5 Sustainable Living Tips To Make this World A Better and Greener Place
Several studies and reports on global warming, climate change, and the depletion of natural resources and their effects on human life have led to many people converting to a more environmental-friendly way of living.
Sustainable living is one method of reducing a person’s natural resource consumption by ensuring that one replaces what he or she uses up. An example would be planting trees to make up for your carbon footprint. Other simpler ways would be not using products that are not environmentally sustainable — such as plastics — or by changing your lifestyle.
Below are some sustainable living tips to help you get started.
5 Sustainable Living Tips #1 Get a house that fits you right
To practice sustainable living, you must reside in a house that is enough for you and your family. A smaller house helps promote sustainability since it consumes less energy. This would also help you save up on your bills because you will be spending less on furniture, lighting, and electricity.
As much as possible, make use of eco-friendly home-building techniques – such as using sustainable materials – when renovating or building a new home.
#2 Be mindful of the water you use up Another sustainable living tip is to conserve water. Most people tend to wash or clean a lot of things too often, even when they don’t really have to. One can waste a huge amount of water daily for bathing, washing the dishes, or doing the laundry.
To reduce water consumption, learn to take shorter showers, wash your dishes in a basin of water, and cut down on your laundry by washing only those that really need to be washed.
#3 Commute/travel the eco-friendly wayRide a bicycle to work instead of taking your car, especially when your office is only a few kilometers away. When this is not feasible, take public transportation. Aside from helping the environment, this would allow you to do other things you can’t do while driving – such as reading a good book or checking your phone for important messages.
Take the stairs instead of the elevator. This is not only a sustainable practice but also a great way to sneak in a short exercise.
#4 Shop smart Before you shop, think about whether you really need the item or not. Buying only what you need helps reduce the clutter in your house, and also helps reduce the promotion of materials that create huge amounts of carbon footprint. In case you really need it, be sure to use minimal packaging and avoid using plastic bags at the checkout counter. Bring your own reusable bags instead!
When buying fresh produce, I suggest you get your fruits and vegs from the farmer’s market. They haven’t traveled for miles, which reduces the fuel cost and didn’t spend hours, days, or months in a container. Aside from being more fresh and healthy, they are more likely to be chemical-free and they are produced using less environment-harmful methods.
#5 Avoid the use of plastics A very important sustainable living tip is to stop using plastics. It contributes to much of the world’s waste, and can still be seen everywhere, affecting the habitat and lives of several marine and land species.
To cut down your use of plastic, start by using reusable bags when shopping, stop buying bottled water, and as much as possible, avoid purchasing products with plastic packagings — such as plastic-wrapped vegetables, salads, and online shopping purchases.
All these simple tips go a long way. They can definitely help save the environment and make sustainable living worthwhile when done consistently. Start applying these tips now to help reduce your environmental footprint and help make this world a greener, greater, and better place to live.
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