Start Today For A Greener Tomorrow
This post is part of Blog Action Day 09 – Climate Change.
You must be the change you wish to see in the world. – Mahatma Gandhi
While it’s easy to sit back and criticize and dismiss government officials, world leaders and scientists about their – scare tactics, embellishments, over exaggerations – it’s a lot more difficult, but so important, to take ownership of our role in the issue of climate change. For the record I personally don’t believe that what these people say are scare tactics, embellishments or over exaggerations. I think climate change is very real and should be taken seriously.
We’ve all heard about the Earth’s temperature rising at an alarming rate. But surely any little thing we do as individuals won’t make a difference right? Wrong.
Imagine if everyone thought that they could make a difference and everyone did just one little thing, changed one little habit, or made one different choice. There are roughly 6.8 billion people on the planet. If everyone made one little change that would equate to 6.8 billion little changes. Suddenly our effort doesn’t seem so insignificant.
Alternatively, if we all take the same “I can’t make a difference” approach the results could be catastrophic.
So yes it starts with us. The best time to have started was probably 20 years ago, the second best time? Right now.
What can we do today for a greener tomorrow?
1. Give cloth a go. Try cloth napkins, wash cloths, dusters, and towels for wiping and cleaning around the house. It produces less waste than their paper alternatives and they aren’t nearly as inconvenient as you might think.
2. Reuse and recycle. Re-purpose plastic containers and cardboard boxes where you can. Recycle plastic, paper, cans and bottles when you can. Reducing what goes into the landfill will reduce the amount of greenhouse gas that is emitted.
3. Buy smarter. When you can look for items that have less packaging. Buying spices from a bulk bin, for example, can greatly reduce the amount of packaging we bring home and eventually through out. Same goes for fruit, vegetables, meat and bread that we buy. When bought from a local market there is often little to no packaging.
4. Buy local. When you buy local shipping distances are reduced which means fewer emissions from trucks, boats, or planes that contribute to climate change.
5. Get energy smart. Switch the lights off as you leave the room. Change to compact fluorescent lights when you can. When buying new appliances seek out replacements that are energy efficient. The more efficient your house is at heating and cooling the less energy you require and produce fewer emissions.
6. Make different choices. Choose to take a thermos or travel mug with you when you get your morning coffee instead of using a disposable cup. Use green bins or reusable bags to cart groceries home from the store. Take sandwiches in reusable containers instead of wrapping them in plastic wrap – less waste and your sandwich doesn’t get squashed.
7. Transport. Walk, run, ride your bike, or roller blade whenever you can. Choose public transport or car pool to get around when distances are too great to get there by foot. Or if you require a vehicle consider buying an electric car or hybrid or a compact family car over an SUV or large truck. Not only will these options produce fewer emissions they are quite frugal as well.
8. Do more at the same time. Only do full loads of washing for both clothes and dishes. Plan out your day and gather a list of all the errands you need to do so you can get them all done with one outing as opposed to having to make multiple trips.
You don’t have to erect a wind turbine in your backyard to make an impact on climate change. Making a few simple changes, a few different choices can make a big difference in the long run.
For further reading on climate change and for more ideas of what you can do please check out these great resources on the subject.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Photo courtesy of: fatboyke
10 Responses to “Start Today For A Greener Tomorrow”
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Your Life | Live it. Love it. is a book designed to encourage you to examine where you are right now and inspire you to get to where you ultimately want to be.
We can also add dump the consumerist lifestyle and find happiness in doing more meaningful things than shopping and eating out.
Gordie Rogers´s last blog ..Is There Anything That’s Unforgivable? Part 1.
These are all really great tips, Sherri. My personal favorite is the “transport” tip. I haven’t driven in over 10 years, and that’s my biggest contributor to the “go Green” lifestyle. I prefer to take public transportation whenever possible, not just because of the Green effect, because it allows me time to read, listen to music, and enjoy the ride instead of fighting against traffic.
Jay Schryer´s last blog ..Memories Best Left Forgotten
Happy BAD!
I live in a community where organic and local foods are big. The great news is this is not just good for the environment but it’s good for our health and they taste better! Bulk foods are big, too, from the common dry items like spices, grains, beans, etc to foods like tahini, soy source, apple cider vinegar, and local honey.
(Don’t I love OREGON!)
And I’m thinking of getting a bike. This town is so small (most places are within five miles) that it makes sense not to drive
AKemi – Yes to Me´s last blog ..Detox Your Body And Mind
It is at least controversial that global warming is happening. CO2 counts are higher but its unclear if the earth is actually getting warmer. However scientist A can prove Global Warming is happening and scientist B can prove it isn’t happening. I do believe we need to preserving the earth for a better tomorrow, so I am all for this.
Small changes definitely do have the potential to add up.
