What is the #1 most effective thing i can do to go green?
In the spirit of Earth Day I wanted to do something that will positively affect the environment. But I don’t want to to something small like saving my water bottles that would require a lot of people. I want to make a difference thought.
I think the #1 most effective thing you could do if you were only going to do ONE thing would be to write a letter.
Write a letter of between 200 and 400 words which is clear, personal, and persuasive of exactly how you feel about the environment and why we should care for it.
Then email that letter to as many politicians, newspapers and other media as you can.
It’s a political rule of thumb that each letter is the voice of 300 people (as only 1 in 300 people will bother to write). And it’s VERY important that politicians get the mindset that we want them to do all THEY can in terms of green policies. Good productive policy does make a much bigger difference than you can if you stick to purely personal things like using recycled paper, etc (not that there’s anything wrong with personal things of course!).
And that letter published in the media can inspire, motivate, and call to action many MANY people.
Plus in the act of doing all that, you’ll likely be inspired, motivated, and want to do many more things than you might have originally.
Hope that helps, and all the best with whatever you do!
REDUCE
Reduce is the first of the 3 R’s of sustainability and the most important. The single best thing you can do is reduce unnecessary waste. This is seen in many ways such as not buying something you don’t need or at least really want and when you do purchase an item look towards quality stay away from single use items, when you drive combine errands into one area, carpool, insulate your house for less wasted AC/heating energy ( side benefit comfort) If you need a certain number of lumens (a light rating) in a room then get it from CFL or LED lighting instead of incandescent that uses 4x more energy (cfl) or 10x more (led).
One way to be more green is recycling paper. By recycling paper you can help save many trees. If you use one year’s worth of paper you waste one 100 ft. tree. And that’s just one person! You can help save multiple trees if you recycle paper. You can help save up to eight trees when you recycle one news paper! Imagine if everyone recycled at least one newspaper! How many trees we could save!
Another way is to turn off the faucet when you’re not using it. You can help save eight gallons of water if you turn off the water when you’re brushing you’re teeth and not using the water. Also if you take a ten to fifteen shower you waste 10 – 15 gallons of water, but when you take a shower you waste at least 70 gallons of water! So turn that water faucet off!
Clean up your local park. I just did today with my school.
Best thing you can do for the environment = Not having any kids. For every kid you have that one more person that’s going to be using the earth’s resources for the next 75-85 years or so.
Reduce consumption.
that can be across the board, use less energy, buy fewer clothes, reduce disposable items, reduce meat consumption, reduce transportation impacts etc.
The US uses more of everything from energy to food per person and pollutes more per person dramatically more than any other nation on the planet.
The best thing you can do is not use fuel for transportation! Use public transport systems! They emit very less pollution!