We need to take better care of our environment and be mindful what impact we make on our planet. Don’t wait, start small, but now!
Living live a greener, more sustainable life can give you and your family many benefits—from health benefits, financial benefits and environmental benefits. Organic homes can help you reduce your electric bill and can decrease your carbon footprint in the world.
Organic, green homes can also keep you and your family healthier by cleaning up theair and decreasing the amount of pathogens your family comes in contact with.
Here are some ways that can help you live a greener, more sustainable life.
- Plant more trees as trees create an ecosystem that provides a habitat for birds and other animals, reduce the load of carbon dioxide and harmful gasses, including, sulfur dioxide, and carbon monoxide from the air. Trees also release healthy oxygen into the air. One large tree supplies enough oxygen for four people.
- Plant bamboo in your yard and gardens, which produces more oxygen and absorbs more carbon dioxide than trees, both of which help to prevent global warming. Shop for bamboo furniture to support prevention of logging of hardwood trees, which helps combat climate change.
- Keep your home insulated: Insulation can make your home more energy efficient so you don’t lose cold air in the summer or heated air in the winter. To look for areas where you could use more insulation, get access to a thermal radiometer or to an infrared scanner. This will show you the areas where your home is losing heat. You can even purchase a cheap radiometer from Black and Decker to see where you are letting perfectly good air out of your home. Good organic insulation includes blown in cellulose, which is shredded newspaper. There is also a soy-based insulation spray called BioBased that can provide organic insulation for your home. Wool insulation and bonded recycled denim insulation works well, too, but not as well as BioBased and shredded newspaper.
- Energy Efficient Windows: A lot of heat is lost through the windows. Buy energy efficient windows if you can. They should be double paned if you live in a cold climate but super-insulated windows made from three layers of glass and argon between the pains is the best for super-cold climates.
- Go Solar: Solar roofs panels generate their own energy using the power of the sun to provide energy for your home. Government offers grants for solar installation. Use the Solar Energy Calculatorto gain an idea as to what financial benefits you may see from installing a solar panels.
- Start a compost heap in your backyard for all natural organic gardening.
- Use Organic Skincare : Organic ingredients give your skin essential nutritions without exposing you to harmful.
- Green Cleaning: Use or make your own organic cleaning products to avoid petroleum-based chemicals found in conventional products like chlorine that harm eco systems. These chemicals have also been linked to allergies, asthma, cancers, and certain heart problems.
- Use Energy Star-qualified appliances, they cost more, but will save big on electricity bills in the long run.
- Recycled Glassware and Tableware – Recycled products make less of an impact on the earth and help reduce the burden on landfills.
- Use a thermostat and stick to its guidelines. Ideally, you should have a programmable thermostat that turns down the temperature when you aren’t at home or are sleeping. Try different thermostatic settings in different parts of the house that you don’t have to heat or cool areas of the house that aren’t used as much. You can even use a smart phone apps that will make it easier to heat and cool your house from a distance.
- Conserve water. Install low flow showerheads and toilets that save water with every flush. There is even a toilet that uses the leftover water that drains out of your sink in order to flush the toilet. Conserving water also applies to the water you use in your yard. Instead of forcing lush greenery in dry climates, put in plants that thrive well in your environment without watering or an excessive amount of landscaping. This is known as xeriscaping.
- Bring a reusable bag when go for shopping. Fabric bag is the best choice. Bring it with you wherever you go, so you always have it ready when you need it.
- Carry a reusable coffee cup and ask barista to put your coffee in that instead of a single plastic or paper cup.
- Use energy-efficient lighting. Lighting can take up a third of your entire electric bill. Use energy efficient LED lights or make headways in using natural lighting so you don’t need to have lights in your home during the day. LED lighting is found to be more energy efficient and doesn’t contain mercury in the bulbs. Put windows or skylights in your home to keep it light during the day. There are solar tubes and fiber optic sunlight transportation systems that can allow natural light to lighten your home and lessen your energy bill.
- Manage air quality: Use air filters to keep your family from breathing in dust and mites that are ever-present in the air. Have plenty of plants around that can lead to increased oxygen production and decreased carbon dioxide in your home.
- Save paper. Choose paperless billing for your bills to save trees used to make the paper and reduce the load on landfills.Cancel your newspaper subscription and read the news online instead.
- Swap the paper napkins for cloth to save the trees used to make them and to reduce the burden on landfills.
- Don’t use plastic straws. Whenever you order a drink refuse to take a straw.
- Recycle your beauty product pack. Recycle your empty 2BLady bottles & packaging, earn rewards and donate to charity! With your help, Terracycle are able to divert millions of pounds of waste from landfills each month. You can register here: TerraCycle. Participating is completely free and very easy.
