. Raising livestock, for example, is a full-time job. However, there is really nothing stopping you saving for perhaps climate when it comes to growing your own fruit and vegetables. Doing so can greatly lessen your family’s carbon footprint. This is due to the fact that a lot of energy and fuel is required to transport produce to grocery stores, not to mention the utilities used by those stores and all the other waste involved.
Buy Used and Second Hand
Another strategy you can use is to buy things that you need that might have a negative impact on the environment as used and second hand. This is a form of recycling. When you buy such items new, that increases demand for those items to be manufactured. However, this is not the case when you purchase items on a secondary market. On the secondary market, no money goes back to the original manufactures who would otherwise be incentivized to make more of the same kind of goods. This is also a very good way to save hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year. Buying a video game console second-hand, for example, could save you hundreds of dollars.
Buy Energy Efficient Appliances
Something else you should be aware of is that there are more eco-friendly alternatives for most household appliances on the market. These are usually marked with the federally approved Energy Star label. Such appliances are tested to ensure they use far less electricity than appliances without the label available in different stores. You can buy everything from dryers to microwaves with this Energy Star label. When you need to replace appliances, always choose more energy efficient options.
Collect Rainwater
In many parts of the country, especially the southwest, water is a valuable commodity. Droughts can absolutely devastate the environment and destroy entire crops for local farmers. Water is a life-giving resource. You should try to not use more than you actually need. Instead of taking all the water you need from the local water system, consider collecting rain water as an eco-friendly supplement. While you can’t safely drink rain water in most instances, it can be used for many other chores such as watering house plants or even washing dishes. Although, getting a RO water filter will allow you to have more clean and fresh drinking water in your home.
Conclusion
In regards to the environment, even small changes matter. If more people simply made such small changes to their behavior and lifestyle, the difference would add up quickly. It’s this kind of attitude that will help future generations overcome the challenges of problems like global warming, pollution and deforestation.
Sources:
1. https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/led-lighting
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