How you can personally contribute to a healthier environment?

Question

like ways that make sense to YOU, based on who you are, and how, and where you live

Answer 1

I live in the downtown area of a major city.  I don't own a car, and will walk or ride a bicycle to most places.  I take a cloth bag with me to grocery stores, so I don't have to use plastic bags.

Answer 2

I like the question; the fact that personal contributions to a healthier environment are based on where we live, etc. is so often overlooked or not understood.

To answer your question: By educating myself (and I suppose passing those findings on to others too).  Contradictions to the norm are frequently found.  For example:

Don't waste water - true if you have a mains supply.  However I live in the countryside and extract my water from a shallow well.  Therefore one contribution I make is to use more water!  If an insufficient volume of water is extracted and the well water not moved the well can go bad and result in localised environmental problems more significant than the slight increase in the pump's increased consumption of electricity.

I currently have a car, and will maintain and care for it as well as I can.  Hopefully the car will last a long time, and will not be replaced until absolutely neccesary (thereby reducing the requirement for the production of another car) and when it is replaced it will be by a small engined petrol car.  Currently I am very dubious of Hybrids because of the materials used in the battery and their short life time.  If you are in the know, Diesel is a big no; often thought to be environmentally friendly it has severe downsides due to particulate emissions.  Extrapolated from US figures 10,000 people in the UK die every year due to the partculates.  They cause everything from lung cancer to heart disease.  Seriously!

Some advantages to my living in the countryside for my contribution to a healthier environment include: ease of composting, (reduction of waste to landfill); abilty to grow vegetables, salads, berries thereby reducing consumption of products grown overseas and flown to my local supermarket.  Disadvantages include enforced reliance on car travel (minimised by ensuring travel is only made when necessary and that many tasks/chores are carried out at the same time.)

I would love to go on and on about this, but my girlfriend hates me using this thing, so got to go!

Answer 3

Hey, Tinkie, I asked the same question once before, but got only frivolous answers....

so it is my pleasure to contribute an answer to your question.

I have started turning off lights and unplugging domestic appliances like laptop, tv and microwave when i don't need them. I love walking, so whenever I need to go somewhere closeby, I walk or take the city bus. I hang-dry clothes, close the tap while I am brushing my teeth, i have stopped using or taking plastic bags in the stores, because they can't be recycled like paper bags can (I usually take one and the same leather bag with me when I go shoping). The sheets of paper which have already been printed out and are ''no longer useful'' are used for writing memos on the other side,

and that's it!

I don't have a car because the city transport is absolutely great, i can get wherever i want within minutes, so i'm not planning to buy a car for a while. But i do have my eye out on a hybrid :)

Maybe by the time I decide to buy one, i'll be able to run it on domestic trash :)

Answer 4

What I do:

Use reusable shopping bags even at high end stores

Do not use pestisides

Eat vegetarian (meat production is a makor contributer to cabon emmissions)

Turn off lights, change to flourescent bulbs

Unplug appliances when not in use

Plant trees and when you run out of place ask neighbors or parks in the community to let you plant trees there, also, plant trees in the woods where there aren't many

Recycle everything you can

Try thrift stores or freecycle for items before bying

Give old items away to donation centers or thrift stores

Give old linens such as towles, blankets, sheets to animal rescue foundations

Use onion and Garlic bags to hold wild bird seed or peanuts and hang in trees for wildlife

Use bread bags for freezing extra breads/muffins or to cart old goods to the park for ducks

reuse produce bags

Save twist ties for wires

Buy items with less packaging

Scrap old stained clothes for dusting and cleanin

Use green biodegradable and animal friendly cleaners

STOP using paper plates, cups, napkins, and if you need to use disposable try the recycleable type or biodegraeable

Route errands to the most direct rout whereas stops are made on a continuum, and done during the least amount of outings

Use a manual mower

Save rain water in a 39gal trash can to water the lawn/garden

Shut the water off while doing personal hygeine whenever possible

Get a bumper sticker or t shirt with an environmentally friendly message, encourage people to talk with you about it, but sont pass judgement

