Since today is Earth Day, I thought I'd share some of my personal tips to being more Earth friendly. Thus I will prove just how easy it is being green. Sorry, Kermit.
As I go into this, I will note that most of these are probably well known or practiced by some or most people already. At any rate, there may be some that you don't know and can easily start doing. Pretty much, I'm letting a bit of my inner hippie out today in order to make the planet a bit more happy. ( Hippie...happy...get it?...I should probably stop explaining my jokes...or lack of jokes...)
Tip #1: When you're not using an electrical appliance, keep it unplugged. Even if it's turned to the 'off' mode, it's still sucking up energy that isn't actually being used. By unplugging it, not only are you helping the planet, but also your pocket book, as this will cut down on your electrical bill!
Tip #2: Use as much natural light as possible! Open up the blinds during the day instead of turning on the lights. If I, as a Canadian ( where we have winter for like 8 months of the year and therefore have short hours of sunlight) can do it for the most part, then I'm sure it will be an easy fix for anyone else out there! Also, doing your makeup in natural light yields a much more natural and perfected look. No foundation lines!
Tip #3: Stemming from my last tip, turn off the lights when your not in a room. This ones pretty self explanatory. Your not in it, so why does it need to be lit? However, if you say leave a room for a couple minutes and then plan on coming right back ( like let's say you need to grab a pen from another room. Just for example.) then leave the light on. It's actually probably more harmful to keep turning the lights on and off than it is to leave them on for a little while. Just don't leave them on for hours on end, okay? Actually, funny story, I came home from a party over the weekend at my parents and they had left the lights on. They never do this, so I thought maybe they were still awake. I let our family dog in to go say "hi" to them, but turns out they weren't awake but sound asleep in their bed. And our dog ran in woke them up! Funny for me, not so much for them. See Mum and Dad, turning off the lights would've helped both you and the planet out!
How apt is this picture!?
Tip #4: Try to use less hot water in the shower. I know, I know, I love me a hot shower too. But the energy it takes to get that water boiling hot is crazy. Plus, hot water can really damage your hair by breaking the ends and stripping the color ( if you color your hair). I'm not saying you have to shower in ice cold water. That would suck! But try to cut back your hot water amount and use more lukewarm water. And try to take shorter showers in general. Your hair and the Earth will thank you!
Tip #5: Dim the screen light setting on your phone. Or even your laptop. You literally do not need it to be the brightest setting possible. This will help you to save your battery a bit more and therefore, you'll have to charge it less. Simple really!
Tip #6: Don't leave your car idling, even if you'll "only be a second". It actually burns less gas to turn off your vehicle and restart it than it does to leave it running. I know this can be hard in the winter months, but really try to do it. That way your burn less gas so you don't need to fill up as much and you won't pollute the air. Or have your car stolen.
That too.
Tip #7: Walk! It's that simple. Unless it is crappy outside and you live far away from your destination, why drive? You don't know how many people I've seen drive somewhere that was a 5 or 10 minute walk away from where they lived. Quite stupid and unnecessary, in my humble opinion. Plus it's good exercise and you get to see more of the world that way!
And last, but not least, Tip #8: If possible, grow some of your own veggies or fruits. This may seem way hippie of me, but I grew up on a farm and we did this quite a bit. So I'm not a total environmentalist, I'm just a farm kid who loves the taste of fresh garden carrots that still have a little soil on them. Yummy! Don't knock it 'til you try it.
So yes, if you have the space to do it, plant a garden. That way you don't have to pay as much at the grocery store plus you're helping the Earth out by growing more nutrient rich plants. Everyone is a winner!
My garden at the beginning of last summer. It grew like crazy, yo.
So there are 8 fairly easy tips to help the average person be a little more green. It's small little changes like this that can help to make a big difference to the Earth. So try to do one or two of these every so often. Pretty soon, they will become habit and then you can do another. And another. And another. And so on.
Happy Earth Day one and all!
Over and Meowt
Marli J
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