We all use food, water, and electricity. These are our basic needs to sustain our survival.
But sometimes, the line between what we really need and what is a luxury blurs out of focus.
We’ve become privileged to a degree where we forget just how important it is to observe our consumption of resources. Our ecological footprint, essentially, considers our consumption of different resources such as food, goods, transportation, housing, and services, and compiles them into a numerical value that tells us just how much we affect the environment with our habits. Certain habits, like consuming large amounts of meat for meals or driving to work everyday, severely harm the environment. It’s important to understand what we drain the most out of the Earth, so we can develop plans to combat it. Let’s dive into some easy solutions to combat common habits that drive up our mark on the planet.
Limit Single-Use Plastics
Plastics are extremely harmful to our Earth, as they are non-biodegradable. Once they are churned out of the factory, they will essentially exist forever. This creates a humongous buildup of plastics in landfills, oceans, etc., polluting our air and water. To solve this, ditch the single-use plastics for biodegradable products, which eventually return to the Earth unlike plastics. Biodegradable products assist in the creation of compost, which further helps the environment by naturally enriching our soils. Not only does reducing the amount of single-use plastics you consume reduce the goods you need, but it also conserves the raw materials required to create the plastic. Simply removing the straw from your lemonade and utilizing biodegradable garbage bags can diminish your ecological footprint greatly.
Use Less Water
Water is essential to our well-being, yet often we take it for granted and fail to appreciate it. We can deplete our water resources if we aren’t mindful of our use. Building a habit of using less water is something anyone can do, whether you’re a child in Kindergarten or college student at university. Taking less time in the shower, turning off the faucet when brushing your teeth, and capturing rainwater to spray your lawn are all simple ways to decrease your water use. Being mindful of water consumption and taking time to appreciate it is crucial for ensuring our future generations don’t worry about when they’ll take their next shower or have their next meal.
Travel Sustainably
Driving cars is virtually in the U.S Constitution, it’s such a large part of our society and
economy. While our automobiles are central to our transportation, whether it be to the grocery store or to the mall, we must utilize them responsibly. The carbon emissions from cars are severely harmful to the environment. Multiplying its effect by millions across the world, and the destruction of our planet seems inevitable. Opting to carpool with coworkers or classmates is still a great way to drive, but more sustainably. Just having a carpool of 4 people proves to have a significant reduction in carbon emissions over time. Taking public transportation over a car is also extremely eco-friendly. If you’re just heading to the grocery store or park down the street, bike or walk there. Such a short distance provides an easy opportunity to ditch the car keys for a bike, skateboard, or pair of running shoes. Sustainable transportation is an increasingly popular solution to the urgent issue of greenhouse gas emissions.
We don’t have to reduce our resource consumption to the brink of life and death, but it is crucial to be mindful and emphasize sustainable use of our precious raw materials, water, food, and air. The three habits mentioned beforehand are exceptionally easy to adapt, so make a change today. Create a space in your heart to help out our Earth and prioritize your sustainable consumption of our limited resources. Don’t just take action, but actively advertise. Spread the word to others and spark a fire of environmental sustainability in your community.
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