Do you care about the health of our planet and what are you willing to do to save it? With daily bad news about global warming, shallowing oceans and endangered animals, it's hard to know where to start. You might think there's only so much one person can do, but there are actually so many ways you can help. Read Step 1 to learn how changing your personal habits and educating those around you can make a big difference.
Steps
Careful attitude towards water
- Check if you have any water leaks. If there is, fix it. A leaky valve can waste a lot of water.
- Install water saving devices on valves and in bathrooms. Installing a shower head with reduced water flow is a good place to start.
- Do not wash dishes with the water constantly on. Use a method that will use less water to wash dishes.
- Shut off the water supply to the dishwasher to prevent leaks. It doesn't have to be on all the time.
- Replace old toilets with new ones that use much less water.
- Only use fully filled dishwashers and washing machines. If they are only half full, this will result in water loss.
- Don't use too much water to water your lawn.
- Turn off the water while brushing your teeth.
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Reduce the amount of chemicals used. The chemicals we use to bathe ourselves, clean our homes, wash our cars, and anywhere else, are washed off and absorbed into the soil or grass, eventually ending up in the plumbing system. Because many people use strong chemicals, they cause significant harm to waterways and aquatic life. Chemicals are even more dangerous for people, so do everything in your power to reduce their use. Here are some ways:
- Find out about alternatives to home cleaning products that don't contain dangerous chemicals. For example, a solution consisting of white vinegar and water (1:1) works just as well for almost all types of cleaning as their store-bought products. Baking soda and salt are also cheap, non-toxic cleaning products.
- If a chemical alternative cannot be found, try to use the minimum amount necessary to achieve the required cleanliness and disinfection.
- Instead of using chemical-filled shampoos and soaps, try making your own.
- Instead of using pesticides and herbicides, try natural ways to get rid of weeds and pests.
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Dispose of toxic waste correctly. Paint, motor oil, ammonia, and many other substances should not simply be washed off onto the ground or grass. They will penetrate deep into the ground and end up in groundwater. Contact your local wastewater treatment plant to find out the location of your nearest toxic waste dump.
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Help find water pollutants. Even one person can do a lot to keep water clean. Very often, enterprises and industries are the culprits of water pollution. Citizens interested in protecting the environment should discuss and find ways to protect themselves from pollution.
- Join a local conservation organization to help clean up the water in your area, be it a river, lake or ocean.
- Contact your local government to discuss your views on keeping your water clean.
- Volunteer and help clean up beaches and riverbanks.
- Get others involved in cleaning up the waters in your area.
Be careful with water in your home. Wasting water is one of the most significant ways in which humans affect the health of the planet. You can start taking steps now to drink less water. If you live in a water-stressed region, this is even more important to the health and prosperity of your region. Try checking the maximum number of items in this list:
Help to protect animals
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Make your home a haven for flora and fauna. Due to the progress of mankind, all kinds of animals, from birds to deer and insects, have lost their homes. You may have seen birds taking baths in oily ponds and deer wandering on the outskirts of settlements simply because they have nowhere else to go. If you have some free space, be hospitable to those animals that need help. You can make your home more pet-friendly by:
- Plant shrubs, flowers and trees that can attract forest creatures.
- Hang a bird feeder and water bowl that always contains clean water and food.
- Let snakes, spiders, bees, bats and other creatures live. The existence of these animals in your neighborhood means your ecosystem is healthy.
- If there is free space, place a hive.
- use cedar chips instead of mothballs.
- Don't use pesticides.
- Use more humane traps rather than mouse poisons and insecticides.
- Use an electric or manual lawn mower rather than a gas-powered one.
Don’t think that this article is not on the topic of the blog, it’s very much on topic... Do you often pay attention to what surrounds us?
You like everything: What streets do you walk along? What do you breathe? What kind of water do you drink? Surely, not everyone likes it... How much trash is there around?
It would not be superfluous and very useful for everyone to watch the “Wake Up” video about our planet and what is happening to it.
