Do you know your carbon footprint each year? Typically, an average American has a carbon footprint which equals to the amount of twenty tons of carbon dioxide equivalent annually. If you compare that with the rest of the global average, that is sixteen tons greater. Think about it.
With the continuous increase in the Earth’s temperature, something has to be done. It’s a good thing that steps to reduce your carbon footprint can be done in simple and small but effective ways. In this post, we’ll show you some of the ways to do that. You can easily incorporate these steps in your everyday life to make your home eco-friendly.
1. Recycle
This has to be said and this has to be repeated over and over. Many people know the benefits of recycling; however, they are not practicing it. One of the easiest ways to recycle would be to know if your city has a recycling program. You can easily check it through the city government’s web pages.
When you participate in the recycling program, you get to help in making sure that there are lesser recyclable objects that are dumped in the landfill. In the U.S. Alone, landfills produce over twelve million tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Also, it produces over 16% of the methane emission nationwide. To reduce the overall carbon footprint of the country, it is important to take part in the recycling process through the recycling program of your city.
2. Turn Off Your Lights for an Hour Each Day
You may have already participated in the Earth Hour campaigns where people are encouraged to turn off their lights for one hour for one day each year. You can have your own Earth Hour each day when you’ll turn off the lights for at least one hour, especially if it’s bright and sunny outside. Open your windows or your blinds to let the sun and fresh air in.
You’ll also make your home smell good. Don’t you know that just by turning off your lights for one hour each day, you get to save over a pound of carbon dioxide emission? That is a total of 0.216 metric tons of CO2 in a year. Imagine if all of the households can practice this, it will add up to a bigger number and a greater contribution to the reduction of humanity’s carbon footprint as well as making your home nature-friendly.
3. Watch Out For Leaks
You know by now that there are millions of people in the world who do not have access to clean water. That’s 783 million to be exact. A leaky faucet, if left unfixed for a year can waste up to ten thousand gallons of water. This is something that you have to look into.
Make it a point to have your home’s plumbing checked by a professional plumber. A quick Google search will show you a list of the best plumbing agencies around your town. So don’t delay and have that leaky faucet fixed.
4. Reuse
Remember those old jars in the kitchen? You can actually use them again and place scented candles in them. Not only that, you can also make homemade reed diffusers with the use of those old jars. Rather than throwing them out and contributing more waste to the landfills, create mini-herb gardens with old cans, jars, and other containers. There are many ways of using those containers. All you have to do is be creative and use your imagination.
5. Run a Full Load When Doing the Dishes or the Laundry
You will save not only water and electricity; you’ll also be saving dishwashing and laundry soap. Try to make sure that you run a full load each time you do the dishes or wash your clothes. You can also lessen your carbon dioxide emission by making use of the cold setting and line drying your clothes instead of using the dryer.
The same goes with the dishes, instead of steaming them, why don’t you dry them by hand or air dry them? This is another way to make your home nature-friendly.
6. Learn How to Sew
If you have clothes that need mending, don’t throw them right away. Instead, sew them up and use them as your comfy clothes for home use where no one will mind if you have a patch on your shirt. It’s actually easy to sew then you think. You can simply watch YouTube videos on sewing so you can learn the basics.
The next thing you have to do would be to practice and you’re good to go. You’ll have fun doing this because you know you’re doing something to help prevent salvageable clothes from adding to the landfills. Besides, older clothes are more comfortable to use at home.
7. Plant Your Own Garden
Nothing beats home grown herbs and vegetables for your home-cooked meals. Not only will you be saving money since you don’t need to buy from the store, you’re also lessening your carbon footprint because you won’t be driving to do the grocery just to purchase those herbs and vegetables.
Besides, gardening is a fun activity. You’ll enjoy seeing your herbs and veggies grow. Harvesting them would always be the fun part.
8. Try Using Solar Power
Solar power is not new. One quick search on the Internet will show you the best providers of solar panels in your city. You can look for the best price there is and talk to them and have some panels installed in your home. You can start small; you don’t have to go off the grid all at once as that can cost an initial big investment.
9. Reuse Plastic Grocery Bags
You don’t actually have to buy garbage bags. Make it a point to reuse the plastic bags you’ve accumulated from grocery shopping and use them as garbage bags instead. Be sure to reuse the bags at least once so you can extend the life of the plastic before it goes to the landfill.
10. Set Your Thermostat at 25 Degrees on a Warm Day
This temperature, 25 degrees, is known to be a comfortable one. It’s cool enough and you are making the most out of your air conditioning system without using too much electricity. Another thing, if you use air conditioning throughout the day, you can also practice turning it off for one hour each day. That can save you a lot of money already on your electric bill. And a plus is that you are doing your own little steps to save the environment.
Conclusion
These are just some of the steps to make your home more nature-friendly. Don’t stop here. There are plenty of ways to make sure that you are doing your own little ways in saving the earth. Continue to practice these steps and you are on your way to reducing your carbon footprint. Remember, those little numbers add up if you and your family can participate in saving the environment. Imagine if all of the households in your neighborhood or city will do the same. That will be a great contribution to the reduction of our overall carbon footprint already.
