Before I make my list, I'm going to refute an argument that someone posed once. He said that everything comes from nature, because everything is made from natural products. I mean, think about it. If it doesn't come from nature, where does it come from? All we had in the beginning was nature. And anything that comes from nature will turn back into nature over time. It will biodegrade. This is true, more or less. However, styrofoam NEVER biodegrades, so you should never use anything that is made from styrofoam. I'm sure there are other products that never biodegrade as well. Furthermore, MOST products, including FOOD, will NEVER biodegrade if they're in a landfill. As for things that do biodegrade, yes, they will turn back into nature EVENTUALLY. That's great and all, but it takes up to 450 years for plastic to biodegrade, and other kinds of products don't fall too far behind (http://www.thechicecologist.com/2009/10/how-long-does-it-take-to-biodegrade/.) So during this 450 years of biodegradation, litter makes our planet ugly and unclean, and it poses a threat to people and wildlife. Remember diseases come from unclean environments. So the next time you take the stance that everything that comes from nature will return to nature in the end, think twice about it, do your research, and get the facts. Ok, now here's my list of some quick, easy things you can do to help the environment AND save money:
1. When you're brushing your teeth, turn off the water until you rinse.
2. When you leave a room, no matter what, turn out the light, and turn off the tv. And, definitely, when you leave your house, turn out all the lights and the tv.
3. When there's sufficient sunlight, don't turn on your lights. (If you're buying a house, go for the house with tons of windows that let in a ton of sunlight.)
4. Unplug everything when you're not using it, especially if it's an appliance that you don't use often. Even when you're not using these appliances, if they're plugged into the wall, they're sucking up electricity. This uses unnecessary energy AND costs you money. If you're not going to unplug your appliances when you're not using them, at least turn them off. This will save some energy and money as well.
5. Replace incandescent lightbulbs with compact florescent bulbs (CFLs.) They save approximately 75% in electricity costs, are better for the environment, and last much longer. I've heard they can last somewhere around 7 years, but don't quote me on that part.
6. Don't use aluminum foil. It's destructive to the environment, and it's not necessary to use when cooking!
7. Save your leftovers! If enough people stop wasting so much food, the demand for food will go down, so not as much will be produced, which means you'll save the lives of animals and stop using up so much energy for food production. Also, another bonus (at least for me and other critics of the mass meat production industry) is that you'll keep the mass meat production industry from going overboard, so they'll stop producing so much meat and causing so much destruction for animals, workers, and the environment. (For more information and details on this topic, read my blog about the meat industry. It's called "Dodger Logic #16: Don't Be a Vegetarian; Instead Change the System." It's about how we shouldn't have to become vegetarians/vegans to make a difference. We should push our governments to get rid of the mass meat production industry instead.
8. Stop drinking out of plastic, paper, and styrofoam cups/bottles! If you want to drink a water bottle, buy a reusable bottle, and just re-fill it and wash it. If you like to constantly buy drinks at popular drink establishments, such as Smoothie King and Starbucks, have them fill up your water bottle with your drink. It's the same with plastic silverware too, but that's not as common as plastic and paper cups. If you remember what I said earlier, you know that styrofoam NEVER biodegrades. So you should never use anything that is made from styrofoam. The Clean Air Council says that "every year, Americans throw away enough paper and plastic cups, forks, and spoons to circle the equator 300 times." Five cities in the United States have already banned styrofoam foodware, and two cities have banned polystyrene foodware. If they're being banned, you know there's a problem with them.
9. If you buy 6-pack coke or beer bottles, cut the plastic ring around each bottle, and recycle them! Those kill and maim tons of animals every year, and there's no point in that at all. Ben Smith wrote an article called "Solutions to the Plastic Six-Pack Ring Problem," in which he explained that it's easy to simply buy cokes and beer packaged in paper, rather than in six-pack rings. It's even better to buy individually packaged cokes and beer, and then to carry them home in a reusable bag. For more information on Smith's article, see this website: http://voices.yahoo.com/solutions-plastic-sixpack-ring-6709170.html.