Turn down your thermostate 2deg in winter and up 2deg in summer

Use less lights when decorating for Christmas or winter hiliday

Wrap gifts in reusable gift bags or other recycleable coverings like a crib sheet for a baby shower or t shirts for kids

When you bake potatoes have a cake or other item ready to go into the already in use oven, bake extras for oter meals during the week

Minimize cooking by making larger quanitities of soups, sauces, and freeze for next week

Offer to do a presentation at the library or other venue free of charge, get together with other local vendors who may want to add or help create your itinerary

Host a showing of An Inconvenient Truth or other documentaries/movies that address these issues

Pack lunches in reusable packaging to school or work

Wait till the dishwasher is full before running it

Take digital pics and videos

Send emails and pay bills online instead of mailings

Ask schools and universities to cut lunchroom waste

Keep business local

Support local farms

Choose organic options, they are widely available and less expensive than ever before

Join organizations that devote time, energy, money to a green cause such as the environmental defense fund, world wildlife fund, or others

wash your clothing less often by keeping your jeans for two wears and changing out of work clothes into lounge wear when you arrive home, USE THE CLOTHESLINE if you do not experience seasonal allergies

Donate old appliance and replace with energy efficient ones

Use a toaster oven for smaller items, or a microwave vs the oven

Instead of replace cabinetry or furniture sand and restain or paint with a fresh new look of environmentally responsible refinishing products

Utilize magazines for shredded packing materials

Contact mail soliciters to remove you from the mailing list

Skip a shower here and there

Use non bleached feminine products or select a reusable method such as the keeper or moon pads

Stop buying paper towels, save old bath towels for large spills, and cut a few in halves for smaller ones, also those old stained t shirts work well

minimize plastic baggies, recycle aluminum foil in your bin

Recycle junk mail (beware of recycling identifyable mail or credit offers

Birds love to use old torn socks for their nests

Soda is just plain bad but if you must but it in tw liters and then create a bird feeder out of them or return/recycle them

Keep your vehicle in good working order, or better get a hybrid next time, toyota has great emmisions ratings

Use biofuel instead of oil for heating

Insulate, weather strip, and plant treest to create wind barriers in the winter and shading in the summer

Create gardens that attract bird and bats to keep insects and mosquitos at down instead of using pesticides

Contact your local refuse and ask them to send out flyers to folks in your neighborhood [neighbors you notice are not

recycling]

Become a memebr of Arbor Day, trees are cheap when you start up

Be creative about your use of things, stay open

Answer 5

<h1>use go green get clean clean with natural detergents http://www.shaklee.net/thehealthyway/pro...

Answer 6

i talk to people about Environmental wareness ,advice farmers ,on sustainable farming reforestation and water harvesting

also talk to a lot of school kids

these are Al gores sites

http://events.stepitup2007.org/.........

http://www.stepitup2007.org/

http://events.stepitup2007.org/.........

POSITIVE ACTIONS

if you want to help the planet ,plant a tree every week ,if everyone on the planet did we we would be able to slowdown the destructive processes

reduce carbon emisions,and they are already working on that by alternative forms of energy and regulations on carbon producing materials,aerosol cans,burning rubbish,industrial chimneys,powerplants etc.

the capture of carbon and the production of water and assist the aquiferous manta.

the world bank pays large subsidies for reforrestation to capture carbon and the best tree for this is the Pawlonia

Waterharvesting projects ,such as millions of small dams.to redirect over ground waterflows from the rains into the ground to supply subteranian water supplies.

the protection of existing forrests.

stop building more highways,urban planning to include vegetation stop building cities encourage people to return to the land to conduct their business from there which now has become possible thanks to the internet.

education to motivate people to auto sufficiency by building more home food gardens.

education on environmental awareness

education on family planning to curb over´populaion

Agricultural education and improvements to follow the principals or sustainability and soil management.

more environmental or land ,design to prevent bush fires,such as--fire breaks

,more dams.regulations and control for public behaviour

alternative effeciant public transport to discourage the use of the internal conbustion engine

recicling wastes,limit water use

here are a 100 more ways

http://www.eco-gaia.net/forum-pt/index.p...

Answer 7

use compact flourescent lightbulbs

get a hybrid car

plant a tree

volunteer in organizations that help the environment

etc.