If we talk about city or even rural streets, then there will probably be at least a couple of pieces of paper- wrappers from any consumer products, in addition, you can see how they are scattered plastic bottles, cups or more... glass bottles are also quite common. I’m not talking about banana peels, seed husks and cigarette butts at all - this, of course, is also garbage, but not as terrible as the one listed above - at least it decomposes quickly enough, and there is almost no harm from it to the environment - just garbage.
Where does this garbage come from?
It comes from our upbringing, indifference, mentality, thoughtlessness, indifference (I apologize for the expression, but there is no other way to say it)…
Why do two friends - girls of 10 years old, who just bought ice cream during a walk, unwrap it and immediately throw away the wrappers, without even looking around? Is there a trash can nearby? And along the alley, every thirty meters there is a trash can.
Why is there a bunch of husks near the bench, and in addition, there is also packaging for these same seeds? The mothers sat together in the evening - gossiped, talked about life...
Why are there beer bottles, cups and a bunch of other associated garbage lying around in the courtyard of a multi-storey building, near the gazebo? The daddies decided to relax after a hard day at work...
They were probably not taught, or poorly taught, that garbage should not be thrown anywhere.
They probably don’t care because there’s already a lot of garbage around. Probably no one has been paying attention to this for a long time. Surely, tomorrow morning the janitor will come and clean everything himself, because this is his job. Probably, their minds are occupied with something more important... After all, what difference does it make: if I don’t litter, and everyone else does, then there will be no effect... Probably nothing scares them, because in our country, throwing a piece of paper at your feet is not considered a crime... Perhaps they are pleased to contemplate this. Perhaps they don’t have time to walk 2 meters to the trash can?
You can talk for a long time. But there is only one answer - we were raised poorly, since we allow ourselves to so shamelessly and thoughtlessly pollute the world where we live.
Dirty streets in cities are bad. But at least someday, someone will clean it up for some holiday.
And look what’s going on near rivers and lakes, what can we see in the forest? Heaps of bottles, bags, plastic, wrappers and other garbage. Moreover, the popularity of any place for outdoor recreation can already be judged by the amount of garbage around. We won’t be too lazy to convey all this so that we can relax in the clean air - and there’s no need to clean it up, because when we get here again - in a year, perhaps...
So, outdoors, in the forest, near a lake or river - the wipers, unfortunately, do not work, and the time it takes for plastic and polyethylene to decompose is so long that your garbage can easily be seen by your great-grandchildren - if it is not covered with earth during this period.
When buying groceries before going out into nature, also buy garbage bags, and don’t be too lazy to remove everything, collect it and throw it in a trash bin somewhere in the city.
Let's start with ourselves
So, why did I make this whole long speech? Yes, so that we all wake up - if we are not completely indifferent to the world in which we live.
If you want to change your world, change yourself. We need to start with ourselves, with our children. Let's not allow ourselves to throw whatever and wherever on the streets (in the house, I think, no self-respecting housewife would allow this).
Let's make sure they don't allow themselves to litter anywhere. We need to convey to our children that it is not normal to pollute the place where you live. So that they do not litter, not out of fear that someone will punish them, but because they do not want and cannot spoil what nature has created or people have created.
Let's be an example for our children!
Doctor Komarovsky on raising naughty children
Get up in the morning, wash your face, put yourself in order - and immediately put your planet in order
Antoine de Saint-Exupery. A little prince
Living eco-friendly seems like it is impossible in the modern world. But it only seems so, just try it. Someone will think and say: “What am I capable of alone?” Someone will say without hesitation that humanity is already many decades late for this. And someone will imagine the world of the future and their children and grandchildren in it and do those simple things that will help save the ecology of our planet.
Unfortunately, doing harm has become normal for humanity: harming your body, people, society, the planet. We forget that we get what we sow. But now many are ready to correct the mistakes of the past. But how to fix something that has been destroyed for a long time?
First, you need to start with yourself. And remember that there is only one warrior in the field.
Secondly, when it comes to ecology, everything matters. We won’t list everything, because life is multifaceted, but let’s try to remember the most accessible and easiest thing that even the laziest city dweller can do ;-)
1. Don't throw trash!
Sooner or later you will come across a trash can on your way, and you will throw the trash there. And you can easily carry a mountain of candy wrappers in your pocket home.