10. That brings me to my next point. Instead of constantly using tons of plastic bags when grocery shopping, buy reusable bags, and take them to the store with you! It doesn't get any easier than that. The Clean Air Council says that "every year, Americans use approximately 1 billion shopping bags, creating 300,000 tons of landfill waste." Those are some scary numbers. If you use plastic bags, reuse and recycle them.
11. Reduce, reuse, and RECYCLE!!! It's not hard to get ahold of a recycling bin, and taking it out is no different than taking out the trash. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that "the United States produces approximately 220 million tons of garbage each year. This is equivalent to burying more than 82,000 football fields six feet deep in compacted garbage." There are no statistics on this for the entire planet yet, but the United States makes up about 4% of the world's population, so based on how much trash people in the United States create, you can only imagine how much trash is created by the entire world's population. If you simply reuse products as much as possible and reduce as much waste as possible and, of course, RECYCLE, you'll make a world of difference. We should also push all of our governments to recycle. For instance, there is not recycling unit in Hamilton, Georgia. This should be illegal. We should also push our governments to force establishments, such as restaurants, to recycle. Recycling should be a norm. It seems to be more of a norm in the state of Washington, for instance, so why not everywhere else?
12. Buy local food that is in season. There are all kinds of fresh markets that sell local, in-season food, even in big cities. If you live in downtown Atlanta, or more particularly, on GSU campus, there's a fresh market called the Municipal Market in between the Lofts Dorms and the University Commons Dorms. It's a 5-minute walk from either of these locations. You may know it by its former name, the Sweet Auburn Market. I still call it that. If you buy food that is local, you'll cut back on a ton of processing, mailing, and preservatives used to keep food from going bad, to package it, and to send it to another country. If you buy food that is in season, you're doing the same thing, because if something isn't in season, it has to be processed and shipped from a place where it is in season. Also, these fresh markets receive their meat from local farms, so you know the animals you eat come from farms, where they were raised right and killed properly. Also, you know there were no meat industry workers abused, since it's just farmowners that handle the meat. Also, farms don't emit harmful fumes into the atmosphere that meat industries do. Bonus: Buying local food boosts the economy, it's healthier, and it's CHEAPER! Yes, myth busted. The Sweet Auburn Market has saved me a ton of money on food and transportation. I buy about 99% of my food there. There's a million reasons to buy from fresh markets, rather than from grocery stores.
13. When you're at the grocery store, or hopefully a fresh market, buy organic foods, cage-free chicken that was fed an all-vegetarian diet, eggs from cage-free chickens that were fed all-vegetarian diets, and wild-caught fish. Also, if beef, pork, and other meats are labeled, make sure you buy the ones that were treated well when they were alive. You can find out which companies have a good repuation by going online and doing your research. STAY AWAY FROM TYSON. They are absolutely horrible to their animals, workers, and the environment. You can read about that in my aforementioned meat industry blog as well. Perdue is good, because they offer cage-free chicken that were fed an all-vegetarian diet. Simple Truth's eggs are good too, because they're organic, and they come from cage-free chicken. They're also very healthy. They are chalk full of vitamins, minerals, etc. And organic isn't always more expensive, like people think it is. Simple Truth's eggs are more expensive, though. But that's when you have to ask youself which is more important: helping to save the earth/caring for animals or not caring about anything at all.
14. Take a bath, instead of a shower. This uses less water. Or keep your shower to a minimum.
15. Cut out as many disposable products in your life as possible. Instead of paper towels, use regular towels, wash them, and reuse them. Some people do this with toilet paper too, but that can get gross...
16. Don't wash your dishes by hand. Do it in a dishwasher. This actually uses less water. Make sure, though, to use an energy efficient dishwasher, if possible.
