Are You Ready to Turn Green? How to Help Save our Blue Planet
Whether you acknowledge the occurrence of Global Warming, aren’t aware of it yet (have you been living under a rock?) or refuse to believe it’s real (seriously?), you can attest that Planet Earth isn’t doing well at the moment and hasn’t for the past two decades.
Rather than passively reacting to how weird and inconvenient it is to have a full-on snow storm in the middle of March (shout-out to 2018 Storm Emma), or tweeting about how happy you are that there is a heatwave of 37 degrees in Paris in June, it is now time to ACT.
Because you shouldn’t, in fact be happy that your summers are getting hotter (even if you are living in Ireland and would like to know how it is to live at 20 degrees every day).
Besides the weather fluctuating abnormally and being volatile, many other phenomena have been happening, but that is a story for another time (unless you already know, but if not read this: Climate change: How do we know?).
As environmental changes are already set in motion, the only thing we can do now is damage control. How do we do that? Don’t worry, becoming more environmentally-friendly daily is not as difficult as it sounds.
You just need to change your habits a little (or a lot depending on how much you care about the world haha...).
If you lack motivation, you can start by calculating your carbon footprint. See how much of a difference you can make?
Here are a few tips on how to have a greener lifestyle, no matter your circumstances:
1. Recycle and Reduce Waste
Source: @natgeo on Instagram
Go to your local recycling centre to get informed on how to recycle properly: black bin, green bin, red bin, sounds familiar? (Colour coding varies on the country).
Use reusable hot and cold beverages containers. Coffee shops now accept to serve beverages in reusable cups, and you might even get a discount!!
2. Avoid Buying Items with Plastic Components
Do you know how many sea birds and aquatic animals mistake discarded objects in the ocean for food?
Source: @natgeo on Instagram
See those bananas without any plastic wrapping? Pick them instead!
When groceries shopping, ask for paper bags. If the store doesn’t offer any, just take reusable bags.
Source: @natgeo on Instagram
Trees are important as they breathe all that CO2 we’re constantly generating.
Print as little as necessary.
Don’t throw away paper when you mess up: it can be used as scrap paper later.
Remember to turn the tap off when you aren’t using water while cleaning your face and brushing your teeth.
Take showers instead of baths.
Limit your laundry washes.
Switch off the lights when leaving the room.
6. Walk (also exercise a bit while you’re at it) or take public transport as often as possible to reduce CO2 emissions.
So, how will you choose to lessen the damage on the environment? Easy, right?
Because, in the end, every little step counts.