2. Buy less water in plastic bottles!
Why buy a bottle of water every time when you can take a sippy cup or reusable bottle with you? Plastic bottles cause great harm to the environment, because it will take at least a thousand years for them to decompose.
3. Save water!
There is a lot of it in the tap, as it seems to us, which is why there is less and less of it on earth... We brush our teeth twice a day for five minutes, because we take great care of our smile, and all this time the water runs and runs. Shall we close it? If everyone saves five minutes of running water, how many minutes of water will the city save?
4. Down with disposables!
We avoid disposable relationships, friends, but why are we so attracted to disposable things? Disposable bags, dishes, towels - this is very, very harmful to our home, and therefore to us. Not everything that is convenient is useful. Instead of plastic bags, take a shopping bag, it is just as convenient, but also stylish and businesslike. Instead of disposable food containers, here's a lunch box for you, comrade. The benefits from it are amazing - not only for you, but also for your planet.
5. Choose recycled!
Where does the garbage go? Do you remember handing in waste paper at school? Didn’t your dad tell you as a child, when you didn’t want to finish your porridge, that nothing was wasted in your family? So why not create such a cycle in nature? Recycled paper will save wood, secondary production, recyclable materials - there are so many useful things in these combinations. By the way, our store agrees with this. That's why the sketchbooks on the site are made from recycled paper. Therefore, watch what you use, how and where.
6. Less chemicals, more natural!
All the chemicals in the house are a separate topic for discussion. It is impossible to completely abandon it, but we are able to reduce the risk of using it. Start with at least detergents, clothes and accessories. If it's a pillow, let it be made of linen, if it's a bag, let it be made of cotton. And as an air freshener, give preference to natural aroma diffusers. Well, aromatic candles made from natural soy wax will make the festive evening bright. Be eco-style!
7. Plant a tree!
Forests are the lungs of our planet. And if each of us plants a tree, it will be a huge contribution to the future and we will not have to buy bottled oxygen in a certain number of years. Can't plant a tree? Grow indoor plants!
8. Pack creatively!
It is not necessary to use plastic for packaging. To make a gift in eco style, it is enough to have newspapers, magazines, maps, old paper bags, and unnecessary clothes on hand. Use your imagination and get an exclusive and interesting wrapper. You can take a look at our page
The ecology of the Earth is deteriorating every day. Instead of preserving and protecting the resources of our planet, we mercilessly spend them: we waste electricity, pollute water, poison the atmosphere, etc.
At the same time, everyone thinks: “Nothing depends on me anyway,” and is mistaken. Everyone must take care of the health and cleanliness of the world in which they live, only then can they hope for a positive result.
How to do it? Here are some simple examples:
Plant a tree. This is good for the air and for the earth. In addition, it will be incredibly interesting for you to watch how the tree that you planted with your own hands grows, becomes covered with greenery, gives shade to people fleeing the sun, etc.
Make sure your car's engine doesn't run in vain. Considering today's gasoline prices, this will save not only the environment, but also your wallet.
Try to dry things in the traditional way as often as possible - using a rope and clothespins. Firstly, you will extend the life of your favorite clothes, and secondly, you will save a lot of energy that the “drying” mode spends.
Have a “meat-free day” once a week. Producing half a kilo of meat requires 10 thousand liters of water and several trees cut down for pasture. In addition, such unloading will improve your digestion.
Try to wash your items at a temperature no higher than 40 degrees. This saves energy. Also try to fully load the washing machine tank.
According to statistics, the average person uses 6 paper napkins per day. If everyone reduced their number to at least five, 500 thousand fewer napkins would end up in trash cans each year.
Use both sides of the paper. You need many documents for personal use, and if some text is already printed on the other side, it will not interfere with you. Every year, office workers send about 21 million tons of A4 paper to landfill. This amount can be halved.
No one has canceled waste paper collection points. Instead of throwing away newspapers and magazines you read, recycle them. Some organizations provide such a service as pickup. It is very comfortable. Recycling Sunday newspapers saves half a million trees a week.
Plastic bottles are not recycled. They decompose over millions of years or are burned, poisoning the atmosphere. Buy a special reusable container and use it by filling it with purified drinking water. This will allow you to improve the environment and reduce costs.
