reuse

Apr

2021

Simple Ways To Help Save the Planet

Reading Time: 3 minutes

There are simple actions that we do each day that are harming the environment. Remember that we only have one planet, if we are not going to take care of it, who else will? The good news is that all of us have the power to if not reverse at least stop further damage to the earth. We only have to do it together. Every action counts. Here are simple ways to help save the planet:

1.Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

The best way to save the environment is to reduce the waste being produced. We can do this by reusing items instead of throwing them after a single use. Household items that we can reuse include boxes, containers, glass jars, papers, plastic bags, plastic spoons and forks and many other household items. To recycle means using items for a different purpose instead of discarding them right away. Items that be recycled include clothes, plastic containers, newspapers, steel cans and food wastes.

2.Buy Organic Products

Organic farming benefits the environment. It helps reduce pollution and soil erosion. It also conserves water and increases soil fertility. In addition, organic farming uses 45% less energy compared to regular farms. Thus, by purchasing organic products especially in your local community; you are actually doing your share in helping the planet.

3. Conserve Water and Energy

Conserving water can keep the water pure and clean. It also minimizes the effect of water shortages. It also helps reduce your household expenses. There are many ways to conserve water at home. You can do simple things like:

Turning off the water when not in use
Checking toilets and faucets for leaks
Using dishwashers and washing machines only in full load
Watering the plants during cool parts of the day

Likewise, energy conservation is also important for the environment. Reducing energy consumption can help lessen air pollution. There are many ways to reduce energy consumption at home. You can do things like:

Turning off lights when not in use
Washing clothes in cold water
Unplugging unused electronics
Using LED lights

4. Go Paperless

Going digital has a lot of advantages. Not only does it improve efficiency, it also saves money. In addition, it also gives you access anytime wherever you may be. An added bonus, it is good for the environment too.

5. Patronize Eco-Friendly Companies

Many companies out there already started with their environmental initiatives. As consumers, you can help the environment by supporting environmentally-friendly and sustainable products. At the same time, boycott brands that are not helping the environment at all.

6. Plant a Tree

Trees give us oxygen. They also purify the air by storing the harmful carbon dioxide. They prevent soil erosion and maintain humidity levels. Trees also provide shelter for wildlife. The human race will not be able to survive without plants and trees. However, it is a fact that there is massive deforestation happening right now. So, we must help by planting a tree. You can plant a tree in your backyard. You can also join tree planting activities. If planting is not your thing, you can just donate and have others plant the tree for you.

7. Segregate Wastes

Poor waste management results in land, air and even water pollution. Combined with hazardous materials, the trash that we throw is not only harmful to the environment but detrimental to our health as well.

8. Use Your Voice

You don’t need to be active in any environmental organization to be an environmentalist. You can actually use your voice to talk and influence your family, friends. neighbors and colleagues. Speak up and make your voice heard by the people around you.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Feb

2021

Ways to Conserve Water at Home

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Water is essential in life. All living things need drinking water to survive. Aside from that, we also use water in many things such as cooking, taking a bath, washing our clothes and keeping our surroundings clean. It is hard to even imagine a day without water. Unfortunately, in some areas of the world, water shortage has become a serious issue. With more and more places around the world struggling for clean water, water conservation is now more important than ever. That is why we all need to do our part in water conservation. Here are some ways to conserve water at home.

1. Close the Tap When Not in Use

It sounds so simple and logical yet many people leave the tap running especially while brushing their teeth, washing their hands, washing dishes and taking a shower. By simply turning off the tap while not in use, you are already helping in the conservation of water.

2. Fix Leaks

Did you know that a single drop of water per second adds up to 5 gallons a day? That is approximately 3,000 gallons or 11,356 liters in a year. Imagine all that water and money wasted because of a faucet leaking! Stop the leaks! Check and fix all your broken faucets.

3. Plant Native Plants

Native plants are plants indigenous to a certain area. These plants adapt well to the specific climate and physical conditions of a particular place. Taking care of native plants requires less water.

If you live in a tropical place, use tropical plants for your garden such as ferns, bromeliads and orchids. If you live in the desert, use desert plants like cactus. For cold climates, use plants that can survive winter.

4. Re-use Towels or Clothes

A small act of reusing towels in your home can help conserve water. Practice this also even outside your home such as in hotels. Apply the same habit to your clothing especially if you have worn it only once and it is still clean. Jeans for example can be re-used a couple of times before washing. However, do this with caution. We also need to adjust to the new normal rules. Our safety should always be a priority.

5. Run your Washing Machine / Dishwasher Only on Full Load

If you have a washing machine or dishwasher at home, make sure that you run them only on full load. Even if you choose the small load settings, you are still using the same amount of water to run a full cycle. So, save water by running them only on full load. This is also one way to save on electricity in your home.

6. Take Shorter Showers

A good way to save water is to take shorter showers. It is also a good way to conserve energy. It adds a few more minutes to your sleep time and it also a way to prevent your skin from becoming dry.

7. Water Plants in the Morning

The best time to water the plants is in the morning. The cool weather will help the water reach the roots more efficiently without losing too much water due to evaporation. You may also opt to water the plants using the traditional watering pail instead of a hose.

8. Avoid Thawing Meat Using Water

Remember to plant your meals ahead. Remove the meat that you are going to cook from the freezer and defrost it in the refrigerator the night before. The meat remains safe and of good quality when you are ready to cook it the next day.

