Simple Ways to Live Sustainably and Protect the Planet

Sustainable living is all in those little decisions of every day that add up to preserve the planet. Government and Industry have to make huge changes, yes, but individual action matters as well. Sustainable habits help reduce waste, save energy, and even fight climate change. Here are some of the easy tips from Conservation International to allow you to live more sustainably at home, at work, and while traveling:

1. Cut Down Energy Use at Home

Reducing energy reduces your carbon footprint and cuts your bills. Here’s how to do it easily:

1. Switch Your Bulbs: Incandescents waste 90% of their energy as heat. Use only 20% as much electricity with LED, CFL, or halogen bulbs and save money and emissions.
2. Unplug Electronics: Electronics consume power even when turned off; this contributes about 10% to your energy bill. Unplug chargers or televisions when not in use.
3. Use Clothesline: Let the dryer rest and hang clothes outside instead of using the dryer. This saves energy and shrinks your electricity bill.
4. Change Thermostat: Lower your heat or increase your air conditioning by 10°F for 8 hours when no one is home. This small adjustment will save around 10% of your energy bill. Insulated curtains also help keep your house comfortable.

2. Reduction in the Utilization of Plastics

Anna Lamb, Public Relations Coordinator, World Wildlife Fund, UK reported that “Plastic pollution is one of the key threats to wildlife and their habitats. We highly can reduce plastic usage” with the following simple tips:

1. Choose Reusable Bags: Bring your own shopping bags to the grocery store instead of accumulating ever more single-use plastic bags. Many stores welcome returning used plastic bags for proper recycling.
2. Skip the Straw: Straws are among the top ten items found in cleanups, worth 576.4 million. “100% Say ‘No’ to Plastic Straws”: National Geographic, available at http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/01/150105-ocean-australia-animals-culture-science environment/ (last visited Nov. 13, 2015).

Additional Notes on Writing Style

1. Alternative to Language: Alternative to the rigid separation of subjects can be made, instead of using comma splices which split subjects in one sentence by alternating conjunctions.
2. Reporting Verbs: While they clearly include personal judgment, suggestions like “we’d suggest you…” Reporting verbs are vital as they outline the author’s attitude towards what’s being written about, suggesting varying degrees of emotion such as anger or delight.
3. Tone: One man’s matter is another’s million-dollar opportunity.” Forbes emphasized that “Indeed, it is critical to understand that these pump and dump penny stocks only help average Joes while hurting Main Street investors.”
4. Balance: These tactics ought to be used moderately for enhancement of the text sometimes at a price of clarity or readability while preserving the information and tone of the original piece.

3. Pay Attention to Eco-Friendly Food

Your eating habits do impact the environment. These suggestions reduce your carbon foodprint:

1. Go Meat-Free Once a Week: Beef production requires 460 gallons of water for just a quarter-pound burger and emits methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Cut beef one day a week to decrease emission.
2. Buy Local Food: Opt for locally grown crops to cut down on the greenhouse gases associated with food-miles. Get fresh local deliveries by signing up with a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program.
3. Composting Food Scraps: Instead of throwing your food waste into the trash, compost it instead. Ideal for avoiding those methane emissions in landfills; ideal for composting soil for gardening.

4. Be a Green Traveler

6 ways travel might be bad for the planet, but these ideas make it far greener:

1. Lightning Luggage: Means a plane uses less fuel to get from A to B. Pack only what you need and go carry-on if possible.
2. Skip the Single-Use Plastics: Such as your reusable water bottle and shopping bag when traveling. Skip the little bottles of hotel shampoo, and use refillable containers or soap bars instead.
3. Offset Your Flight’s Emissions: Together, all travel equals 2% of the gas that is hurting our sky. Buy carbon credits – this money goes to projects that help save forests and lower CO2.
4. Instead of Using a Car: Travel on public transportation systems or bicycles since that emits and causes less traffic.

5. Technology Done Right

Electronic devices use energy and resources, but you can do it right by:

1. Buying Refurbished: Purchase refurbished phones or computers so that it lessens the environmental costs of manufacturing new ones.
2. Keep Your Smartphone Longer: The energy that goes into manufacturing just one smartphone is equivalent to all the energy that goes into using a ‘dumb’ phone over a period of ten years. Try keeping your phone longer, maybe say around 3-4 years.
3. Use Solar Chargers: Solar charging of phones saves a huge amount of electricity in comparison to wall chargers, which on average use 7 KWh for every phone in a year.
4. Delete Old Emails: The more emails have to be stored by these data centers, the more energy is consumed by them. Hence, delete old useless emails and do not forget to unsubscribe from those news-letters.

6. Green Your Work and School

Small adjustments in the office or at school accumulate:

1. Start a Recycling Program: Have the offices begin paper recycling; after all, only about 55% of the printed pages do get recycled. Do this by placing recycling bins in strategic places where people can quickly get hold of them to boost participation.
2. Double-Sided Printing: Cut paper consumption by half by printing on both sides of the paper, and use recycled post-consumer waste paper with FSC certification for triple the benefit.
3. Be Environmentally Smart: Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth so that less water goes down the drain, helping to save lots of water from being wasted.
4. Reusable Water Bottles: Using a reusable water bottle instead of buying plastic ones helps save many thousands of bottles from being thrown away.

7. Save Water

Water conservation is key to sustainable living:

1. Shorten Your Showers: The average bath requires 70 gallons of water whereas a 5-minute shower typically uses between 10-25 gallons. Keep it timed in the shower.
2. Use Water Again: Keep water you’ve boiled pasta in or wait for your shower to heat up. Use it for plants or have a grey water system installed.
3. Refrain from Cutting the Grass: Replace a portion of your yardage with indigenous vegetation or a flower patch.
4. Wash Clothes in Cold Water: Cold water washing saves 90% of the energy used by your washing machine. Plus, it’s about $40 a year.

8. Why These Actions Matter

Every little step cuts down on greenhouse gases, plastic waste, and the use of resources in general. For example, just installing solar panels in your house would cut 1.6 tons of CO2 emissions a year. The compost stops emitting methane and is a good example. They have to become a part of your life if the planet to which you belong will be a healthier planet then. You can even use some online tools for this purpose of calculating your carbon footprint to know where you stand.