I know what your thinking; what has lifestyle got to do with being eco-friendly?

The answer; a lot.

Driving. A lot of people enjoy driving big cars, especially in the United States, but driving a small, energy efficient car is less polluting and not to mention cheaper. Perhaps we do not even need the car at all. The way that we live our lives can be altered so that we are living in an eco friendly way, for example, we should ask ourselves can we walk or bike to work or school. Many of us can.

Electricity. A lot of people have outside lights either by their front door, in their back gardens or possibly in both, and a lot of these people have these lights on even when they are not outside, because “they look good”. It is estimated that 5 to 15 per cent of household electricity consumption worldwide is wasted on stand-by mode. Over £150 million worth of electricity is wasted each year in the UK simply keeping televisions and DVD players on stand-by. If we could eliminate this waste, we could close over one in 20 electricity power stations in the UK.

Water and waste. Drink tap water, not bottled. Apart from the fact that tap water in many parts of the world is drinkable, it is delivered straight into our homes eliminating the use of trucks to ship brightly labeled Spring Water. The number of people that drink water from bottles is astronomically high, so many of them not recycled, not reused; simply chucked away in the bin. Forgive me if I am wrong but when you go shopping, I am guessing that you use new plastic bags most of the times and if so, each time you do, that would be one or two of nearly 750 billion plastic bags used worldwide every year, the vast majority ending up in landfill sites. Buying a reusable one involves a small initial cost, but it eliminates that mountain of used plastic bags that accumulates in the back of our cupboards.

Compost. When we cut the grass a lot of people throw the grass clippings in the bin. But if we throw the grass clippings on the grass, and leave them to decompose, it will improve your lawn.

Posted under Gardening & Outdoors, House & Home, Lifestyle & Fashion