Not everyone can go 100% green. Don’t give up, if everyone would just try one thing what a difference it could make.
5 principles to live greener with a few examples.
1. Reduce pollution – Use less toxic substance, chemical free products, etc.
Replace laundry soap with baking soda and peroxide
Replace fabric softener with vinegar
Replace bug spray with Mint added it to vinigar in a spray bottle. It deters most bugs and keeps ants away better – we grow our own organic mint.
Replace chemical fertilizer with compost
Replace weed killer with vinegar. It will kill the weeds without harming the soil.
2. Conserve resources – Humans are using more natural resources than the Earth can produce. We can learn to consume only what we need.
Think twice before buying, do I really need this?
Reuse items on hand in different ways
Check the second hand shops/rummage sales first.
3. Conserve energy – Earth’s most used sources of energy are limited, also saving energy means less pollution
When using your dryer, put a dry towel in each load. It cuts drying time in half!
Car pool for school or work using less gas
4. Reduce consumption and waste – Reduce, reuse, recycle
Donate to missions, who in turn donate to the needy or sell items to raise money for a soup kitchen or homeless shelter
Trade or donate books to the used book store.
Crochet totes out of plastic grocery bags.
Compost. We have a bin with a garage style door on the bottom that opens to rake out composted dirt, while still adding to it through the lid on top.
5. Protect the earth’s ecological balance
So far we have planted 9 trees on our property. Four of them are now bearing fruit every year. We harvest the lower half, leaving the top for the birds.
Grow an organic garden, herbs and vegetables.
Grow flowers that attract butterflies and hummingbirds.
These are just a few ideas that we have tried. I would love to hear any ideas that you have tried or seen others try. Please post on my site and I will most likely try them myself. My motto “Just do one thing”. Once that thing becomes routine try to add just one more thing. This might be only once a year. It’s all about baby steps, one thing you can do to change your lifestyle, instead of trying to change everything and every one at once. This will keep you from getting overwhelmed and giving up. It will also help you feel better about yourself and life in general.