17. Make sure all your appliances are energy efficient, such as Energy Star appliances.
18. Buy a car that is gas efficient. No gas guzzlers! (Of course, it's optimal if you live in a city where you don't need a car, but I realize this isn't possible for most Americans.) I'd say buy a hybrid, but those are only good for the environment after they are manufactured, but manufacturing processes for hybrid cars actually destroy the environment, so hybrids are only actually good if you want to save money. But there's been talk about electric-powered cars coming soon, which could be awesome. I know a lot of cities now have electric-powered buses, which is also something to push your government for.
19. Buy American products! This saves on mail. It also boosts the economy and creates more jobs here in America. :)
20. Reuse your towels after showering/bathing. That way you don't have to wash as much as often. Besides, you are completely, 100% clean when you get out of the shower. Wash it every few uses, though. You don't want it to get gross!
21. Take your air conditioning or heating down a few degrees. It will make a world of a difference, but you won't FEEL the difference. Use fans for air conditioning if that's enough. That way it's not constantly running. You can unplug it when you're not using it.
22. Ride in your car with the windows down, rather than using air conditioning, if it's not too hot outside. This saves on gas too. As a Georgian, I know this is not possible most of the year. But sometimes it is. And in some places, it's possible year-round.
23. I can't stress this enough. DO NOT LITTER!!!
24. We should push our governments for good public transportation. Utilize that transportation if your city provides it. It can be very convenient and cheap if it's designed correctly, like the public transportation in London, for example. I know MARTA in Atlanta is absolutely horrible, but use it if you can, and push your city government for a better system. If you insist on driving yourself, try to use as little gas as possible. Riding bikes and walking are good for you!
25. If possible, use glass instead of plastic/paper. It takes less time to biodegrade and is easy to recycle. It's essentially only melted sand!
26. You can actually landscape your yard with trees, shrubs, and vines in such ways that you use less air conditioning and heating. This saves energy AND money. For instance, you can plant trees to shade your home and end up naturally cooling your home by up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit! This will absolutely help you out if your air conditioning unit happens to fail one day! But it can potentially help you out everyday. As long as you utilize the correct plants for your region and use the correct size plants, you can really make a difference. Check out the following website for more details: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/hil/hil-631.html.
27. If it's yellow, let it mellow; if it's brown, flush it down! For those of you who don't know what this means, leave pee in the toilet bowl (and put the lid down obviously) until you go #2. Then flush it. This is a good water-saver. However, I realize it's gross, and not a lot of people do it. I only do it at night, and then I flush everything during the day.
28. Use reusable diapers for your babies. Dirty diapers make up an INCREDIBLE amount of our trash in landfills, so if you just buy those washable diapers and use those as much as possible, you could really save on some diaper trash.
29. Don't take in wild animals as pets! Only take in animals that need to be taken care of (A.K.A. domesticated animals.) These are dogs and cats. All other animals should be left in the wild. It can be dangerous to take in wild animals, and it's cruel to keep them locked up in cages and tanks all day every day, when they should have the entire forest/ocean/whatever to live in.
30. Push for your city to have more trashcans on the streets. You should also push for them to put a recycling bin next to each street trashcan, and maybe even for them to supply more recycling bins than trashcans on the street.
31. If your city does not recycle, write to your government officials about starting a recycling unit in your town. I know that Hamilton, Georgia does not recycle, and that is just sad. It should be illegal to not have a recycling unit. Recycling should be way more of a norm than throwing away trash. It is the norm to recycle in other parts of the United States, mostly in the northern states. And even other countries are huge about recycling, such as many places in Europe. It is taboo to not recycle in Washington, for example. Why don't we bring that way of thinking to every other place in this world?
32. Save on paper as much as possible. Print and write double-sided, and always recycle your paper.
33. Do not buy a house in a neighborhood that has been clear-cut.
34. Do like Chattanooga is now doing, and push your government to put forth efforts to turn your city into a walkable city. Atlanta, for instance, is not a city that you can live in and not own a car. (At least, it's not easy to. Trust me, I've done it.) That's where are the traffic comes from, and no one likes traffic or the pollution that comes from it.
