If you are like most people, you want to make choices that are good for the environment, but you may not know exactly what to do. If you are a parent, you may worry that your family won’t be able to make sustainable choices or may fear that your green living efforts aren’t going to make much of a difference.
What you may not realize is that sustainable living isn’t something that has to be overwhelming. By making a few small changes in your family’s lifestyle, you can significantly reduce your family’s and household’s carbon footprint.
Put simply, sustainable living means that you are making choices and forming habits that are going to be good for the environment. When you make intentional choices that are earth-friendly, the goal is to reduce your carbon footprint. You can use tools such as Ecological Footprint to determine your current impact on the environment and then use the tips here to begin reducing your impact.
Conserve Energy
Take time to teach your children to turn off electronics and lights when they aren’t being used. Make sure you use natural light in your home when possible. You can also help save energy by wearing additional layers of clothes, rather than turning on the heat.
Use a Travel Water Bottle or Mug
Invest in a reusable drink containers, rather than purchasing plastic water bottles that are going to wind up in the landfill. It can take more than 450 years to fully decompose, which is why the use of these must be stopped.
If you are stopping for coffee, use a refillable mug. There are some coffee shops (like Starbucks) that give you a discount when you do this.
Grow Your Own Food
Planting a family garden is beneficial for many reasons. Not only can you teach your children about this process, you can reduce your food bill. You can also avoid the need for grocery stores to have more foods shipped in, reducing pollution.
To help ensure that your garden is success, get the right tools. The options from Easy Digging help ensure that your garden is healthy and successful.
Eliminate Unwanted Mail
It’s estimate that the average American receives 16 pieces of mail per week. While this may not seem like a lot, it is going to add up and at the end of the year, weighs more than 41 pounds. Rather than accumulating all this waste for no reason, take steps to eliminate the junk mail you receive. One way to do this is by enrolling in electronic billing.
Upgrade Your Lights
If you haven’t already upgraded your home with LED lights, the time to do this is now. LED lights use much less energy, which means they don’t demand as much power from the plants. This also means they are better for the environment.
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