5 Useful tricks for greener living
1) Be prepared! If you know you're going shopping, bring your reusable bags. If you're going to buy coffee, bring your own mug. There wouldn't be a need for so much disposable one time waste, which fills our landfills needlessly, if we planned ahead and utilized reusable materials.
2)Everyone should have a water filter either attached to the tap or a britta pitcher. It will filter the hardness and chemicals like sulfate, chloride and calcium out of the water, resulting in better tasting and purer water than bottled water. In my opinion bottled water is the stupidest product ever. Bottling tap water into plastic bottles, transporting it and selling it, is highly unsustainable and a waste of resources. If we all brought our own reusable water bottles with us, we could save a lot of needless waste and energy.
3) If you're like me and have leaky taps, a good interim solution is to collect that water and use it. I place my britta filter under the tap over night, and it passively fills it. It's a win win because you're saving water from needlessly going down the drain, and your pitcher will always be full! This being said the best solution would be to fix the tap, and eliminate the problem completely.
4) Pay attention to your habits. Do you leave the water running when you wash dishes or brush your teeth? Do you leave lights on when you leave a room? We often do things out of habit without even realizing. If we turn a more critical eye to our daily routine, it's amazing how much we can change once we are aware of our actions.
5) Buy organic and local if possible. Vote with your dollar, pick items that are organic or fair trade or have less or recyclable packaging. If there's a greater demand for sustainable products then the supermarkets will reflect that and supply better food. Organic foods may be more expensive but they're pesticide free, taste better, and are better for you. Conventional farming is an unsustainable enterprise, leaching countless chemicals into the soil, resulting in contaminated water runoff, potentially making its way into our drinking water. A lack of biodiversity in mono-culture crops weakens the plants natural defense systems, putting them at higher risk of disease, and necessitating greater levels of pesticide and herbicide use. This vicious circle is leaving the soils devoid of essential nutrients, which creates a need for chemical fertilizers. In short, mass agriculture is not the way to go. Organic farmers use natural fertilizers and pesticides, and are generally more in tune with the cycles of nature. In short, organic foods are better for everyone and they taste amazing!
2)Everyone should have a water filter either attached to the tap or a britta pitcher. It will filter the hardness and chemicals like sulfate, chloride and calcium out of the water, resulting in better tasting and purer water than bottled water. In my opinion bottled water is the stupidest product ever. Bottling tap water into plastic bottles, transporting it and selling it, is highly unsustainable and a waste of resources. If we all brought our own reusable water bottles with us, we could save a lot of needless waste and energy.
3) If you're like me and have leaky taps, a good interim solution is to collect that water and use it. I place my britta filter under the tap over night, and it passively fills it. It's a win win because you're saving water from needlessly going down the drain, and your pitcher will always be full! This being said the best solution would be to fix the tap, and eliminate the problem completely.
4) Pay attention to your habits. Do you leave the water running when you wash dishes or brush your teeth? Do you leave lights on when you leave a room? We often do things out of habit without even realizing. If we turn a more critical eye to our daily routine, it's amazing how much we can change once we are aware of our actions.
5) Buy organic and local if possible. Vote with your dollar, pick items that are organic or fair trade or have less or recyclable packaging. If there's a greater demand for sustainable products then the supermarkets will reflect that and supply better food. Organic foods may be more expensive but they're pesticide free, taste better, and are better for you. Conventional farming is an unsustainable enterprise, leaching countless chemicals into the soil, resulting in contaminated water runoff, potentially making its way into our drinking water. A lack of biodiversity in mono-culture crops weakens the plants natural defense systems, putting them at higher risk of disease, and necessitating greater levels of pesticide and herbicide use. This vicious circle is leaving the soils devoid of essential nutrients, which creates a need for chemical fertilizers. In short, mass agriculture is not the way to go. Organic farmers use natural fertilizers and pesticides, and are generally more in tune with the cycles of nature. In short, organic foods are better for everyone and they taste amazing!
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