How to live a more Eco-friendly Lifestyle

Before we throw light on eco-friendly products, let’s have a look at why we have an urgent need of consuming/using them. 

The age of humans on the planet gave rise to unprecedented human activities. From war to the industrial revolution, we have been causing all the trouble. While we enjoy our meals in non-biodegradable containers, we are feeding ourselves nutrition and nature, its dose of unsolicited toxic waste. 

We keep forgetting that we are all a part of nature and not apart from nature. This phrase shall be constantly repeated until the time we comprehend the national emergency that has occurred due to our negligence. 

The way we are irresponsibly wasting non-renewable resources, it is high time that each and every household and business take shelter under renewable sources of energy. 

Our EVS books have always enlightened us about the environment but we always let slip from memory, our basics. How many of us still forget to switch off the light or any electric appliance when unused? In the hustle and bustle of our lives, we get careless about all the little things that could make a huge difference in the environment. However, being eco-friendly is far beyond switching off the appliances when not at use. 

First things first, know that the choices you make in your everyday life affect the environment in direct or indirect ways. So being aware of how you contribute to the increasing effects of global warming is crucial. If you care for the environment, then you ought to read the list of things to live a more eco-friendly and healthy lifestyle. In the end, it’s a win-win situation. 

It is astounding to know that livestock takes up nearly 80% of the agricultural land but contributes less than 20% of calories to the world. The question is not how much should be consumed but what should be consumed which determines the amount of land required to produce it. The livestock sector requires a substantial amount of natural resources and also adds on to the emission of global greenhouse gasses. Animal agriculture discharges greenhouse chemical gasses like methane and nitrous oxide. Having less meat has significant repercussions on the environment for good. So it’s in your hands to decide the future of our earth.

As per the study of the world economic forum, till the year 2050, we’ll witness more plastic than fishes in the ocean. Keeping this in mind National Green Tribunal in Delhi NCR imposed a ban on single-use plastic. It took us years to realize that plastic can have an environmental-friendly substitute. Most of the supermarkets and even small size businesses for that matter have replaced their plastic carry bags to cloth/paper/canvas bags. Reusing all your plastic bags can be of a great deal to the environment as we know that plastic takes nearly 1000 years to decompose. And where does it stay for all these years? It circulates on the face of the earth and causes serious trouble wherever it goes. So the least you can do is recycle single-use plastic from your homes and opt for better options. 

The nature of paper is such that it is recycle-able unlike a lot of other things which cannot be recycled. ‘Virgin’ paper requires more energy than it takes to recycle. Moreover, when we recycle and reuse paper it makes way for a lot of other trash that cannot be recycled. Recycling paper is one of the many ways of conserving paper and reducing greenhouse gases. 

Today, in the techno-savvy world, we have a substitute for paper, from online conferences in business to online lectures for students, this makes us use less paper day by day which causes less deforestation.

However, where there is a mandatory need for paper, there must also be a mandatory need for recycling. 

E-waste i.e. electronic waste is the trash we generate from obsolete electronic gadgets, devices, etc. such e-waste contains a lot of toxic and hazardous chemicals that should be treated before it gets released into the environment. E-waste recycling is the process wherein the materials of e-waste are used to make new devices/products. 

In order to prevent environmental damage, there are materials from the e-waste such as plastic, glass that can be recovered to reuse them in new products. Myriads of drops make an ocean similarly the initiative of thousands of small businesses can help us process the global waste at large. 

This is the big picture, Charity begins at home and so can you start with this cause of managing e-waste from your homes by sending your electronic waste to recycle. Start small, Think big.

When we are blessed with an abundance of resources, we tend to take it for granted. 71% of the earth’s surface is covered with water and yet there are remote areas where people have to go through thick and thin for an ounce of water.

We may never run out of the water but the question is how much freshwater are we left with? One of the sources has found out that there are only 6 countries with freshwater and that it isn’t always available when we need it. We’ll be running out of the water approximately by the year 2050.

Therefore, accumulating all the facts and figures, we come to the conclusion that preventing the incessant waste of water no matter how little it is, is a global emergency. 

There are many simple ways to save water like checking for leaks in the restroom, reducing the time of taking showers, turning off the water while brushing teeth and shaving, etc…it’s just a matter of noticing all the little ways in which we wastewater and take initiative and be vigilant.

Replacing your ordinary-expensive-more electricity consuming- light bulb with eco-friendly ones. CFL bulbs are the perfect partner to your homes. It uses less electricity and emits bright light and more importantly is eco-friendly and is pocket friendly. Not just this but it also lasts 5X longer than your ordinary light bulbs. This gives you all the more reasons to replace them. 

This is not just sustainable ways to protect the environment but also makes your pockets happy for a change. There is a lot of electricity being wasted in your homes without you noticing it! Do you ever keep the switch on ones you are done with using the appliance/ charging your phone? If not, then go check it right away if you are wasting electricity. You are just a switch away from an energy-efficient home. 

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The same way when we borrow things, we are making a small contribution to the decline of trash in landfills. The least we can do is buy second-hand books, rent movies and borrow all the other things which have a short life span of use. There are also different applications that sell second hand and perfectly working devices and day-to-day things which is a win-win situation for both your pocket as well as the environment.