Even if you love taking a bath, try to give it up in favor of a shower at least once a week. The shower uses half as much water.
Turn off the water while brushing your teeth, you don't need it anyway. This way you can save 5 liters of water per day.
Do not preheat the oven. Almost no dish, except baking, does not need this. Monitor the cooking process through the transparent door without opening it.
Instead of buying a paper airline ticket, book your ticket online, which requires very little time spent on the computer. And in general, give preference to electronic media rather than paper ones.
Use cardboard matches, which are a product of recycled paper, instead of disposable lighters made of plastic and filled with butane.
When leaving a room, always turn off the light behind you. Even if you plan to return in 15 minutes.
When traveling by car on business, try to accomplish as much as possible of what you have planned at one time. If you get everything done in one trip, you will save gas, time and make your small contribution to improving the environment. Also try to think through the route in advance so as not to add extra kilometers.
Create a flower bed in front of the house. Surely, none of your neighbors will be against it, and most will even support your endeavors.
Try to use disposable tableware as little as possible. For example, instead of buying coffee from a vending machine, drink a cup in the morning before work or keep a cup at your desk. This will reduce the amount of difficult-to-recycle waste and give you more positive emotions.
Refuse plastic disposable bags. They take tens of times longer to decompose than any other garbage. Replace them with biobags or a stylish shopping bag.
Replace at least one light bulb in your home with energy-saving fluorescent ones. You can use it in your pantry, closet, toilet, etc.
If you turn your computer off instead of leaving it in sleep mode, you can save 40 kilowatt-hours per day.
When washing dishes, many are accustomed to rinsing them first and then using detergent. The water continues to flow at this time. If you only turn on the water to rinse out the detergent, you can save a huge amount of water.
Each discarded bottle takes more than a million years to decompose, so they must be handed over to special collection points. Recycling glass reduces air pollution by 20% and water pollution by 50%.
If possible, try to use diapers less often. Of course, they relieve many problems, but at the same time they cause enormous harm to the health of our planet. Each child manages to send approximately 3.5 million tons of poorly recyclable garbage to a landfill. Diapers and cloth diapers are less convenient, but better for the environment.
Be creative. Come up with unusual packaging for gifts. It could be an old capta, newspaper, fabric, etc. This way you will make your gift more original and will not waste extra paper.
Every two minutes you sacrifice while showering will save more than 10 liters of water.
If you have the opportunity, get around the city by bike. This will help you improve the health of you and your planet.
Try to buy local products. Thus, you will support the economy of your area and reduce fuel consumption for transportation
During a barbecue, many people lose sight of their plastic plates, forks and other disposable utensils. Most solve this issue simply - unpack a new set. As a result, plastic utensils are wasted and thrown away several times more. Label the dishes so you don't lose sight of them. To make it more fun, you can come up with funny nicknames for all the barbecue participants.
If you have the opportunity, make an agreement with your boss and work from home. You will save money on travel, regardless of whether you use personal or public transport, and will also make your small contribution to the fight against air pollution from cars.
Before throwing away any item, think about whether it is necessary. Maybe you can give it to someone who needs it or take it to a thrift store?
Never leave trash behind. If everyone cleans up after themselves, our planet will become much cleaner.
Discard the discs; they decompose very poorly, just like their packaging. You can download any movie, any program, any game and any music album using the Internet. Whether you pay for it or not is your choice.
Use rechargeable batteries instead of regular batteries.
Visit second-hand and consignment stores more often. The fact that someone used a bicycle, a net, a blanket or checkers before you does not make these things worse. Let them serve you better instead of littering the environment.
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There are many other ways to help our planet, for example, participate in the PROMOTION on clothing models from ARISTA on aristaopt.ru, and spend the money saved on protecting the environment or purchasing more environmentally friendly and energy-efficient products.
Since childhood, I have been amazed at how people don’t like the space around them. There is a feeling that the world ends somewhere a meter away from a person, and then whatever happens will happen. I categorically disagree with this and watching how everything around me is changing for the better, I realized that the sooner the majority realizes that they just need to try a little bit and everyone will live in a wonderful and beautiful world.
