As the effects of pollution and carbon emissions become increasingly dire, everyone is paying more attention to what they can do differently. Exercising environmental responsibility is a positive life change that can help you do your part to go green and work towards a better future. Here are three ways that you can go green.
1. Use a Renewable Energy Source
People used to have virtually no choice but to power their homes with electricity derived from unsustainable sources. A lot of municipal power grids continue to run off of fossil fuels and natural gases. Recently, solar panels have become much more affordable for American households. High consumer demand has resulted in explosive industry growth, and consumers have a newfound level of access to having a solar power system for their homes.
You can fulfill much or even all of your home’s power needs with solar panels on your roof or the side of your home. This value-adding home improvement can reduce your monthly expenses on energy, and it may entitle you to a tax rebate.
2. Reduce Water Waste
Water conservation will become even more important in the coming years. In many regions of the country, water shortages are occurring with greater frequency. Likewise, sewage draining problems plague numerous coastal areas where the volume of wastewater combined with continually intensifying rainfall have overburdened existing infrastructure. Sewage overflows have resulted in excessive damage to homes and businesses and required massive remediation efforts.
Reducing the total volume of water that you use in your home conserves our most precious natural resource and makes efforts to access and transport clean water more logistically feasible and cost-effective. In addition, when people use less water, it helps to mitigate the burden on municipal sewage systems as well and reduce the need for collection and transport of septic sewage.
To use less water at home, you should install low-flow faucets and flush valve assemblies in your bathrooms. Without a significant change in water pressure, you can still conserve gallons per day with these simple upgrades. Also, be mindful about running your faucet for longer than you need to when you’re doing things such as cleaning up in the kitchen or brushing your teeth in the bathroom.
3. Produce Less Plastic Waste
Excessive plastic production has had a terrible effect on the environment; the chemical waste products released into the air as plastic is being manufactured has been a considerable cause of air pollution. Moreover, the improper disposal of plastics is creating a growing problem throughout the ocean. Plastic waste in the ocean has increased exponentially in recent years, and it has caused disastrous consequences for hundreds of different forms of sea life.
If everyone is willing to make changes about how they use plastics, it will be possible to substantially reduce the amount of plastics that go into the ocean in the years ahead. Plastics recycling is not a preferable alternative because the United States is not adequately equipped to recycle the total volume of plastics wastes that people are currently creating. Most of the country’s plastics material to be recycled was exported to other countries for processing, but other countries have ceased to accept the United States’ plastics waste. Until the country addresses its recycling capacity, it will continue to litter the seas with plastics.
The most immediately effective approach to the plastics problem is for everyone to create less plastic waste. You should make it a goal to replace disposable plastic items with reusable ones. Give up plastic water bottles and bags and make the switch to reusable ones. For items that are meant to be disposed of, such as trash bags, look for bags that are made from recycled materials. You can also use biodegradable trash bags that are made from more sustainably sourced materials than traditional trash bags. Also, they will ultimately have less environmental impact because they can ultimately dissolve over time, unlike traditional plastic trash bags.
