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How can our lives be more environmentally friendly?
How can our lives to be more environmentally friendly?
Environment
As many already know our environment is being damaged beyond repair.
Posted by
Alexandra Wilson
Concern Universal, Environment writer
Sitting here at my desk, my MacBook, Table Lamp, and TV surround me; many like me take this for granted and leave so many unused appliances on.
As a student I have always been environment conscious and was forever following my housemates round the house turning off the lights after them, not only is this expensive but it’s detrimental to the ecosystem.
As many might already know our environment is being damaged beyond repair. Over population is the main cause for concern, with society growing at a mass rate. If control isn’t put in place, starvation, violence and epidemics will occur as the population has grown from 3 to 6.7 billion in the last 40 years.
Global warming is another major cause for concern; the surface temperature of the Earth has increased by 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit in the last 130 years. Ice caps are melting at a drastic rate, which is causing sea levels to rise, flooding all over the country and natural disasters. The common ‘greenhouse gases’ causes global warming and since 1979, more than 20 percent of the ice caps have disappeared.
Another major contributing feature is deforestation as our Rainforests cover 7 percent of the Earth and provide homes to so many species both rare and common. Scientists estimate that the worlds rainforests could disappear in 100 years. Many don’t realise how important trees are, they provide oxygen and help perpetuate the water cycle by returning water vapor to the atmosphere. (That Geography lesson we half listened to may be true).
Cars and transport are another major issue, with the masses of omissions that cars, buses and bikes emit is staggering. A single car emits 12,000 pounds of carbon dioxide every year and would take over 240 trees to offset this amount. However, there are ways to combat these and many other problems that are occurring in our ecosystem.
Many are starting to build their own eco-efficient homes with solar panels and compost toilets (something not everyone might want to try).
Eating less meat would help reduce the amount of animals killed every day – yes, most say that their change won’t make a difference, however farmers wouldn’t be killing as many animals if the humans weren’t consuming so much meat, so try once a week to be a Vegetarian. (A scary thought I know). Food wastage is another major issue, so much wastage that could be avoided. Don’t listen to that expiry date, if the food item is kept correctly i.e. in the fridge then you can extend its life or even freeze. Just recently I’ve come across a new restaurant in Bristol called ‘Skipchen’, of which the volunteers rummage through supermarket bins and remove all the ‘out of date’ stock to then make up yummy options in their restaurant. Waste not want not as I’d say.
Another easy way to be more eco is to turn off the lights when you leave the room, use recyclable bags when you go to the supermarket, buy a reusable bottle – not only is it helpful to the environment but it also helps your health as normal plastic bottles start to deteriorate after one use, in a way, your drinking melting plastic… Yum!
Car share, cycle or walk once a week not only is it good on the gut but it reduces those nasty emissions.
The list is never ending, but if everyone in the world were to make one change to his or her lifestyle it would make a huge impact. What future is our impact going to leave for our children and theirs?
Until next time, lights out.
How can our lives to be more environmentally friendly?
Environment
As many already know our environment is being damaged beyond repair.
Posted by
Alexandra Wilson
—
Sitting here at my desk, my MacBook, Table Lamp, and TV surround me; many like me take this for granted and leave so many unused appliances on.
As a student I have always been environment conscious and was forever following my housemates round the house turning off the lights after them, not only is this expensive but it’s detrimental to the ecosystem.
As many might already know our environment is being damaged beyond repair. Over population is the main cause for concern, with society growing at a mass rate. If control isn’t put in place, starvation, violence and epidemics will occur as the population has grown from 3 to 6.7 billion in the last 40 years.
Global warming is another major cause for concern; the surface temperature of the Earth has increased by 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit in the last 130 years. Ice caps are melting at a drastic rate, which is causing sea levels to rise, flooding all over the country and natural disasters. The common ‘greenhouse gases’ causes global warming and since 1979, more than 20 percent of the ice caps have disappeared.
Another major contributing feature is deforestation as our Rainforests cover 7 percent of the Earth and provide homes to so many species both rare and common. Scientists estimate that the worlds rainforests could disappear in 100 years. Many don’t realise how important trees are, they provide oxygen and help perpetuate the water cycle by returning water vapor to the atmosphere. (That Geography lesson we half listened to may be true).
Cars and transport are another major issue, with the masses of omissions that cars, buses and bikes emit is staggering. A single car emits 12,000 pounds of carbon dioxide every year and would take over 240 trees to offset this amount. However, there are ways to combat these and many other problems that are occurring in our ecosystem.
Many are starting to build their own eco-efficient homes with solar panels and compost toilets (something not everyone might want to try).
Eating less meat would help reduce the amount of animals killed every day – yes, most say that their change won’t make a difference, however farmers wouldn’t be killing as many animals if the humans weren’t consuming so much meat, so try once a week to be a Vegetarian. (A scary thought I know). Food wastage is another major issue, so much wastage that could be avoided. Don’t listen to that expiry date, if the food item is kept correctly i.e. in the fridge then you can extend its life or even freeze. Just recently I’ve come across a new restaurant in Bristol called ‘Skipchen’, of which the volunteers rummage through supermarket bins and remove all the ‘out of date’ stock to then make up yummy options in their restaurant. Waste not want not as I’d say.
Another easy way to be more eco is to turn off the lights when you leave the room, use recyclable bags when you go to the supermarket, buy a reusable bottle – not only is it helpful to the environment but it also helps your health as normal plastic bottles start to deteriorate after one use, in a way, your drinking melting plastic… Yum!
Car share, cycle or walk once a week not only is it good on the gut but it reduces those nasty emissions.
The list is never ending, but if everyone in the world were to make one change to his or her lifestyle it would make a huge impact. What future is our impact going to leave for our children and theirs?
Until next time, lights out.