However, in order to avoid “burnout” from trying to change too much, it’s important to consider where the big impact areas are and focus on them first.
Sometimes a small number of key decisions can have a bigger impact than ongoing changes. For instance, choosing to buy more energy efficient appliances compared with remembering to turn lights off. (This is argued by the, older and US-centric book, “The Consumer’s Guide to Effective Environmental Choices: Practical Advice from the Union of Concerned Scientists”; summary at Wikipedia: http://bit.ly/QkRSf)
A good source of ideas for what is worth changing is: http://www.1010uk.org/people#how_can_we
Finally, if you live in a democracy, don’t forget the importance of lobbying your government!
Re. Joe Hartman’s comment.
What makes the issue “controversial” is the people (sometimes working for “astroturf” groups funded by certain industries) who seem intent on ignoring the evidence and delaying action, exactly the tactics used by tobacco companies in years past …
See http://www.skepticalscience.com/ for a list of typically used arguments and how they relate to the evidence.
Whilst there are some things that are uncertain about global warming, such as how it will develop over the coming years, the evidence is very clear that it is happening and that it is caused by our emissions.
It’s also worth noting that it’s not so much “scientist A” and “scientist B” as 99 scientists As, and 1 one person who is a scientist, but typically hasn’t published in the area of climatology. (see http://www.skepticalscience.com/global-warming-scientific-consensus.htm for details)
Michael´s last blog ..Comparing CO2 emissions to CO2 levels
Hi Sherri
Oh I am so with you on this one. It is nice for a change to see someone talking about this again from a serious perspective. You had me, when you said “I think climate change is very real and should be taken seriously.”
As I have dabbled in some environmental research here and there and taught environmental studies I can provide some scientific proof for the changes we are seeing and how the climate is degrading. But I won’t.
I won’t because I don’t want to convince people or force them to believe something because “science said so”. The point I am trying to make is that the changes are all around us. It just depends on what people want to see right? Some people simply choose to ignore this phenomenon or perhaps cannot deal with it and choose not to include it in their frame of reference.
To me it goes down to common sense. I hope nobody takes offense to that – but I really feel this way. For thousands, even millions of years we have lived with the planet in harmony. Our numbers were too small to even make a dent in the changes on the Earth and then, just in the last 100 hundred years we have pretty much turned this planet and its resources upside down. Gone are the days where we can think we are too small to have an impact. We are having a HUGE impact on this planet and it is giving us many clues to change our ways along the way.
But of course we can choose to listen and change or ignore the signs until they are so big that we can no longer ignore them.
Yes, I will be the first to say that the sun is changing, our planetary alignment is changing and this all has a part to play in some of the changes on the planet today. But neither the sun, nor the Universe filled the waters, air or soils with toxic chemicals. WE did it and it is time to start taking accountability for our actions.
And on that note, I love your list of things to do and ways to start leading a more sustainable life
These tips are great but they are like trying to heal an axe wound with a sticking plaster. Our culture has a destructive vision. It is the vision that needs to change. Feel good eco-tips won’t change that vision. It’s Shallow Ecology as opposed to Deep Ecology.
Thank you all for the thoughtful comments. I’m glad to see so many of you making positive
@ Thomas – Thank you for bringing this up. My husband and I were actually debating this as well. His thoughts are similar to yours in that this is a much bigger issue. But my counter argument is that doesn’t mean we as individuals can’t or shouldn’t do something to make even a small difference.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on what we could do as individuals to start changing that destructive vision.
@sherri. I’m so glad you asked. This is my raving passion.
Our culture has this perception that the entire world belongs / was made for the human race. So we just naturally assume that everything that can be used for human benefit should be used for human benefit.
Which is how we get ‘shallow ecology.’ Recycle, don’t use plastic bags, donate to greenpeace etc etc. The idea is to save the world – which is great – but save it so we can keep on using it for human benefit, because that is what the world is for. (or so we are told.)
The vision that we need to adopt is where we see intrinsic value in the world regardless of its benefit to us. Plains are valuable not just because of their potential to sustain our crops. Forests are valuable not just because of their ability to provide us timber. They exist for their own reasons and they have their own value.
This isn’t a new idea. In fact it’s a very old idea – one held by every indigenous culture in the world.
The agricultural revolution wasn’t about agriculture – “primitive” people had been agriculturalists for thousands of years. The agricultural revolution was when one group of people suddenly saw the world from a new perspective – it was all one giant farm for human food. That group slowly started taking over the world because they deluded themselves into thinking it was their right to do so and here we are now. There is nowhere left to expand to. And we are on the verge of collapse.
So yes you are right it is up to individuals to change. My message is that changing the vision is more important, because then the actions will take care of themselves.
I agree with all of your tips – my point of difference is that I’m not trying to save the world because I think it is our possession.
Hope that sparks an interest
Keep up the great writing.