5 Simple Ways In Which You Can #GoGreen
It’s about time
It’s World Environment Day!
It’s that day of the year when everyone, from the activists to the socialites, celebrate the wonderful environment around them, albeit forgetting about it from the remainder of the year.
If you’re not one of those people, then you are in the right place. Here’s your on stop guide on how to be greener.
- REDUCE PLASTICS
I cannot emphasize on how important this rule is. Plastic is a non-biodegradable substance. Organisms cannot break it down.
If it is not broken down, it will accumulate to levels too toxic for both humans and life in general. The simplest way to cut down on plastic is by stopping single use plastics.
These are basically things like plastic bags, plastic juice and soda bottles, ice-cream containers etc. By cutting down on those itself can benefit the environment quite a bit.
A few ways to replace single-use plastics are:-
a. Buy in bulk (Eg. purchase sauces in bottles and avoid sauce sachets at restaurants)
b. Carry a bottle around with you. You can refill it with water at a water station rather than purchasing a new bottle.
c. Carry a cloth bag when shopping to avoid single-use plastic bags.
d. Items such as shampoo can be made at home using simple ingredients such as coconut oil, baking powder and peppermint oil.
e. If you are required to use plastic, check if it can be recyclable.
2. USE PUBLIC TRANSPORT
Rather than commuting to places alone in a car, it is much more efficient to use the train or bus. This saves on quite a bit of fuel that would’ve ended up in the atmosphere.
Of course, public transport is not always convenient, let alone comfortable.
So, another alternative is to carpool with friends or co-workers. Not only does this save on fuel, but it also reduces the number of vehicles on the road, leading to fewer congestions and faster travel times overall. Plus, you can’t do carpool karaoke on your own now can you?
3. EAT LESS MEAT
It actually helps.
When it comes to meat, the emissions come from when that veal on your plate was alive.
The rearing of cattle and poultry account for a huge portion of overall greenhouse gas emissions. Cattle also releases methane, which is 4 times better at trapping heat that Carbon Dioxide.
Although going vegan is the most environmentally friendly diet, one can get the best of both worlds by switching to a Mediterranean based diet. A mainly fish and vegetable based diet with chicken about once a week is almost as green as being vegan.
However, if even that is difficult, the least that can be done is quitting chicken. Chicken accounts for more than half of all agricultural based emissions, and cutting it out alone can help quite a bit.
4. UPGRADE YOUR CAR
If you are gonna travel alone, might as well do whatever you can to reduce your emissions.
The best way to do so is by installing a catalytic converter in your car. This removes most of the harmful gases like NO2 from the exhaust and keeps the air cleaner.
If you are thinking of upgrading, consider electric?
In most of the developed world, there are now plenty of charging stations for electric cars. As an automobile that produce a staggering 0 kilos of CO2, it’s pretty neat.
5. CONTROL YOUR AIR-CONDITIONER
Summer is on it’s way, so you know that AC is gonna be on for like, all day.
While it’s much better just to use the fan at a higher speed, if you are gonna use the air conditioning, it is always better to keep it at 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit) or more.
At these temperatures, the air conditioning is much more energy efficient and can help bring down that power bill by a huge margin.
Most new air conditioning systems also come with an energy saving mode. KEEP. THAT. ON. AT. ALL. TIMES.
LIKE.
FOR REAL.
Happy World Environment Day Y’all. Enjoy, and stay green
