I have always felt fairly powerless to make significant changes, as I live in rented accomodation so cannot do the major things our house needs like double-glazing or draught-proofing etc. But I was amazed by how many of the things on the list didn't apply to me in a POSITIVE way.. for example, the fact that I don't use a car or a dishwasher. And we don't have central heating. So it turns out I'm doing better than I thought, after all, which is heartening! One day I'll hopefully live in an eco-house with solar panels, but until then, here are my little contributions..
Use Recycled Paper
Make sure your printer paper is 100% post consumer recycled paper. Save 5 lbs. of carbon dioxide per ream of paper.
This is something I've been working on recently .. I have found an affordable supplier and from now on all Hedgewitch information sheets and newsletters will be printed on 100% recycled paper.
Buy Products Locally
Buy locally and reduce the amount of energy required to drive your products to your store.
This is a tough one in the city, but I am planning a visit to that local farmers' market I found so that hopefully I can buy less food from Tescos. I already get my fruit and veg in a box, which is delivered by van, but I know they source things as locally as they can within the UK.
Buy Minimally Packaged Goods
Less packaging could reduce your garbage by about 10%. Save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide and $1,000 per year.
My fruit and veg box comes in a cardboard box which you return for re-use the following week. I re-use the corrugated card dividers to pack the ceramic pieces in Hedgewitch parcels and I re-use the string for tying up plants in the garden.
Am generally horrified how much packaging everything comes in! I recycle all the card sleeves and re-use the plastic trays for plant saucers and incubators. But finding places to buy less packaged products is something I really want to work on.
Reduce Garbage
Buy products with less packaging and recycle paper, plastic and glass. Save 1,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide per year.
You know, since I've stepped up my recycling/re-using/composting, we've been amazed how little garbage we are putting out now. One black sack a week, rather than one every other day.
Plant a Tree
Trees suck up carbon dioxide and make clean air for us to breathe. Save 2,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide per year.
Hmmmm.. maybe I could think of giving the gift of planting a tree via The Woodland Trust for special occasions?
Unplug Un-Used Electronics
Even when electronic devices are turned off, they use energy. Save over 1,000 lbs of carbon dioxide and $256 per year.
I could (and must) do this!
Buy Organic Food
The chemicals used in modern agriculture pollute the water supply, and require energy to produce.
I do as much as I can, for health reasons, but this is an added incentive.
Bring Cloth Bags to the Market
Using your own cloth bag instead of plastic or paper bags reduces waste and requires no additional energy.
I was given the most fabulous cloth bag by friends of mine for Christmas.. it is tongue-in-cheek and features 'typical London wildlife' (a one-legged pigeon, a large rat etc!) Its great because it folds up small and weighs nothing, so I just keep it stashed in my handbag for any shopping I pick up while I'm out.
Ditch the Plastic
2.5 million individual plastic water bottles are thrown away every hour in the US. Start using a reusable water bottle and just say no to plastic!
I could DEFINITELY do this, as I do sometimes buy small bottles of water when I'm out. I need to drink more water .. I'm really bad at this. I think I will fill a bottle with tap water each morning (whether I'm home or out) for use during the day. When its hot in the summer, I sometimes fill a water bottle with tap water and add a couple of ice-cubes with lemon balm or pineapple sage leaves in them, which is really refreshing.
6 comments:
Tks for the tips hedgewitch....plastic bottles, shall be sorting myself out with that one. Always buy when I am out with the grandchildren, will fill my own in future. So simple why didn't I think of it?
I have a great box scheme here. All the fruit and veg are in a 25 mile radius and 75 percent of the items is organic. The farm that does the scheme is called the old dairy, and they supply organic meat etc as well. They are fantastic.
Hello cheryl,
Thanks for reading through this long post!
I think you must take the prize for the tree-planting one, don't you think!! :-)
I'm worried now that it might have come across all preachy.. I just wanted to note down the ones I'd decided to do, because its a way of making myself more likely to stick to it!!
Not preachy at all. More blogs like yours and Marks will get people thinking and that is what we need.
I love your blog, its always a pleasure to pop by.
cheryl, you are a sweetheart ... thank you very much
I love these tips! I do some of them already, but I really need to deal with the plastic bottle issue. I've been planning on getting one of those Brita filter thingies to make the tap water taste better. Thanks for the reminder!
hey lumi!!
thanks for dropping by
yeah, the tap water here isn't that fab (hence the need to stuff herbs in it, lol!)
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