If you’re among the people who care about the environment, know that you’re not alone! You may be one of the few, but the eco-friendly lifestyle raises popularity. The scope of the ‘go green’ concept is not as broad as wanted, but this shouldn’t bother you if you’re a true enthusiast for a change of that sort. After all, the feeling to follow green principles of life should come from within, and not be a result of being like everybody else. Witnessing where the latter led us – that is, consumerism and mass production, you don’t have to be afraid to be among the pioneers when what you do is help the environment. Getting involved is a choice that you’re allowed to make yourself because you’ve opened your eyes widely enough to see that you can make a difference, as little as it may be. As small as your steps appear to you, don’t get discouraged because you at least are trying to be part of the change instead of pretending not to notice the worsen situation on our ‘so-much-loved’ planet, as everyone claims. Simple words are just not enough. They have to be backed by actions – real, visible deeds.
Start at Home
You can make your contribution by finding environmentally friendly solutions in your home. This is the least you can do for starters. What you can do as a beginning is to stop buying all kinds of useless items and focus only on most needed ones. Consumer society is an enemy to eco-friendliness. Why? When more is produced, there’s more that goes to waste because, at one point or another, any item becomes obsolete and unfit for use. Also, the process of production takes place in factories that pollute the air. By consuming less, you won’t stop all that, but you’ll at least have less waste to dispose of, a.k.a. less pollution for the environment. Your personal carbon footprint will be reduced, and that counts, no doubt about it. After all, you can only do whatever it is in your power, and since this is something that can be done with ease, why not do it? Nobody is standing in your way to wanting to have a healthier life. Healthy for both you and the environment!
As for energy saving, there certainly are ways to do that at home without including some major plans of remodeling. Something as small as replacing the air conditioner with a fan in the summer or lowering the heat in the winter to a bearable temperature will be a good start. If you want to truly commit to the green concept, you have to sacrifice convenience to rationality. Soon, you’ll get used to it and even wonder why you were being so wasteful. Also, unplug any device that is not being used at the moment. When the appliance is only turned off, you have to know that it still consumes energy. The fridge doesn’t have to be on in the winter (that is if where you live you have a snowy winter with low temperatures), and if you buy as much food as you can actually consume, nothing will get bad before its turn for cooking comes. These are only practical advices, but they can all contribute to saving energy.
Water is a scanty natural resource that we have to learn not to take for granted. What you can do at home regarding this matter is to start washing dishes by hand instead of using a dishwasher, which also consumes energy and is just too thriftless. Next time you brush your teeth, turn the tap off. Do the same when you lather up in the shower. Remember, it’s all for the better of our planet Earth.
Move to the Yard
Your back yard surely looks good with ryegrass, but it can be made more efficient if you turn it into a garden for growing your own crops. This has a lot to do with ‘green’ lifestyle. As nature gave us an easy way to have food just by planting a seed, you cannot refuse to avail of the opportunity. Add some herbs there, and you’ll have the ingredients for a delicious, full of vitamins soup. Vegetables are rich in nutrition, and the ones you grow will surely be free of pesticides and artificial fertilizers. All natural and temptingly tasty. The ones from the store can’t even be included in the competition.
If you want to start living by the green concept, in a way you have to go back to the basics, to what nature provides without wanting anything in return. This is no reason to stay uninvolved, though. Reuse, recycle and donate instead of throwing away whenever you can. Also, by saving resources, you contribute to the sustainability principle and thus caring about the future generations. Environment needs us to be reasonable for its own sake!