9. Convert your Toilet to a Dual Flush

A dual flush toilet uses two buttons to operate the flush, one for the solid waste and the other one for the urine. It helps save water because the flush for the urine uses less water compared to the other one. The Dual Flush toilet uses 45% less water compared to an ordinary toilet.

Also, flush toilets only when necessary. A toilet bowl cleaner tablet will help keep your toilet clean and helps prevent tough stains.

10. Recycle and Reuse Whenever Possible

Any item in your home from your clothes, paper, computers, furniture and appliances consumes water during the manufacturing process. If you can reuse and recycle items as much as you can then you are helping the global community save tons of water.

To be able to make a difference, it needs more than your solo effort. Ask your family, friends and co-workers to join you. Spread the word. Share this article. And together, let’s do our part in conserving water.

Image by Mystic Art Design from Pixabay

Jan

2020

Why Taking Care of the Environment is Important

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Your physical body is important. Your surroundings are equally important for your overall well-being. That is why taking care of the environment is important as well.

Part of our regular routine before we go about the day’s work is to brush our teeth and clean our body from head to toe. We also put on fresh clothes, comb our hair and wear comfy footwear before we walk out the door. We take the effort to look pleasing to other people as well as to look pleasing to ourselves when we look at the mirror. However, most of us are in such a hurry to go about our day that we often neglect our surroundings. Taking care of the places in which we move our physical selves is equally important. It is the same as how we regularly take care of our bodies.

Your Home

When you wake up, do you tidy up your bed? Do you put your laundry neatly away? How about your dishes, do they pile up in the sink? Do you clean, organize and declutter your home often?

A clean and organized home is an important factor in keeping yourself healthy. Sure, a little mess here and there is acceptable. But if everything is disorganized, you cannot go about your daily life in a good mood. Remember that the state of your bed, is the state of your head. The state of your home is the state of your mind.

You start the day getting frustrated because you can’t find your shoes because of all the mess in your room. Then you end it with more frustration when you can’t find the remote to your TV at night. How do you think this will affect your mental state throughout the week, months and years?

TIP

Start as soon as you wake up by tidying up your bed. Try to declutter and organizing the rooms in your house each day until the clutter is gone. Your goal is to have a more spacious, clean and comfortable home.

Your Work Place

Whether you work at home or in an office, a clean and organized work environment is essential for productivity. It is also needed to boost creativity. You may not be a able to control your whole office’s cleanliness and organization. However, your own desk should be a good example to your co-employees.

TIP

Make sure to include tidying up your desk in your routine. In fact, make it the start and end or your work day. Before you work on anything, organize the materials on your desk, even your drawer. You can also organize the files on your computer. Organizing your files will prevent a cluttered desktop when you start your work and it’s easier to find your files.

Your Community

Your community is not just your immediate neighborhood but also the places that you go through as you travel to work or your destination for a vacation. Even in these places away from where you live and work, taking care of the environment is also important as it will impact your own home as well if you don’t keep it clean and healthy.

Think of a flood or a typhoon bringing back all the trash that were thrown into the river or ocean or a fire started by one uncaring camper who threw away a lit cigarette that burned a whole forest. These disastrous events could be prevented by just caring enough to keep the places we travel through and visit cleaner instead of dirtier.

TIP

Take only memories and leave nothing but footprints. Adopt the policy of taking nothing and leaving nothing behind in the places you visit for your vacation, team building, or other travel adventures. Take as many photos as you can’t but leave the animals and plants alone. Don’t leave any of your trash or camping or swimming gear either. Take them with you when you leave and dispose of them properly when you get back home.

Your Planet

There is only one planet Earth and we should be taking care of it not only for our own sake but for the sake of our future children. The climate change is an important issue and everyone should do their part in being a solution to this problem.

When the earth is sick and polluted, human health is impossible… To heal ourselves we must heal our planet, and to heal our planet we must heal ourselves.
– Bobby McLeod (Aboriginal activist and poet)

Nature has its own way of cleaning up the planet and we should let it take its own course instead of exacerbating it by our careless habits. For example, wildfires are part of Australia’s natural environment but the recent forest fires have become worse and are happening at unexpected times so that even the animals in the forest were unprepared. Many animals have died and those living are now left homeless which also means that it will be harder for the animal population and the forest to recover. At the same time, it has raised temperatures in the residential areas up to 42 degrees Celsius.

What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Indian and civil rights activist)

We can consider the drastic changes in weather patterns as the planet’s response to how we are not taking care of it properly. Plastics are polluting are oceans and killing marine life and unrecyclable (non-biodegradable) trash is multiplying with nowhere to go with landfills all filled to the brim. The summer heatwaves and delayed rainy season are just a manifestation of the worsening state of our global environment and we should do something about it before it’s too late.

TIP

There are many ways to start helping the environment. The policy to REDUCE, REUSE and RECYCLE is good habit to practise especially in these times. However, you can add one more to that – REFUSE.

Refuse to contribute to anymore pollution in our environment and refuse to be just an onlooker from the sidelines. Instead, be a mindful resident of this planet.

Be mindful of the ways you can help in reducing the problems and be an active part of finding and advocating for sustainable solutions to keep our homes, community and our planet healthy and safe.

Photo by Evan Krause on Unsplash.