Simple Things that You Can Easily Do to Save the Earth Articles | Environment

By: Darren Williger

Being an environmental activist isn’t necessary in order for you to be able to save the world. These are some very easy steps you can carry out in order to do so:

Save Water. Water is an essential resource which most people waste on a daily basis. You can save water easily by doing any for the following:

• In order to save one gallon of water with every flush you can simply put a brick into a plastic bag and put it into the back of your toilet  
• Fixing any faucets or pipes that are leaking as soon as you discover the problem is also essential. You can save the drips in your pan and use it to water the plants, wash your dog or cook your supper. It’s all clean water anyway.
• Only wash laundry when you have a full load.
• Install low-flow faucet aerators on all your faucets. They’ll save you 50% which is 3-5 gallons of water a minute and the flow seems a lot stronger.
• You can collect rain in barrels or tubs, then you can use this rain to water any plants that you have and areas of your lawn that may be dry. It also uses less water than the water sprinkler.

Conserve Electricity. You can reduce wasteful electrical use by:

• Turning off your lights and appliances when you’re leaving a room.
• Turning off your computer monitor before going to sleep. A monitor left on throughout night uses enough electricity to print 5,300 copies.
• Search for the Energy Star rating whenever you’re buying new appliances
• Wrap your water heater with something such as a cloth and set your water heater at 130 degrees
• Try to wash clothes in cold water when you can
• Every once in a while hang clothes outside to dry.
• Turn down your heat by 1 degree for every hour you’ll be away from home
• Remove your traditional light bulbs and use newer ones that are longer lasting and which consume less energy.
• Decide what you want before you open your refrigerator or freezer, that way you save on energy
• Make sure that you unplug any appliances that you aren’t using at the moment.

Go Green. Going green doesn’t mean you have to change your entire lifestyle. These are some things that you can easily do in order to live a much more environmental friendly life:

• Plant a tree. You can easily save the earth’s oxygen this way.
• Make sure that you use homemade cleaning products or products that are entirely natural.
• Buy recycled products
• Use both sides of a sheet of paper before you get rid of it.
• Reuse envelopes and junk mail for writing notes and keeping lists

Ditch the Disposables. In a landfill a plastic sandwich bag may take up to an entire century to dispose of. You should ensure that sandwiches and any snacks that you use are placed in disposable or reusable containers. You can also rinse and reuse these disposable containers. Permanent containers also help you save the environment and save money as well.

These are a few other things that you might want to try:

• Swap plastic utensils, paper plates and other things like Styrofoam cups with permanent utensils.
• Recycle food containers and use them to store leftovers and any other food supplies.
• You should ensure that you make use of cloth kitchen towels that can be washed rather than paper towels.

Use Rechargeable Batteries. These sorts of batteries may cost you more but replacing your disposable batteries with batteries that are replaceable may end up saving you more than 10 or 20 times the original amount. If you want to extend the life of your batteries you should use an adapter or plug for radios and other small appliances.