In today’s day and age almost everyone is aware of the ecological problems going on with planet Earth. Too many humans doing too many bad things for the environment is equalling plenty of damage being done daily. Now we are not at the point that we cannot do things to make things better or decrease the negative imprint we are making on the planet we all live on. Things can be done.
People know that things can be done but not many of us are actually doing things. Most don’t because they are lazy and believe that being more green takes a lot of effort. That is a fallacy as there are plenty of simple and low cost things that anyone can do to make this world a better place ecologically.
Sometimes we don’t do things that are simple just because they don’t pop into our heads. I decided to make a list of green things that are simple, cost less than $20 and can be done in less than thirty minutes. All these things can be done year round. They are all eco habits that will even save you money and will make a big impact if we all do them. You can choose to do one or do all.
Here is a list of ten easy ways to save the Earth:
1) Switch to laundry detergent that’s concentrated: Those large plastic jugs of regular liquid detergent, which are made up mostly of water, uses a lot more plastic packaging, oil and energy getting them to the stores.
2) Turn off the lights: A single 60 watt bulb that burns for 12 hours a day for a year uses 6,300 gallons of water. The water is used to drive the steam turbines in power plants. That amount of water is a single person’s recommended drinking water supply for 35 years. Switch to fluorescent bulbs. Besides using less electricity, the fluorescent bulbs last 10 times a long.
3) Fill up the dishwasher: Regularly running a half filled dishwasher wastes twice as much water.
4) Put your computer on “sleep” or “standby”: If you do this for an entire year instead of leaving it on you could cut your computer’s power consumption by 98%. Do this when not in use and it will save you money on your energy bill.
5) Skip the takeout: One takeout order often comes with plenty of trash. More trash than actual food. Plastic cutlery, napkins and condiment packages. If you do order out at least ask them not to include what you don’t absolutely need.
6) Go vegetarian for a day: Livestock production is responsible for 18% of the world’s greenhouse gases. If we eat less meat there are less greenhouses gases produced. One day a week by everyone would make a huge difference. Less meat will also lower your grocery bill.
7) Use 100 percent recycled paper: If everyone in Canada replaced a regular package of virgin fibre napkins with one that is 100% recycled we would save tens of thousands of trees.
8) Wash your clothes in cold water: If the entire population in New York City washed their laundry in cold water for a mere one day the energy saved would light up the Empire State Building for thirty days.
9) Drive 10 km. slower: It will boost your fuel efficiency. Car pool when you can. It will also save in gas money.
10) Tighten your car’s gas cap: Each year millions of litres of gas evaporates due to loose, damaged or missing caps. This is equal to enough gas to fill up the tanks of millions of midsize cars.
