2019 was the year of climate change awareness. Through the global climate strikes, I realized just how important it was to act on it and decided to make some changes in my lifestyle. Here are some simple tips I learnt that you can follow to be more environment-friendly.
1. Reduce-reuse-recycle: On online shopping platforms, everything we need (and also what we don’t) is a click away. Algorithms track our interests to give us better recommendations, which encourages us to buy more. However, the production of every item uses up natural resources. And eventually, they may end up in landfills or oceans. With this in mind, I resolved to avoid buying items that I don’t really need.
Plastic is a major contributor of the generated waste. Carrying a reusable bag while shopping is an easy-to-follow tip to reduce plastic consumption. Substituting fresh fruits and vegetables in place of their frozen and packaged versions is another way to reduce generation of waste.
Production of paper releases toxic waste which leads to water and air pollution. Paper trash accounts for 25% of total municipal waste generated. To reduce it, choose paperless billing, whenever possible. Being an avid reader, in addition to these changes, I decided to limit my purchase of new books, opting instead to buy them second-hand or borrow from the library.
2. Plant trees: I found great ways to do this even if you cannot commit to taking care of plants every day. In 2019, there was an enormous tree-plantation drive, conceived by a popular YouTuber in collaboration with Arbor Day Foundation. A target of 20 million trees was achieved by planting a native sapling for every dollar donated at locations around the world using drones that dropped seeds. Contributions towards this drive are still being accepted on Team Trees. Another option is surfing the internet using Ecosia as a browsing engine. The company devotes its profits towards reforestation. So far, they have planted over 90 million trees across the planet, including 26,000 in Australia on land that was devastated by the bushfires.
However, reforestation cannot be treated as a panacea because trees take several years to grow whereas the need to curb carbon dioxide emissions is urgent. By contributing to these efforts, we should not permit ourselves to increase our carbon footprint. Instead, it should be considered as an effort to restore biodiversity.
3. Contribute to your favorite environmental cause: For me, one of these is the protection of marine wildlife, especially from pollutants. Ocean Cleanup and 4ocean are two organizations that pull out plastic waste from the sea using technology and by organizing volunteering events, respectively. If you live far from the coast like I do, you can purchase some of their merchandise. 4ocean, for example, sells merchandise including bracelets made from recycled materials and sustainably-made T-shirts made from organically-grown cotton. For each product purchased, they pull a pound of trash from the ocean.
4. Reduce consumption of electricity: Over 60% of the power generated in the US is obtained from coal and gas, which leads to green-house gas emissions. Make a conscious effort to reduce your energy consumption (reducing your electricity bills is a bonus!) When not in use, remember to turn off your lights and other appliances. Adjust the thermostat 1 degree closer to the outside temperature.
5. Talk about it: Climate change, mass extinction of species, and pollution are not “cool” topics yet. The reason is partly because thinking about the climate crisis scares us and it is much easier to continue living in denial. So, focus instead on discussing what changes we can make to preserve life on earth. Staying unconcerned now would be selfish and ungrateful. If we want the next generations to live with the basic necessities of life with which many of us grew up, we must actively participate, and that includes spreading awareness. Think of what we can achieve if each one of us makes small efforts!
“Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.”
– Vincent Van Gogh
*Photo by Andreas Gücklhorn on Unsplash
References:
- https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/electricity-in-the-us.php
- https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2019-11/documents/2017_facts_and_figures_fact_sheet_final.pdf
Human Nature 