Environment Friendly Practices
Climate change impacts such as severe draughts, heavy floods, storms, sea level rise, hotter summers and cooler winters, melting of arctic ice caps, etc. are being felt by people across the globe. While inter-governmental panels are trying to implement measures to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from large corporates and industries, commitment to carbon footprint reduction at an individual level is also essential to reduce global warming. In terms of per capita GHG emission an average American is responsible for 19.8 tones annual emission, while an average Chinese citizen emits only 4.6 tones, and a Kenyan only a meager 0.3 tones annually (Vaughan, 2009). This disparity is mainly due to a carbon intensive consumption pattern and plenty of material availability in developed countries compared to developing ones. Energy is utilized in each step of a product’s life cycle starting from raw material acquisition, during production or processing, packaging, transportation, to waste treatment and disposal (US Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], 2016). Thus, every individual can reduce at least a portion of emissions associated with product or food consumption, electric power utilization and transportation. Reduce, recycle and reuse the R’s (EPA, 2016) can be easily incorporated into everybody’s life.
A few simple steps that can be adopted include switching to indigenously sourced foods that come with less packaging, car-pooling, cycling or walking whenever possible, using energy efficient electrical appliances, light fittings, energy meters to gauge energy consumption as well as switching to renewable energy sources such as solar or wind power (EPA, 2016). Reducing water wastage as well as solid wastes by recycling plastics, paper or metal products, as well as buying products made from recycled material can also help in reducing carbon foot print considerably (EPA, 2016). Finally, extending the lifetime of a product by reusing or refurbishing can be a great eco-friendly action. A simple idea such as barter shop (Graham, 2015), where used goods can be swapped can be set up in a residential community or school to extend lifetime of products. Thus, this Earth day can itself be used as an opportunity to reduce our emissions. Lets conserve energy, sustain our resources and make our earth a cool place to live.
References
EPA. (2016, March 03). Reduce Waste. Retrieved April 13, 2016, from
https://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/kids/solutions/actions/waste.html
Graham, F. (2015, March 27). Swap shop: Tech to barter your way to the good life – BBC
News. Retrieved April 13, 2016, from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-32071816
Vaughan, A. (2009). Carbon emissions per person, by country. Retrieved April 13, 2016,
