THE EVERYDAY CHOICES WE MAKE HAVE AN IMPACT ON OUR PLANET
Sustainable living is the practice of reducing your demand for natural resources by making sure that you replace what you use to the best of your ability. Sometimes that can mean choosing to not choose to consume a product that is made using practices that don't promote sustainability, and sometimes it means changing how you do things so that you become more of an active part of the cycle of life.
Sustainable living is a lifestyle that attempts to reduce an individual's or society's use of the Earth's natural resources and personal resources. Practitioners of sustainable living often attempt to reduce their carbon footprint by altering their methods of transportation, energy consumption, and diet.
Here are a few ideas to live a more sustainable life:
- Being a member of a community garden helps to promote sustainable living in your area. If we encourage green spaces in urban areas, they can play an important role in offsetting carbon emissions.
- Everything you own and use is put to its maximum purpose.
- Using longer-lasting, energy-efficient light sources also substantially reduces the amount of waste going into landfills.
- By choosing to become more efficient with your errands, you can create a system of sustainable living that is based on reducing the number of natural resources you consume.
- By using natural cleaners, you are reducing the amount of plastic packaging being made and the number of chemicals that are being introduced into the water system.
- By reducing your reliance on entertainment forms that require energy and natural resources, you can help to reduce the demand and drain on them.
- Reduce your need to buy new products. If there is less waste, then there is less to recycle or reuse. Learning to reuse items or repurpose them for a different use than what they are intended for is essential in the waste hierarchy.
- Most electronic devices keep on drawing electricity even when they’re off. To reduce energy usage, simply pull the plug when not in use.
- The ENERGY STAR label on a piece of equipment states that a particular product has been deemed as energy efficient by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
- Install a rainwater harvesting system while building your green home to collect rainwater from roofs and then store it in a tank. The collected water can then be used for other purposes, such as toilets and sprinkler systems. Rain barrels are one of the most common methods of rainwater harvesting being used today.
- Choosing renewable energy over fossil fuels is a great way to stop climate change and do your part in making things happen.
- We encounter single-use items in our day-to-day life. Identify disposable products that are possible to replace with reusable ones.