How To Fight Global Warming
You don’t need to be Al Gore to contribute in the fight against global warming. You don’t need to stage several benefit concerts on seven continents simultaneously to become a hero for the environment. You don’t need to attend the Oscars to proclaim that you’re going green. In fact, no matter how lazy you are, you can still do your part in protecting this planet we call home. Here are 10 no-sweat ways of making sure that the world will still be here in the future.
What you need:
Dedication
An open mind
Instructions:
Suggestion 1: Buy in bulk.
Buying in bulk is not just practical but also eco-friendly. Items are much cheaper when purchased in bulk and it is a nice way of doing the environment a favor. You’re not just spending less money. You are also expending less energy. If you have so many items stocked at you home, you don’t need to make so many trips to the store; thus, saving gas or fare. You also save energy because of the reduced packaging. Do you have any idea how much plastic you’d save by choosing a six-in-one pack of toilet paper over six separate rolls? You also don’t need to worry about running out of toilet paper while doing your thing inside the bathroom because hey, you purchased lots of it.
Suggestion 2: Plant a tree.
Oh yes, it takes effort to dig a hole on the ground and bury the roots of a cute, little mahogany plant in your garden. However, are you not tired of drawing your venetian blinds throughout the day? You don’t to worry about dealing with those nasty blinds if you just plant a tree where the sun hits it directly. You can cool your home without relying so much on your air-conditioner. It will dramatically reduce your power costs. Now you see what a humble tree can do? Plant a tree now.
Suggestion 3: Eat less meat.
You may be tired of hearing this from your doctor, who has been worried about your ailing heart. But if you don’t care much about your health, then care about the environment. Aside from the health risks that red meat poses, more energy is required in producing and transporting meat. Did you know that much of our forests have been cleared just to turn them into grazing lands for livestocks? Fruits and vegetables require 95% less energy than meat, so why not start a diet rich in fruits and vegetables? After all, they are healthier, too.
Suggestion 4: Cut your load.
The smaller the vehicle you drive, the less you contribute to global warming. That’s why instead of bigger SUVs, you should drive smaller cars. Furthermore, don’t forget to keep your car tuned up and all its tires properly inflated. This will not just save you much on fuel costs but also help in the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. A single tune-up could boost your miles per gallon up to 40%. You might also want to get a new filter. It could get you 10% more mpg. And if you’re not using the roof rack, take it off to save even more fuel.
Suggestion 5: Open your windows.
Many of use are so used to air-conditioners that even when it’s warm inside but cold outside, we still opt to use them instead of just opening the window. If you are living on the higher floors of your apartment building, you may give your air-con a rest and take advantage of the free cold air outside. If it’s not enough for you, then turn on the fan hanging comfortably upon your ceiling. Circulated air does wonders for regulating the temperature in the room without cranking down the thermostat further. Besides, if you find it hard to sleep at night, you’ll be surprised by how the whirring sound can help.
Suggestions 6: Avoid plastics.
Plastic is ugly. If you’re the type who always uses wrinkly and pathetic plastic cups just because you feel lazy to wash your glasses, stop it. What you don’t realize is that disposing countless plastic cups take more time than washing glasses or mugs. Aside from that, mugs and glasses are far sexier than plastic cups. They can also make you look more professional. Know that every year around 24,000 tonnes of polystyrene (which is non-biodegradable) end up in landfills.
Suggestion 7: Print back-to-back.
Do you realize how much paper you waste every time you print out each page of an unimportant document on a separate sheet of paper? Trees are constantly wasted by overprinting documents. Isn’t it sad to know that some trees sacrificed their lives for rubbish? Admit it, you don’t even use the back page of the drafts you print out. That’s why if the document you’d print is just something you’d throw away after reading, then you better set your printer to duplex and use both sides of the paper. You’ll be helping the environment and saving money. But wait, there’s a bonus! You’ll also get to see the paper do a cartwheel in your printer as it prints the other side. Paper acrobatics, huh?
Suggestion 8: Walk!
In the United Kingdom alone, 10 million car seats are left empty each day. Imagine if vacant car seats were prohibited: there would be far fewer vehicles on the road which means less traffic, less fuel use and less pollution. That would truly help the environment. But of course, we all know that forbidding people to leave car seats empty is an absurd idea. The point is, you don’t need to use your car every single time you go out of the house. Take public transit, bike, or walk if you’re not chasing time. If people made it a habit to leave their cars at home for at least two days a week, we would have been reducing our carbon dioxide emissions by at least 1,600 pounds a year.
Suggestion 9: Teleport!
Or at least, telecommute. If you don’t need to meet up with your boss to give him an update on your work, then just telecommute. The telephone and the Internet were not invented for nothing. You don’t need to have superhuman abilities to break the distance-time relationship. If your house is 47 lightyears away from your workplace, why don’t you just find a place to stay nearby? This way, you won’t have to worry about getting late and waking up early just to arrive at the office at the last minute. If you live closer to work, you’ll be doing yourself, the society and the environment a huge favor. Again, fewer cars on the road means less pollution.
Suggestion 10: Spread the word.
How hard can it be to tell people how easy it is to care for Mother Nature? Share everything you have learned from this article with your family, friends and colleagues. Tell your office management that the company can also go green while improving their image along the way. Words can do wonders. Sometimes, all we need to do is spread the word and everything else will follow. Fighting
You don’t need to be Al Gore to contribute in the fight against global warming has to be a collective action. Anyway, no matter how lazy you might be, it surely wouldn’t hurt to convince the people around you to care for the world they live in.
If you have already seen the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” you might have been convinced that the world is truly doomed if we continue lambasting and abusing what we have today. The Earth does not deserve all the pain it suffers from right now. The consequences are horrendously inconvenient but there are convenient ways to prevent them from happening. It’s time to do the environment a favor. It’s time to do ourselves a favor. Laziness is not an excuse.