🌎 9 Ways to Be more Green and Planet Friendly 🌎
Ways to be More Green
If I can start with a brag, I am really proud of myself as far as what we’ve changed in our household to reduce the amount of trash we generate. Christmas week is pretty much the only week of the year that we fill our garbage can.
And that’s not due to wrapping paper, but more because all of us are home all day and eating all of our meals here. I use reusable gift bags and other packaging to eliminate gift wrap waste.
And we recycle whatever cardboard packaging we can. This is also the time of year when I try to establish good habits.
Also read: 5 Simple things Every Household can do to Save the Planet.
Because recycling is not enough. We’re barely putting a dent in the ecosystem with this and each household has to do more. Sure, the corporations and industries have to do more too.
But remember, we vote with our dollars too. Purchasing earth-friendly products send a message that we want to fix this problem.
Taking the time to recycle is a wonderful way to help the planet. However, there are so many more things we can do to make the world a little bit better.
Whether you ride a bike to work or hang thermal curtains, you can take being green beyond recycling.
9 Things You Can Do That Go Beyond Recycling
1. Riding a Bike-If you live within riding distance of your job, why not bike to work? Not only is it green, but it’s also good for your body as well. If you don’t live close enough to bike, at least consider carpooling or using public transportation.
2. Re-evaluate your dishwasher habits-Running the dishwasher at the end of the evening is a great habit to get into, but only if you have enough dishes for a full load. Even if your dishwasher has a one rack setting, this still uses a lot of energy. Wait until you have a full load.
Better yet, consider hand washing the easy stuff and running it less frequently. A few years ago, ours was broken. It took us a few weeks to get around to calling a repairman, and at that time our electric bill went down almost 20%! And this is a supposedly energy-efficient model.
3. Turning Off the Running Water-It doesn’t matter if it’s when you’re brushing your teeth or taking a shower, you need to turn off the running water when you’re not using it. For example, when you’re brushing, you don’t need the water running. The same goes for when you’re lathering up in the shower.
4. Hanging Thermal Curtains-Thermal curtains not only keep your home warmer in the winter, but they keep your home cooler in the summer as well. Hang these throughout your home and you’ll save quite a bit of money.
5. Using a Water Filter-Stop wasting all that plastic. Instead of buying a case of water, buy a water filter. They pay for themselves over time and greatly reduce the amount of plastic in our landfills.
6. Drying Clothing on a Clothesline-Chances are you may remember your grandmother drying clothes on the line outside. Not only does it save energy, but it also makes your clothes smell great.
7. Making the Most of Your Time in the Car-When you need to run errands, take the time to think about where you need to go and the best way to hit those places so that you don’t waste gas. Also, take care of as many errands at one time as you can to reduce the amount of gas used.
8. Buying Bamboo Made Products-Bamboo is an incredibly sustainable plant. It grows inches per day which makes it perfect for making our products out of. Everything from clothing to flooring to cooking utensils and even outdoor furniture can be made from bamboo.
9. Shopping for Earth-Friendly Products-Try to reduce your consumption of single-use plastics. Look for products that are compostable and reusable. I’ve been trying to do this, and once you start keeping track of how much plastic we use each day, it’s frightening!
It’s great to recycle, but why not also take the time to do more things that are green? Many of these are so simple yet make a huge difference.
