Why should you care about climate change and our environment? A clean environment is
extremely essential for healthy living for both human beings and animals, for starters. Our planet’s climate is also changing at a rapid pace due to manmade causes such as C O 2 emissions and other greenhouse gases. Additionally, we as human beings require biodiversity or the variety of different living organisms as it provides basic necessities such as plants to eat, water to drink, air to breathe, and various materials that we use to create even more necessities. Biodiversity, however, is being negatively influenced by climate change, pollution, and human activity.
We are degrading land, destroying ecosystems, endangering animals, polluting Earth’s air, creating a hole in the ozone layer, and so much more. This planet is our home, and is also going to be only home for future generations (that is, unless we use advanced technology to colonize other planets and repeat this vicious cycle of destroying the environments of the planets we live on). Don’t you want to leave a beautiful and far less dangerous planet for your grandchildren and greatgrandchildren to live comfortably on in the future?
Going green and ecofriendly is extremely beneficial to the environment, and is not as difficult as it seems. Here are some easy and affordable tips on how to live an environmentally sustainable lifestyle.
1. Carpool or ride a bike.
Cars and other types of transportation contribute to around t hirty percent of U.S. greenhouses gas emissions, according to u csusa.org. If you’re in school, try setting up a carpooling system with your friends or people that live near you. Also, invest in a bike that you can ride anywhere that is
not too long of a distance. This way, you are contributing less to the pollution of your city’s air and even saving a lot of gas money.
2. Compost.
Composting is mixing household or yard organic/natural waste together in order to provide conditions that fuel decomposition. This is then used as a natural fertilizer for your garden, feeding your soil nutrients and microorganisms that promote and improve plant growth. Why should you compost? You’re saving water since compost actually helps with moisture retention, reducing the dependence on fossil fuels, reducing landfill waste, and using a chemicalfree fertilizer. Composting is commonly known as one of the greenest things you can do at home. Not to mention, you’re saving money by not having to buy fertilizer from a store and producing less waste since the nutrients in compost aren’t washed away by rainfall. Here is a complete guide on how and why you should compost that goes into more detail: http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/whyshouldicompost/
3. Recycle.
By not recycling, you are contributing to the emissions of harmful chemicals and greenhouse gases from landfills, destruction of habitats, energy waste, and much more. By choosing to recycle, however, you are reducing expenditure in the economy because making products from recycled materials is far cheaper than making products using raw materials, as well as preserving resources for future generations. Do I really need to elaborate more? To save money, you don’t
even have to buy a new bin to put all of your recyclable materials in. Recycle an old container to use as a recycling bin. Recycleception.
4. Don’t throw your dryer lint away!
Lay it carefully in your backyard or anywhere outside for birds to utilize to feather their nests.
5. Reuse bags when going grocery shopping.
Plastic bags are absolutely terrible for the environment. They’re one of the top ten pieces of trash collected beaches around the world, can take anywhere from 20 to 5 00 y ears to decompose, and represent a significant amount of the total municipal solid waste produced annually. According to the Wall Street Journal, A mericans throw away 100 billion plastic bags every year, which requires 12 million barres of oil per year to manufacture. Save both money and the environment by either reusing the plastic bags you have at home or taking reusable bags to the grocery store with you.
5. Use online tickets.
Buy etickets through websites and apps for movies, concerts, boarding passes, and more to save paper.
6. Avoid turning on the heater if you can.
Layer up by wearing more sweaters and socks if you’re feeling cold in the house so you don’t need to turn on the heater. By doing this you’re saving electricity, and you’ll also have a less scary looking electricity bill.
7. Use LED bulbs.
Many LED light bulbs can be expensive, but Philips sells sets of LED’s for anywhere from $4 to $10 U.S. dollars per set. You can find them online, or at Home Depot.
Good luck on your journey to an environmentally sustainable lifestyle!
Jaskrit is sixteen years old and lives in Southern California. She is passionate about human rights activism, animal rights, feminism, environmentalism, fashion, and photography. She is a writer and ambassador for Affinity for Life Magazine and wants to be able to educate people and bring attention to significant current events and topics.
Comments are closed.