15 Easy Ways to Become Environmentally Friendly

1. Whether it is for saving the environment or saving money, it's good that you have finally settled on living an environmentally friendly life.
2. Only by making a few sustainable changes, you can trim down the adverse effects of your day to day activities on the environment.
3. Even your small step towards living an eco friendly life will make the world a lot better.
4. However, the majority of people are unaware of how to make significant modifications in their daily lives that could impact nature positively.
5. This is why here in this article, we have come up with the 15 most sustainable living ideas that will help you get started with living an environmentally friendly life.

Way#1: Know the Resources Well

The first step towards living an environmentally friendly life should be becoming more aware of the resources you use in your day to day life. Decide well how you would heat, use water, travel, and do other tasks to save as many resources as possible. It will help you in making eco-friendly choices.

Way#2: Work towards Conserving the Resources

It could start from a simple act like turning off lights & fans when not in use to something complex like making altered choices while constructing your home. Practising conservation of resources is the simplest action you can perform based on your awareness of resources.

Way#3: Plant Trees

Trees are critical to life on earth, for they not only give us oxygen to breathe and fruits to eat but also prevent soil erosion, clean the air, give shelter to wildlife, and much more. They also keep your surroundings cooler in summers. So, help the environment, help you by planting as many trees as possible, and educating those who are unaware of it. You can take the help of environmental groups for planting trees.

Way#4: Switch to Renewable Energy / Switch to Solar Energy

Switching to environmentally friendly sources of energy or say renewable energies is the best way to play your part in saving Mother Earth from drawbacks of advancement in technology. Of all renewable energies, solar energy is the one that's quite economically viable in a country like India, where there is ample sunlight throughout the year. Solar energy is not just a way of getting clean and affordable electricity but can be used for various other purposes like heating water, cooking food, running cars & generators, etc. So, go renewable, go solar.

Way#4: Switch to LED Light Bulbs

LED light bulbs that come in an assorted range of designs & brightness not just look sophisticated & beautiful but are also far more durable and less power consuming than conventional bulbs. Change all the bulbs that are in your home to LED choosing the design and colour according to the interior of different rooms and save power as well.

Way#5: Eat Less Meat

Did you know? The more you eat meat, the higher is your carbon footprint and the lesser environmentally friendly you are. So, cut down the amount of your meat consumption to have as much positive impact as possible on the environment. At least, try avoiding it twice or thrice a week if not much. Veggies, grains, fruits, and legumes are all no less nutritious or pleasing in taste, and they help lower emissions as well.

Way#6: Refrain from Wasting Food as Much Possible

Not that you do it intentionally, but at times the food eaten or defiled is wasted by you by mistake. With every food wasted, a lot of resources like seeds, water, fertilisers, capital are wasted apart from the wastage of time, labour, energy, and land. Moreover, if you knew, the food that you throw produce greenhouse gases at every single stage that includes methane as well, would you ever by mistake also waste it? Never! Right? Moreover, according to a recent report by Statista, India is home to huge landfills and dump yards, leachates from which contaminate the surrounding land and groundwater.

Way#7: Reduce the Use of Fossil Fuels Based Products

It's as simple as it sounds. Try to minimise the usage of products that are made through fossil fuel products or processes. Replace them by using nature-based products. Fossil fuels pollute the environment and are exhaustible resources apart from being unsafe and prone to accidents during processing.

Also read: LED Light Manufacturers in India

Way#8: Cut down the Usage of Harmful Chemicals

Products like paint, ammonia, oil, cleaning agents, etc. contain a lot of harmful & hazardous chemicals and if disposed of openly, pollute the air, water, and soil, almost everything. The usage of such chemicals, if not paid attention to and minimised, can cause harmful consequences to our health only. Did you know, as of 2017, about six per cent of deaths were caused solely by unsafe water sources, so what would be the overall percentage of deaths caused by other polluted sources?

Way#9: Encourage Composting

Composting, as you all know, is the process in which remains of plants or the kitchen wastes break down to form rich nutrient food for the cultivation of plants helping them to grow. It not only solves the purpose of reducing your garbage and decreasing air & water pollution but also provides you with nature-based compost.

Way#10: Manage Your Wastes

Abide by the 3 R's of Waste Hierarchy that is Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Reduce the amount of waste generated as much as possible, still if there is some try to reuse it for a different purpose in place of sending it to landfills or recycle it i.e. transform it again to raw materials to get new items from it. This is what the 3 R's of Waste Hierarchy tell you. Educate those who are unaware of it.

Way#11: Pick the Right Stuff for Personal Hygiene

Whether it is your body wash or face scrub or maybe your toothpaste, read the composition carefully to ensure that it does not contain micro-beads. For your information, micro-beads are very small granules of solid plastic. They get into the watercourses, enter the food chain, and eventually damage the environment.

Way#12: Purchase Recycled Products

Next time when you go shopping, look for products that are made from recycled materials as it is a great way to be environmentally friendly. See how the product is manufactured to find out if it is made from recycled products.

Way#13: Say Big No to Plastic

Try to minimise the use of plastic as much as possible. Replace plastic bags with canvas or jute bags, refrain from buying bottled water, and so on. Of course, it could be challenging at times but you will find alternatives for sure if you wish to be environmentally friendly.

Way#14: Keep Your Surrounding Clean

While we say keep your surroundings clean doesn't mean you can litter other places. The entire world is your surroundings. People often litter on roads; instead, they should try putting garbage in dustbins. The stack of garbage on the road not only pollutes the environment but also hampers the beauty of the site. If you already know it, educate others.

Way#15: Save Wild & Aquatic Life

It is not hidden from anyone how human activities are putting species and habitats into danger, resulting in their extinction. People don't realise that places like beaches & forests are habitats of the aquatic & wild lives respectively and that they must protect these. Don't just rely on the forest department to protect the wildlife, play your part, and do your bit to protect animal habitats.

Wrap Up

These were only a few ways to be environmentally friendly; there are plenty more such as changing your travel habits, using locally grown food products, and so on. One thing that is common with every point is educating those who are unaware of the importance of living an environmentally friendly life.  Many people do not live an eco-friendly life because they are not aware of it. Hopefully, this short and succinct guide will help you contribute to a better world by being environmentally friendly.

Also read:

1) How to become Environment Friendly?
2) Eco-Friendly Business Ideas for Small Business Owners
3) Green Business Ideas for Startup Entrepreneurs
4) What are Organic & Eco-friendly Products? How to start this business?

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