Five More Ways to Help Stop Global Warming
1. Use less electric.
Use less electric? That sounds simple enough doesn’t it? In many ways, it can be difficult when we depend on certain comforts in our life. Air conditioning and heating are a prime example. By turning down your thermostat a few degrees can really save a bundle each month. Using fans to help distribute cool air around your home can greatly help reduce your electric usage. Close off rooms and closets that you rarely use can significantly reduce your energy consumption. Turn off lights and TV’s when traveling from room to room. Upgrading to energy star appliances will save a bundle of money if you’re buying new appliances or electronics. Simply look for the energy star logo when you make your purchase.
2. Travel less
Travel less? How am I supposed to travel less you might ask? It sounds impossible but it can be done. Consolidating all your trips into one days worth of activities can really knock down on the mileage. Buy groceries, get gas, go to the gym, taking the kids to soccer practice; these are just examples of some of the many things in your weekly routine that can be consolidated into one trip. You might be surprised that you may be able to get a day of from driving one day during the week. Carpooling is another fantastic way to drive less. You can carpool at work with your fellow co-workers and switch cars each week or every other day. Another good way to carpool is with your neighbors. Offer to drive them to the store one week and they drive you the next. It can also work well with your children’s activities. Each parent can drive the kids to soccer practice on alternating weeks for example. The possibilities are endless, just use your imagination and I’m sure you can think of at least one person to carpool with.
3. Buy locally grown food.
This next tip sounds a bit strange. How can buying locally grown food save the earth? By buying locally grown food from a farmers market reduces our carbon footprint by reducing travel. Food that is locally grown doesn’t have to be shipped in semi trucks across distant areas. In many cases, local farmers markets contain organically grown food. This saves the earth from pesticides and other toxic chemicals that damage or drinking water supplies and contaminate soils. Your vegetables will be fresher than store bought and you’ll be helping the local economy. Not only are you doing earth a favor, your helping out locals who in turn will invest that money back into your local economy. It’s a win-win situation for all!
4. Recycle.
This tip is pretty much the mainstay of all environmental concerns. There is good reason why this is important. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. The three R’s. By reducing your impact on our landfills, you save lots of things. For instance, the garbage truck that picks up your garbage uses gas. Less garbage, less gas, less pollution. You’re also reducing materials used in packaging new products. Less cardboard in our landfills, less trees being cut down, less gas used for transporting and processing trees, less pollution, etc. You get the picture. Reusing products such as plastic shopping bags and old pickle jars, you’re creating the same scenario as I listed above. Less garbage, less gas and electric consumption for the factories and transporting services use, less pollution to our environment. Recycling products help by chopping down fewer trees for cardboard, mining less aluminum for cans, and reducing our ecological damage from these large-scale operations. Less really does mean more for all of us.
5. Spread the word.
Spreading the word helps everyone do a little bit in our quest to keep this great planet of ours in good shape for the future generations to come. Be active in your community. Help recycle and tell others about it. Donate time and effort into earth projects in your community. A little bit of advice, spread amongst the masses can go a long way.
