Blog Action Day is today! The following is my post for the environment. I decided to write about what I have done and do in my daily life for the environment. I know I could do much more.
I do little things for the environment which actually save me money as well.
I turn off lights when I leave the room. I turn off the water while I am brushing my teeth. Most of the time, I take showers instead of baths. Baths require gallons upon gallons of water while a shower does not. I turn the water on only to get wet and to rinse off. I use a dishwasher when we have one not only because it is convenient but it uses less water than if I wash all those dishes by hand with running water.
I bath my kids at the same time because they are little or I give them showers only using the water to get them wet and rinse off. We have a hand held shower head that works like a charm for the kids!
We recycle. I have a bag for all paper items. One for glass items and one for plastic. I take these bags once a week to the recycling areas in our village. The kids love putting it all in the recycling dumpsters.
I donate old clothes to families I know or I take the clothes to a donation pick up service.
I clean my windows with a cloth that is made for that. I don’t use paper towels. After I am finished cleaning the windows, mirrors and wiping down doors with it I toss it in the dirty clothes to be washed for next time. I use dish rags to clean dishes or wipe off the tables and counters which can be washed after I am finished. I don’t like to use sponges because it is a waste and because of all the germs that hide inside them. I do need to get cloth table napkins so that we don’t use paper towels at the dinner table. We rarely do use paper towels. I have the kids wash their hands and faces as soon as they are done eating rather than using a paper towel.
I really don’t like paper towels because they are such a waste of money and not good for the environment.
I keep the heat low in the winter. We don’t use air conditioning because we live in Europe. However, in the States I only turned the air on in the house or car when it was super hot out.
When I had a car in the States, I drove it for over ten years. I bought it new with the intention of driving it until it fell apart. It still ran well and was in good condition when I sold it to my cousin before we moved to France the first time.
Right now we walk and take the train because we don’t have a car. However, when we do have a car we still walk if possible instead of taking the car.
I cook and bake from scratch whenever possible which saves on the packaging of pre-made products I would have bought instead.
I wear my clothes twice before washing them unless they get dirty of course.
In general, I try not to waste things. For example, I will use plastic ice cream containers to hold crayons and markers. An old shoebox is wonderful for storage. You can decorate it if you want it to be pretty.
Basically, I save money when I do good things for the environment. In the end, it is in my best interest to do all of the things that I do to help the environment.
I can’t think of anything else.
Go ahead and share what you do for the environment in your daily life or a link to your post for Blog Action Day in the comments.
You definitely do a lot! It’s too early for me to get a list going, but we do much of the same.