Ridhima Gupta
There is an Anglican hymn, also popular with other Christian denominations whose first stanza says:
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.
So true! God created so much beauty and wonderful things in the world and bestowed it as a blessing on man to enjoy His beautiful creation. But over the years man has ruined the environment for his own selfish interest.
Mahatma Gandhi once rightly said, “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.” Why human beings overlook the fact that we live in the environment so we need it as much as the environment needs us, therefore if you don’t want humanity to end, keep the environment safe in order for us to live and the environment to live. For our survival we get the resources from the environment and that keeps us living. That does not mean we, as people, should be greedy and take things too much from the environment but we also need to give the environment what they need. We should keep those two thing balance so that we can live in harmony together. If earth provided us with things to keep us living, how can we repay?
There are lot of challenges faced by environment such as decrease in biodiversity, pollution, global warming, climate change, etc and the main culprit for this is human-beings. Lot has been said and discussed about the above mentioned issues. But what actually we have done on individual basis to eradicate such a menace of environmental degradation? The answer will be nothing. So let us shun our carefree attitude towards environment and take some steps to help our planet to be clean and green.
Some of the tips are mentioned below:
* Save energy to save money.
* Set your thermostat a few degrees lower in the winter and a few degrees higher in the summer to save on heating and cooling costs.
* Install compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) when your older incandescent bulbs burn out.
* Unplug appliances when you’re not using them. Or, use a “smart” power strip that senses when appliances are off and cuts “phantom” or “vampire” energy use.
* Wash clothes in cold water whenever possible. As much as 85 percent of the energy used for machine-wash clothes goes to heating the water.
* Save water to save money.
* Take shorter showers to reduce water use. This will lower your water and heating bills too.
* Turn off water while scrubbing dishes and pots or soaping hands and brushing teeth.
* Plant drought-tolerant native plants in your garden. Many plants need minimal watering. Find out which occur naturally in your area.
* Collect the water you use for rinsing fruits and vegetables and reuse it to water houseplants.
* Less gas = more money (and better health!)
* Walk or bike to work. This saves on gas and parking costs while improving your cardiovascular health and reducing your risk of obesity.
* Consider telecommuting if you live far from your work. Or move closer.
* Take the stairs instead of the elevator (great for the environment and your health).
* Bring the attention of your local government to increase spending on sidewalks and bike lanes. With little cost, these improvements can pay huge dividends in bettering your health and reducing traffic.
* Eat smart.
* If you eat meat, add one meatless meal a week. Meat costs a lot at the store-and it’s even more expensive when you consider the related environmental and health costs.
* Buy locally raised, humane, and organic meat, eggs, and dairy whenever you can. Purchasing from local farmers keeps money in the local economy.
* Whatever your diet, eat low on the food chain. This is especially true for seafood.
* Skip the bottled water.
* Use a water filter to purify tap water instead of buying bottled water. Not only is bottled water expensive, but it generates large amounts of container waste.
* Bring a reusable water bottle, preferably aluminum rather than plastic, with you when traveling or at work.
* Borrow instead of buying.
* Borrow from libraries instead of buying personal books and movies. This saves money, not to mention the ink and paper that goes into printing new books.
* Buy smart.
*Buy in bulk. Purchasing food from bulk bins can save money and packaging.
* Wear clothes that don’t need to be dry-cleaned. This saves money and cuts down on toxic chemical use.
* Invest in high-quality, long-lasting products. You might pay more now, but you’ll be happy when you don’t have to replace items as frequently (and this means less waste!).
* Join a ‘Go Green’ programme that helps the earth clean. Make posters/articles to encourage people about going green!
* Shop for eco-friendly beauty products.
* File your taxes electronically to cut back on paper usage.
* Encourage those businesses that are following the policy of go green.
* Pay your bills online (and opt for paperless billing) to reduce paper usage and postage costs.
Green living need not involve big lifestyle alterations to help save planet Earth. Many of the steps mentioned above can be taken on daily basis to stop climate change and make our lives better. Our future generation will thank us for living more sustainably. Let’s start now before it’s too late. Let us all take a resolution to be more eco-friendly and make this earth a better place to live in. Let’s go green to get our globe clean!
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