Green living means living in a more environment friendly manner in order to create a positive impact to the environment and to ensure that the planet is able to provide for future generations. It is also referred to as sustainable living or eco-friendly and green living may well be one of the most sought after yet challenging lifestyles of the day.
As a green living advocate, your main intention will be the reduction of carbon footprints. Harmful carbon emissions from various products and activities are released to the environment on a daily basis. Minimizing or eliminating these emissions is your biggest goal as a green living adherent.
To achieve this outcome, it is vital for you to use renewable resources more and more. For instance, oil is a non-renewable resource. Once the supply of oil runs out, everything that relies on this resource will stall. Cars, power supply, companies even the ordinary house stove will be crippled once gas is depleted. If you can cycle as a mode of transport you will make a positive impact on the environment and your well-being.
Renewable resources are your best option. This is because they are never depleted. Trees can be planted again. Vegetable oil can be made over and over again as long as the vegetables are available. The same principle applies with wind or solar energy.
This is why a huge number of people worldwide have shifted to solar energy for household or company use. For instance, in 2010 more than 100 countries have utilized solar panels to generate electricity. The power produced however is still insufficient to cover the total world demand of 4.8TW. It is still a long way to go before total transition to renewable resources is made however you can contribute in your own small way to reach that goal.
What is Green Washing?
With the growing awareness of living green among people, some unscrupulous business people are taking advantage of this honorable endeavor by dishonest practices. One such practice is green washing.
Green washing is the act of making an unsubstantiated claim about the positive environmental impacts of a certain product. Some companies make it appear that their products are more eco-friendly than the others. This may place them a step ahead of competition. Also, it makes them appear more socially responsible because of their seemingly environment friendly practices. Thus, making them a champion of the green living cause when in reality they hardly contribute anything substantial.
This dirty tactic is more of a marketing strategy to lure more customers like you who are intent on pursuing some environment friendly practices to buy their products. For instance, when green computing became the vogue, a number of companies changed their packaging and advertisements to align with the rising energy efficient demands of the consumers.
However, as more private groups are getting involved with the green movement, the façade that these companies wore were slowly exposed to the public. Some non-governmental units are making it a life-long mission to determine the environment-friendly businesses and products from those who are not.
How to incorporate green living in your daily life
There are many ways that you can integrate green living into your everyday life. They say, everything begins at home. This gem of truth also holds true in green living practices.
To implement eco friendly practices, it is best to start small. Start within yourself. The examples you show will rub on to others and before long, green living is no longer a distant reality but a pulsating truth.
Household Products
When you use energy efficient appliances and lights in your home you can make a significant impact on the environment. You may even influence other people and their households and when most households make use of these energy efficient materials then it will not be long that carbon emission and other problems associated with fossil fuel will be greatly reduced.
Energy Efficient Lights
One great example of an energy efficient product that you can use is the light emitting diode or LED. Using LED lights can be very advantageous to your home. This lighting technology is highly energy-efficient and it can last an extremely long time. LED bulbs have an extended life of around 40,000 hours which is way longer compared to ordinary light bulbs and incandescent, halogen or even florescent lamps.
Technological advancements introduced made LED even more efficient as it can now emit higher wattage of light without increasing its energy use. Also, the lifespan of an average LED bulb also increased in the process.
Solar energy
Another great option that you can harness in your household. It provides energy for your homes using sunlight. Perhaps, you could consider the most popular solar technology use nowadays which is the photovoltaic system or PV. This technology makes use of PV solar panels. The panels are mostly made up of silicon materials that can convert sunlight to electricity. For every 100 square feet of PVsolar panel, around 1kW of electricity is produced.
A 1.5kW PV panel can produce 7.3kWh of power. The ordinary household requires 20.5kWh of electricity everyday. This means a third of your electricity needs in the household are provided by the PV. It would also help if your family makes use of energy efficient appliances such as air conditioner, washer and heater to extend the use of PV.
When you use PV panels, you save the environment 1 ton of carbon emissions per year. A regular PV can last 25 years. This means, you save 25 tons of carbon dioxide emissions to the environment.
You can also incorporate other energy efficient practices in the household such as minimizing the use of lights, use of low wattage appliances and utilizing toilets with low flush to conserve water. In addition drying clothes by hanging them under the sun, turning off the computer when not in use, walking or cycling to work, using a carpool, taking 2 minute showers and wearing appropriate clothing for the climate can all make a positive difference.
What about green living food?
Your food intake also matters. Processed animal products make use of fossil fuel and water to produce. According to studies, a pound of beef requires 2,500 to 5,000 gallons of water to produce. In comparison, if you eat more fruits and vegetables you reduce water consumption let alone potentially improve your health and prevent diseases. In addition if you choose organic or biodynamic foods you will be contributing to more sustainable agriculture.
Recycling
Aside from using energy efficient products, another option for green living that you can adopt is recycling.
Recycling means converting waste products to new products. For instance, plastic garbage is recycled into bags. Thrown water bottles can be made into a Christmas tree.
Recycling helps the environment in a number of ways. It minimizes the need for landfills. It can also reduce harmful carbon dioxide emissions ie the manufacturing of plastic requires the use of fossil fuel energy which emits CO2.
It also saves other resources. For instance, recycling paper can save the trees. Trees are used to manufacture paper. If paper is recycled some trees are spared from being harvested and cut down.
Each of us can make a difference. If we all work together to attain the same end, we will get there faster. Global warming, climate change and other adverse effects of carbon emissions are all harsh realities that may confront us. By doing our share, we can create great impacts to the environment at the same time provide a sustainable and secure place for future generations.
Sustainable living is about you making a conscious choice to shift to more eco-friendly practices. You can make a difference to the environment. Everyone can!
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