Understanding climate change and the effects it has on the earth makes it easier to help where we can. It really does not matter whose fault it is that we are in this situation, but it is all of our responsibility to try to help it. Let’s make the most of our lives by helping to create a sustainable earth. This helps us and future generations.
1. Walk or ride your bike instead of driving your car
2. Fill the dishwasher instead of washing it by hand. A full dishwasher can save 23 gallons of water for every 12-place set washed.
3. Plant a vegetable garden
4. Grow an indoor herb garden.
5. Don’t be so quick to buy new technology unless you have a plan to recycle the old.
6. Turn off the hot tub when not in use
7. Donate to an environmental or conservation group
8. Get a beehive
9. Don’t wash your clothes after every wear. Spot clean when you can.
10. Use your own reusable bags when shopping
11. Recycle, recycle, recycle
12. Air-dry your hair when you can
13. Donate leftover paint to someone who can use it. Try to only buy what you will use.
14. Eat more raw items to save energy from cooking or heating
15. Use tap water instead of buying bottles of water
16. Use rain barrels
17. Throw on a sweater or warm socks instead of turning up the heat
18. Unplug appliances when not in use
19. Buy more kitchen towels instead of paper towels
20. Purchase from the local farmers’ market
21. Buy products with less packaging
22. Before you throw anything away, ask yourself if you can reuse it or if someone else can
23. Enroll in paperless billing
24. Vote for representatives that care about the environment
25. Use glass instead of plastic for storing food
26. Plant a tree
27. Pick up trash along the road
28. Don’t let the water run while brushing your teeth
29. Make double-sided copies
30. Print and copy as little as possible at the office
31. Don’t overwater lawns, they only need one inch of water a week
32. Drive the speed limit to conserve gas
33. Find an alternative to using plastic storage bags
34. Take shorter showers
35. One additional way to slow down climate change is to eat less red meat. This one surprised me, so I researched a little more. As it turns out, the cattle’s digestive system releases methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. If we give up beef once a week in favor of beans, over the course of a year, it is the equivalent of not burning 38 gallons of gas.