Green Lifestyle Tips - Easy Steps to Save the Environment

Green Lifestyle Basics - The Concept

There is an important logic behind the familiar slogan of "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" that most people don't realize. It is the ORDER of the words that make all the difference. Why? A major part of our current environmental problems stem from energy. We use energy for everything and in our everyday lives. From petrol in our cars, electricity to power our heating/cooling to making goods and watching tv, all these require energy. And the primary source of this energy comes from burning fossil fuels, which in turn creates pollution and then... You get the idea. So the most important step is to Reduce our consumption. Why? It's simple. Reducing consumption means we directly use less energy. May it be driving less of the car, using one less plastic bag... Using one less leads to a direct impact of less harm to the planet! The next effective step is to Reuse. Again, this means that less energy would be expended to produce the goods and services we so desire. For example, writing on both sides of a piece of paper or using old clothes as rags. These would mean less trees cut down for paper, less energy to produce that piece of cloth. This directly means less waste! The last step is to Recycle. Compared to the first two options, this is like the "least of all evils". Recycling requires energy too! For example, we can recycle drink cans, but energy is needed to melt and reprocess the aluminum in the can. Therefore, ideally, recycling should not be your first option! Read on on how to adopt a green lifestyle with the tips below!

Green Lifestyle Tip 1: Switch off all "vampire" appliances in your home

Electrical appliances like televisions and computers that remain plugged into the socket consume also consume electricity! There are 20 appliances in the typical American home that is bleeding you of money, costing from some studies an estimated $200 a household annually. That works out to about $3 billion a year! For what? Nothing! Appliances like TVs and VCRs aren't actually "off" but rather on standby mode, and this takes up power. This also includes computers and modems. Remember Reduce? This is a classic example of reducing use and you get to save money too! Green Lifestyle

Tip 1: Unplug all unused appliances from the socket when not in use or at the end of the day

Green Lifestyle Tip 2: Give away your old stuff rather than throw them away

Say if you had a real lot of junk in your garage, you'd hold a garage sale right? There is a similar concept and it's called freecycling. In contrast to recycling, freecycling means giving away your old usable unwanted stuff like your worn out sofa, your old Pentium PC, your old cellphone and assorted junk to someone who is in need of it (eg. the disadvantaged or needy) There are networks like freecycling.org online which would hook up would be givers and receivers. Rather than they ending up in landfill, think of it as a form of charity and environmental activism rolled into one! Again, this follows the "Reuse" principal that won't cost you a single cent!

Green lifestyle Tip 2: Rather than throw away old stuff, give it to someone who would love to have it!

Green Lifestyle Tip 3: Sort your trash - Organics from Inorganics

Often, materials that can be recycled face problem of contamination. For example, if waste paper is mixed with food waste at home. This degrades the quality of the paper - this means that the paper may only be recycled to a lower grade of product. i.e waste still occurs.. Instead, a simple system of different bin systems within your home to sort the organics like food scraps from paper and glass would increase the efficiency of recycling efforts. The benefits are manifold. Organic matter, when sent to the landfill, produces problems of leaching and contamination of groundwater when it decomposes. Alternatively, if they are incinerated, their high moisture content translates into higher energy costs to burn them. Rather, the sorted organic matter can be added to a compost pile, which in turn can be used to make fertilizer for the garden. On a larger scale, such organic waste can be collected from neighborhoods and cities can be used to produce energy in biodigesters! Other materials like paper and glass can be collected with greater ease. This simple system does not cost much or create a lot of hassle but is highly effective in helping the environment.

Green Lifestyle Tip 3: Sort your trash!