VARIETY

Ways to be eco-friendly

We have told you time and again about the need to be environment-friendly. While reducing what you extract from the environment, as much as it’s possible, you

should also try to cut down on the waste and harmful substances that you release back into the environment.

Climate change due to various man-made as well as natural causes is one of the most serious perils associated with the destruction of nature. We are already witnessing very severe repercussions of this climate change phenomena through global warming and the frequency of natural disasters around the world.

The ground rule is to reuse and recycle everything which can be safely done so. Get the maximum use from an item before you throw it away and think hard before buying anything new. Seek the services of a local recycling centre; such places are increasing in numbers today.

Here are some more ways in which you could make a better contribution to the future well-being of nature:

* Opt for local produce as much as possible instead of imported stuff as they (the former) are less costly, fresher and involve less transportation, especially air travel, thereby also reducing harmful emissions.

* It would be so much better if you could actually grow some of your food requirements. Fruits, vegetables and herbs can be easily cultivated by you and your family in your home garden.

* Cut down on your meat consumption; animal production is the biggest source of the greenhouse gas methane.

* Reuse plastic bags without throwing them away after using them once.

* Keep a garden compost bin for recycling waste. While vegetable and fruit matter, eggshells and other such kitchen waste can be deposited in this bin, there are other types of garbage which should be left for the garbage collectors who may be operating in your area.

* Leave taps closed while you brush your teeth. You would be surprised at the large number of people who have the habit of leaving taps running while they brush their teeth.

* Water could also be reused depending on what they were first used for and for what they will be used for again.

* Drink boiled and cooled tap water instead of bottled water; the latter comes in plastic containers which are not very good for the environment in the long run.

* Some of you may be getting your fresh milk requirements from a local milkman. Did you know that it’s many times better than buying such milk from supermarkets? Unlike milk in supermarkets, which mostly come in plastic bottles or especially designed packs (which take hundreds of years to biodegrade), milkmen bring glass bottles. Also, these bottles are exchanged and reused everyday. So, this is certainly a sound move if you have such a facility in your area.

* Use regular soap instead of fancy hand and body washes coming in plastic bottles.

* Use chemical-free cleaning products as much as possible.

* Use energy-saving light bulbs (such as CFLs) in your home, where possible. Besides being a more eco-friendly move, it will help reduce your electricity bills as well.

With electricity bills soaring now, this would surely ease the burden on your parents’ purses too. It is said that, in the UK, if three CFL bulbs were used at every home instead of normal bulbs, it would save enough energy to supply street lights for one year. CFL bulbs are also said to last 10 times longer than normal bulbs.

* Another energy-saving measure would be to switch off all lights as you leave a room. It makes sense to have lights only where somebody needs it in the house, so leaving the lights on in an empty room would just increase your monthly bill without serving any purpose.

* Use wooden toys instead of plastic ones. This may not be very easy for you as most toys come in plastic these days; wooden ones may also be more expensive.

But if you do have old wooden toys, you can continue with them without forcing your parents to buy new plastic ones. Plastic takes thousands of years to biodegrade.

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Who are ‘green inspectors’?

This is not something we have seen in Sri Lanka, but there are people called eco-auditors or ‘green inspectors’ operating in some Western countries(we could take the cue from them).

What they do is visit your house on your invitation, go through and do a proper evaluation of how environment-friendly your house is, and draw up a plan with the recommendations you should follow to become more eco-friendly.

There has been an increase in their services of late as people have realised the pressure they are putting the environment under and want to do the best they can to minimise the damage they cause nature.

You too could form your own band of ‘green inspectors’ in your school.