Buying Only What You Need
Aug
11
If you’re like anyone else you’ve probably bought many things over the years that you didn’t really need and didn’t get much use out of. Everything you buy has a tally of carbon emissions — emissions in the manufacturing process, emissions from the packaging, and emissions from transporting it to and from the store. The more you buy the more emissions you’re responsible for. And many unwanted items are likely to end their days in a landfill site where they take thousands of years to degrade. If you really want to save the planet you simply have to buy less and use up less of the planet’s natural resources.
The key to green living is to reduce, recycle, reuse, and repair. Think carefully about whether you need to buy something. If you don’t buy it you reduce the impact you’re having on the environment because you aren’t responsible for any carbon emissions involved in the item’s manufacture, you won’t be using up the earth’s resources, you won’t be filling up landfill sites with unwanted packaging, and ultimately you won’t have to dispose of it and release more emissions while it decays. You may already have something that would do the job as well if you repaired it. But be realistic! Life is too short for most people to darn socks these days, though you can use old socks for household cleaning.
Instead of buying, think about whether you can borrow the item from someone else or share one belonging to a friend. When you buy, consider whether the item can be recycled when you’re finished with it. Maybe a friend can make use of it and pass it on, or a charity shop may be able to find it a good home.
Things like paper from presents and material from clothes can be reused, and gifts you’ve been given but don’t want can be regifted to friends who would appreciate them.
Getting Everyone in the Household Onside
It’s all very well taking the decision to lead a green lifestyle but it won’t do much good unless everyone in your household agrees that it’s a good idea.
Talk over your plans with everyone and your reasons for going green. Explain how you’d like everyone to play their part. Maybe each can have particular green responsibilities. It will take a while before all the mobile phone chargers are switched off at the socket when they’re not being used but it’s about changing behaviour until it becomes second nature and by doing it yourself and setting an example you’ll find you create a new green culture around the home.
Children at school get more information about green issues than most adults so you can give your children the job of making sure that you are kept up to date with any practical tips they pick up that you can use at home. That way they feel as if they’re leading the green revolution in your home.
Staying Informed
There is so much information around about leading a greener lifestyle that it’s hard to know where to start. I hope this gives you some practical tips and starts you thinking, but it just scratches the surface.
The best ways to contribute to saving the planet change from time to time as new evidence emerges of just what effect we are having on our environment. You can keep informed through the Internet and the wealth of green-related Web sites. Just type green living into any search engine and you’ll find all sorts of useful information. Newspapers and radio and television programmes are all taking the issues much more seriously than they did a couple of years ago and they’re useful for keeping up to date. It needn’t cost you anything to keep yourself informed.
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