And I thought - how can you, without straining too much and without making any special efforts, make the world around you cleaner, brighter and more pleasant to live in?
1. Make yourself cleaner. Until you put your inner world in order, you will not be able to influence those around you.
Try to get rid of one bad habit this year, don’t swear in front of girls (and if girls stop swearing and scold men for not respecting them, it will be absolutely wonderful), put your home in order. Well...less negative. When you return to our country, you can clearly see how angry everyone is, and this is very sad.
How did you make yourself better? I conducted a “throw away 100 unnecessary items” campaign at home, increased the amount of vegetables in my diet, and generally try to keep myself in shape. 
2. Tidy up the yard. They say that in Russia, the territory that a person considers his own ends at the threshold of his apartment. But...you go out into the yard every day, isn’t it nice to see parked cars on the lawn and dirt all over the yard? Damn, plant a couple of garden trees! You can’t even imagine how nice it is to leave the house and pick a few plums or cherries (yes, we grow them) and watch the beautiful green lawn.
How did I improve my yard? Of course, we must thank the commandant for all the beauty in the yard. But I always park my car according to the markings, I make comments to people and I understand that if you don’t keep an eye on everything, then nothing will get better. Oh, and they blocked the possibility of parking with stones (now there is a nice lawn there): 
3. Save resources. This has not yet fully reached our country, but we must understand that while energy and water do not come from nowhere, it would be nice to leave something else for our children, so try once again not to forget that the lights or computer are on at home, and turn off the water.
What am I doing? Despite the fact that we have a monthly fee for electricity and water, I try to train myself to turn off the water while I brush my teeth and turn off the computer when I leave. I understand that this is a drop in the bucket, but you have to start somewhere. 
4. Reusable bags. We have several reusable bags at home for when we go to the store. And for several years now we have been carrying food only in them. Firstly, they are stronger and more convenient, secondly, they do not clutter up the house, and thirdly, can you imagine how much excess garbage you will send to a landfill over the course of your life?
Moreover, I don’t understand why some products are put in bags at the checkout? For example one lemon! I’ll take it home and throw the bag away right away. You have to persistently ask the cashiers to give it back without the package. We are still a long way from a civilized society where you can bring your own reusable containers to stores :(
Oh yes. On principle, I also don’t take leaflets on the street, especially to “help” the distributor. 
5. Ride your bike. Yes, everyone can find a million reasons not to do this, but how nice it is to run errands in the park and not be stuck in traffic. And also realize that your shape is improving from this walk. For those who haven't decided yet, now is the time; now it's sales time in many bike shops;) 
6. Recycle your trash. Last year I collected an unnecessary pile of books and took them to a waste paper collection point. I was on my way, I didn’t receive any money, but I saved a little nature. It seems like a small thing, but you feel so great :) 
7. Separate waste collection. Yes, it’s impossible and pointless to do this here, so I only have fun abroad in this way.
Just imagine how much waste we generate every day and how wonderful it would be if recycling was fully operational throughout the world! 
8. Clean up after someone else. Every time I come to nature, I can’t understand what people think? Why don’t they realize the problem and crap in their own resting place?
Our company has a small rule. Of course, we collect and take away our own waste, but at the same time we fill the free space of our garbage bags with other people's garbage. Of course, you don’t want to spend a cleanup day, and it’s not your job, but taking a little of someone else’s trash with you is as easy as shelling pears.
*We usually relax by the sea, so the sea :) 
9. It’s sad to realize that not everyone understands this, but... STOP LITTERING ALREADY, AH! Will you fall apart from carrying a cigarette butt to the trash heap? How does it even occur to you to throw a bottle into the bushes? Why did the good looking woman walking in front of me just take the piece of paper and throw it on the lawn? Maybe people have some problems or phobias? How embarrassing for the residents when you see something like this :( 
10. Think with your head. Nobody is forcing us today to switch to eco-living, eco-products, eco-clothing, eco-cars and other eco-friendly crap. But understand that there is only one planet and you shouldn’t kill it just like that. 
Can you tell me your way of fighting for cleanliness?
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If you liked the post, I will be glad to like:
PS I was motivated to write a post by the competition