by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Here are some changes you can make:
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Plant a tree in your yard or start a garden: Let's face it, growing your own food, or at least some of it, should be on the agenda and planting a tree or two, whether fruit of other, should also be possible, even in a small yard.
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Simply stop using pesticides and use chemical free cleaning products: The Internet and books of the right kind are full of instructions and recipes as to doing just that. One of the best cleaners for your home and kitchen you may already have sitting in the cupboard; vinegar.
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Turn off lights and electronics when you leave the room and buy energy-saving, electronics, appliances and lighting.
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Reduce, Reuse, Repurpose, Upcycle. Recycling is the last resort even though often repeated over and over again as the green thing to do. Reducing your waste is one thing of reduction; the other is to reduce consumption. Then reuse, repurpose and upcycle every item what might fall under the category “waste” as far as possible. Only when you really cannot find a use for things, or cannot pass them on to someone else then, as the last resort, put them into the recycling stream... not before.
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Lower your thermostat in the winter and raise it in the summer. Make sure your house is well insulated.
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Stop buying bottled water and use a reusable bottle and fill it with tap water. If you are concerned about certain things that may be in your tap water, such as chlorine, possibly fluoride, and other chemicals, etc., then use a filter or even a distiller, but stop buying expensive bottle water which often is nothing but (filtered) tap water in plastic bottles.
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Reduce your water consumption - lawn, bathroom, kitchen and washing your car are good places to start. Put in a rainwater harvesting system in the form of water butts in your garden, either fed from the guttering or free-standing and fed by rainsaucers, or better still both.
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Start a compost heap in your back yard or on your rooftop. If you grow a garden which you really should, even if small, then you want also to make your own compost.
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Buy foods locally and in season.
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Ride a bike, walk, or use public transport for your personal travel as much as possible. The two first ones keep you healthy and fit at the same time while saving you money and doing good for the Planet.
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At holidays and birthdays, give your family and friends hand-made gifts instead of store bought stuff.
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Bring your own bags to the grocery store.
There are certainly many more things we all can do to make a difference. The most important thing is we each take the time and make the effort to make changes! If but everyone would do a couple of things we all together would make a great difference.
© 2013