35. Chattanooga is also creating farms that will be funded to provide food for restaurants. This gets rid of all the problems we have with the mass meat production industry and pumps a ton of money back into the economy, because everyone is eating local food that is in season.
36. Grow your own garden in your backyard! I have several friends who do this.
37. When the time comes, make sure everyone knows you want to be cremated, rather than buried. Cremation does emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, but it's way better than the noxious gases your rotting corpse will emit through the ground and into the air. You could even do something like be buried in a Burial Pod like Capsula Mundi, which will turn you into a tree when you die (http://canyouactually.com/bye-bye-coffins-these-organic-burial-pods-will-turn-you-into-a-tree-when-you-die/.) It sounds pretty environmentally friendly, but I'm not really sure about the plastic used to make the capsule, nor am I certain that the body wouldn't release noxious gases into the tree, rather than nutrients. Also, there have been some criticisms about how practical this is, but it's worth looking into.
37. When the time comes, make sure everyone knows you want to be cremated, rather than buried. Cremation does emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, but it's way better than the noxious gases your rotting corpse will emit through the ground and into the air. You could even do something like be buried in a Burial Pod like Capsula Mundi, which will turn you into a tree when you die (http://canyouactually.com/bye-bye-coffins-these-organic-burial-pods-will-turn-you-into-a-tree-when-you-die/.) It sounds pretty environmentally friendly, but I'm not really sure about the plastic used to make the capsule, nor am I certain that the body wouldn't release noxious gases into the tree, rather than nutrients. Also, there have been some criticisms about how practical this is, but it's worth looking into.
If you're really interested in this topic, check out John Javna's book 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth. You should also check out Green America's profile for tips on things you should never buy, or at least that you should keep to a minimum, because they're THAT bad for the planet
(http://www.greenamerica.org/programs/shopunshop/unshopping/neverbuy.cfm.) Here's another site with some great, quick & easy tips for green living: http://organic4greenlivings.com/more-green-living-tips/. If you're more interested in reading articles, I have a few of those too. This is a good article on the environment, how we are destroying it, and how we can potentially turn our ways around: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/16/opinion/focusing-science-on-the-damage-of-fossil-fuel.html?_r=0. Here's a great article on climate change by my favorite New York Times op-ed columnist, Nicholas Kristof: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/opinion/kristof-will-climate-get-some-respect-now.html?_r=0. Help me save the earth, guys! Also, if you want some comic relief, check out this video called Grocery Store Wars: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVrIyEu6h_E.
So many people starve in other countries, a lot of which are children. Save money on food, and send the money you save to people who really need it!
This is in Oklahoma, and there are many more places like this. Keep the earth clean and beautiful! It's the only one we have. This plastic takes 450 years to biodegrade!
A turtle that was permanently distorted by a 6-pack ring.
This is a map of the Georgia State University campus in Downtown Atlanta. Number 35 is the University Lofts Dorms. Coca Cola Place is where the Municipal Market is, by the Hughes Spalding Children's Hospital, if anyone is interested in checking that out.
This dead bird was cut open, and you can see all the litter by humans that this bird consumed when he was alive. This is what killed this poor guy. He ate too much plastic, which his body couldn't digest or asborb any nutrients from, so his stomach filled up with all this crap, and then he couldn't fit anything else in his stomach, so he starved to death. This also causes diseases and infections inside such animals. The website, http://pollutedwaters.wordpress.com/causes-of-water-pollution/dumping/, claims that "about 80% of ocean debris comes from land-based sources. The litter in the ocean is 60%-80% plastics, which take up to 400 years to degrade." If you're not convinced from this picture, think about how this affects you. When you eat animals that ate human litter, you're eating the bacteria that comes from all that litter that your meat ate when it was alive.
Humans need to learn from animals.
Creative bag advertisement. TRUTH.
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