Easy Ways to be More Earth-Friendly
April 22nd is Earth Day! It’s time to think about what we can do to be more environmentally conscious. There are small changes that we can implement into our day-to-day lives to make our planet a better place. If we all work together to make these small changes, it would have a large impact overall. Here are some small Earth-friendly changes you can make today!
Take Notes Electronically
Whether you’re in high school or college, you know there’s LOTS of daily note taking involved. In many cases, taking notes is essential to passing the class. However, taking good notes oftentimes causes us to exhaust large amounts of paper quickly. To reduce paper waste, take notes electronically! If you have access to a portable electronic device, bring it to class. Laptops and tablets are great options for note taking. By making these substitutions for taking notes on paper, you’ll help minimize paper waste.
Invest in a Reusable Water Bottle
Every year, billions of pounds of plastic waste ends up in our oceans. This waste has devastating effects on our wildlife and our environment. Single-use water bottles are a common type of plastic waste. Not to mention, they cause pollution when they are being produced too. Investing in a reusable water bottle can help solve the problem of polluting our planet with plastics. Worried about the cleanliness of your water? There are many options of reusable water bottles with built-in filters. Buying a reusable water bottle also saves you money in the long run. So save the planet and save some green with a reusable water bottle!
Unplug Chargers
Saving electricity helps improve air quality and conserves the earth’s natural resources. How? To create electricity, power plants burn coal, oil, or other fossil fuels. The burning of these resources results in air pollution.
Many of us have cell phones and portable electronic devices that need to regularly be charged. Do you unplug your charger when your device is fully charged? If you answered no, then you’re using electricity that you’re not actually benefiting from. Chargers consume electricity when plugged into outlets even if you’re not using them to charge a device at that time. To help slow down the problem of air pollution, unplug your chargers when you’re done using them.
Buy Vintage
Buying vintage isn’t only stylish and cost savvy, it also helps contribute to saving the environment! Thrifting, or buying vintage clothes, helps our planet in multiple ways. It lowers your carbon footprint because it reduces energy usage from transportation and production of new clothing. It also aids in water preservation, because an immense amount of water is used to grow cotton. In addition, thrifting reduces chemical pollution, because it minimizes the amount of pesticides, harmful dyes, and crude oils that go into clothing production. Lastly, shopping vintage decreases landfill waste. Trends from the 90’s and early 2000’s are making a huge comeback. Shop vintage to get authentic clothes from those eras, while simultaneously saving the plant.
Carpool
Carpooling is convenient and Earth-friendly. When less cars are on the road, the amount of carbon dioxide and air pollution is decreased. Therefore, carpooling helps keep our air and water cleaner. Carpooling also increases convenience for you. Carpooling with your friends to school saves money on gas, and with fewer cars on the roads, there would be less traffic. Less traffic means you’ll get to your destination faster!
These small day-to-day changes may not seem like they’d make a big impact in saving our planet, but every effort helps. Together, if we do what we can to improve the health of Earth, the results of our efforts will become clear. Let’s work together to take care of our home planet!