Nowadays there is dust, smoke, and pollution everywhere. There is not a slight touch of greenery amidst these. Owing to the effects of global warming, the clean and peaceful atmosphere is gradually turning into a suffocating one. Environmental specialists have predicted that if this goes on for long, the ‘green earth’ is bound to be doomed.
Therefore, each and every one of us should start taking care of the environment or towards green earth in small steps from our surroundings only. To do this, some habits need to be altered a bit like the following.
Environmental-friendly houses
- If you use floor cleaners containing chemicals, you should change your habit of doing so and use home-made cleaners instead. You can make one by mixing vinegar, lemon juice, borax, and baking soda.
- Keeping some flower plants in the house can purify the air circulating inside. Some house plants like peace lily work as an air purifier.
- You can keep indoor plants like lemon, curry leaf, lemongrass, etc. if there is sufficient space. A plant can produce enough oxygen for at least four individuals. Plants may be kept in a hanging pot in a stretch of a balcony or in the corners of the living room too. You can make a kitchen garden as well.
- To save energy, switch off electrical gadgets when not in use. Use LED or CFL bulbs instead of old-generation bulbs. Install new devices instead of old water heaters, refrigerators, etc.
- It would be a very good idea to put skylights. Make a small space on the terrace or in any corner of the wall and put a skylight. This will enable light to enter from outside.
- Instead of using wooden flooring, you can use beautiful bamboo flooring too. Since bamboo trees relatively grow fast, they are environment-friendly.
- Kitchen leftovers such as coffee powder, fruit or vegetable peels, etc. can be used to make compost. If these things are recycled they can be used as manure for the plants in your house.
Change your habits!
- Instead of using a four-wheeler to go to the nearby market, you should go there on foot. This will not only improve your health but also reduce transport emissions. You can use a cycle too.
- Avoid using plastic as much as possible. For instance, you can use a wooden comb instead of a plastic one. Use a cloth or a paper bag for your daily purchase of fruit and vegetables. You may be considered as an individual concerned about the environment if you have tea from earthen cups instead of plastic ones. Use plastic straws as little as possible.
- You can use cloth bags for gifts instead of wrapping plastic. A small plant is a very good option as a gift. Use eco-friendly cutlery in case of occasions held at your place.
- You may keep clothes made of khadi and natural fabric in your wardrobe. This slow fashion is an alternative to synthetic clothes.
- Packaged food can be replaced with home-made salad dressing, juice, tomato puri, cookies, peanut butter, and such other items. You can prepare different kinds of sauces at home instead of buying them from the market.
- Since trees are required to make paper napkins, use handkerchiefs.
- Save electricity to a great extent by drying clothes in the open air instead of clothes-dryers.
Educate little children about a green earth
Due to the combined effects of pollution and global warming, the habitable atmosphere of the earth is gradually fading away. You can hardly see a bit of greenery in the city environment. Kids going out to play in the fields is a rare sight today! Therefore, the generation of video game enthusiasts should be taught about the importance of trees. This is why ‘green-parenting’ has evolved these days.
Children should be encouraged to play amidst greenery for some time at least instead of playing video games. Environmental awareness should be inculcated in them since childhood itself to understand the importance of a green earth. Interest should be aroused in children to take care of plants. This will kill their boredom also. They should also be taught the necessity of saving water.
Nowadays eco-friendly or disposable diapers for babies are also found in online or natural food stores. Since plastic products contain harmful artificial estrogen, wooden or cloth toys should be made available to children. Many companies are manufacturing environment-friendly toys these days.
Eco-friendly office
Why not have an eco-friendly start from your office desk itself? Your cubicle and the surroundings can be turned into an eco-friendly zone.
- Use paper as little as possible since digital methods have not been adopted everywhere. Do not get unnecessary printouts and write on the opposite blank side of the printout too. To reduce the usage of paper, you can save your notes, project points, and meeting schedules in your cell phones also.
- Have tea in coffee mugs instead of paper cups.
- Keep your cubicle neat and clean as much as possible. It would be an icing on the cake if you keep a small plant in your cubicle. The touch of greenery will energize you for your daily work.
- In the corporate offices, you always have to work in artificial light. So keep your windows open at times to let sunlight enter in. Proper ventilation is also required in offices.
The small steps now can make a big change tomorrow. Let’s make our Earth healthy and breathable today. Let’s move together towards a green Earth.
Read also – Bamboo Products as a replacement for Plastic Products in our lives
