Ten Tips for Green Living

Green living is an attempt to reduce an individual’s or society’s use of the Earth’s natural resources by altering methods of transportation, energy consumption, water usage etc. Green living aims to meet present ecological, societal, and economical needs without compromising these factors for coming generations.

Also Read: How to Start Off-the-Grid Living

Reduction in the size of ecological or carbon footprint is the natural outcome of sustainable living. Practices like resource conservation, waste reduction, and even making time to try grounding, which reconnects individuals with nature, can help address the major environmental challenges facing mankind, including water pollution, soil contamination, air pollution, and wildlife protection.

When it comes to sustainability, every individual has a role to play. Any individual can adopt a green lifestyle. Here are few green living tips that may help in creating a healthy environment for you and your family, as well as for the Earth:

1. Follow the hierarchy of 3Rs – Reduce consumption, Reuse what you buy and Recycle the rest
2. Practice upcycling – Convert waste materials into new materials or products of higher quality or value than the original, e.g. transforming a plastic bag into a bin liner or a plastic bottle into a seed propagator or a coconut shell into eating bowl.
3. Compost organics – Making compost for your garden is an easy way to add nutrients to your soil while also reducing your household waste.
4. Reuse water – Water is an invaluable but finite resource. Use sink water to flush toilets, use greywater for irrigating garden and harvest rainwater.
5. Conserve energy – Energy is the driving force of development. Conserve it by turning-off computers at night, making a switch from incandescent to CFLs or LEDs and avoid putting appliances on standby.
6. Rethink bottled water – Plastic water bottles take thousands of years to decompose. Buy a reusable container and fill it with purified water.
7. Recycle old cellphones –Tens of millions of cellphones are retired each year introducing toxic substances into the environment if they go into landfills. There are plenty of reputable programs where you can recycle your phone, many which benefit noble causes.
8. Recycle aluminium and glass – Twenty recycled aluminium cans can be made with the energy it takes to manufacture one brand new one. Likewise, every ton of glass recycled saves the equivalent of nine gallons of fuel oil needed to make glass from virgin materials.
9. Avoid plastic bags – Around 1 trillion such bags are consumed worldwide every year which cause big interference in natural ecosystems. Some of the alternatives are cloth-based bags, such as jute and cotton, which are biodegradable as well as reusable.
10. Plant an idea – Sustainable living is not an improbable task. Simple things, like planting a tree, can make a meaningful difference.

Also Read: Innovative Eco-friendly Meal Solutions Inspired by Global Cuisines

Salman Zafar

Salman Zafar is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of EcoMENA. He is a consultant, ecopreneur and journalist with expertise across in waste management, renewable energy, environment protection and sustainable development. Salman has successfully accomplished a wide range of projects in the areas of biomass energy, biogas, waste-to-energy, recycling and waste management. He has participated in numerous conferences and workshops as chairman, session chair, keynote speaker and panelist. He is proactively engaged in creating mass awareness on renewable energy, waste management and environmental sustainability across the globe Salman Zafar can be reached at salman@ecomena.org

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