Save the Earth. Go Green!

This article is particularly relevant at this time in commemoration of the International Earth day. 22nd of April is usually dedicated to that effect. This is a time set aside to have conversations on how to ‘Save the earth’.

Over the decades, global issues like climate change, deforestation, loss of habitats, wildlife trafficking and illegal poaching, unsustainable agricultural practices, pollution and pesticides have led to a lot of detrimental changes to the planet. All these activities have had a negative impact on wildlife generally.

The theme for the Earth day last year, 2018 was on End Plastic Pollution.

I am not necessarily talking about the political action and huge civic participation where people march, sign petitions, plant trees, clean up towns and roads to accelerate work towards conservation and sustainability. My goal in the post is to highlight the simplest things we can do to make the earth a better place for all to live in from our own corners of the world.

I am not particularly a minimalist but simplicity is a principal for me. I figure that ‘more’ or ‘newer’ does not guarantee a better experience necessarily. I do not believe things should go to waste. Blame it on my ability to find it hard to let things go.

I am a mom and the kind who would save the empty egg crate, the Indomie noodles carton, the pampers carton or the used kitchen towel cylindrical rolls simply because I believe that they can be put to good use.

I find it easy to turn a used yoghurt container to the water colour container or the used salt container as the new pencil holder. I remember when I turned a giant whip cream container into my next detergent holder for my laundry. Thereby, reducing the need to spend money on buying new plastic containers .

I use a old tomato tin as my measuring cup for rice in my kitchen .

We have to be enviromentally friendly and contribute our own quota to save the earth.

I do recycle and believe in recycling. Therefore I encourage you to do the same if you have not started yet. It is an admonition to develop a ‘saving mentality’.

I was so sad when I read about the big whale found in a coast line in Manilla with tonnes of plastics in its stomach.

I actively recycle waste in my house. The plastics, used polythene bags, carton, papers, goes into recycle, while everything else that is perishable goes into thrash. I even teach my little ones the need to recycle and how to do it. They usually find it quite fascinating doing this.

I moved away from buying a plastic table and chair for my toddlers to getting them wooden table and chairs. To embracing more wooden toy collections.

We need to do our own little quota of saving the earth and going green.

What can you do?

1 You can plant a tree (as a big gesture) or plant a flower. Get an indoor plant. Plants take carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the atmosphere to do photosynthesis, and thus help reduce the greenhouse gases warming the planet.

2 If you cannot plant a tree, you can start by recycling in your house.

3 You can teach your children to recycle and show them how by leading with a good example.

4 Re-use and re-cycle plastics. Be creative. Rather that buying a plastic pencil holder, you can recreate and re-used the yoghurt container.

5 Skip buying bottled water. Take your own water bottle from home and fill it up with water. Nearly 30 billion plastic water bottles are sold annually in the U.S. Preferably, choose stainless steel water bottle.

6 Rather than taking all your groceries home in those store polythene bags, you can go with your own grocery bag dedicated for that shopping purpose. I cannot tell you how much shopping bags I acquired in my house from grocery-shopping. However, I found ways to re-used those excess shopping bags. Rather than buy shopping bags, I use them to line the thrash cans in the bathrooms in my house. Apart from making it easy to get rid of thrash, it is creatively utilizing what otherwise would have gone to waste or serve no purpose.

7 Conserve energy. There is no point turning on all the light bulbs in your house. Switch off the light, plus you get to save money that way.

8 Conserve water. I know it feels good to linger in the shower, but that practice does not conserve water and not even helpful to your water bill at the end of the month. There are water-saving shower heads that you can install.

9 Go chemical-free. Buy organic and eat organic.

10 Go green with your transportation. Bicycling, walking, carpooling or riding the bus are the best ways to commute sustainably. Inflating your car tires, driving slower, and combining trips will all help you save gas when driving is necessary. Also,for long distance travel, you can take the train. I plan to learn to ride a bicycle myself!

11 Overall, try to reduce waste in your household all together. If you don’t need it, don’t buy it. If you won’t eat it, don’t buy it.

12 Support organizations and charities dedicated to saving marine life, fighting global warming or advocacy on recycling and waste reduction.

If plants contribute to reducing global warming, then we have no excuse. The earth is what we all have in common, therefore we have a collective duty to take care of it.

Choose to go green and save the earth!

"I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things we could use".
                                                           - Mother Teresa.





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