March is the month for green. With green comes environmental impact. . Whether you believe in global warming or not, there is still just reason to reduce your carbon footprint. Pollution still impacts our daily lives and functioning. It impacts how crops are grown and the added chemicals affect our growth and development as humans. It also affects other organisms which in turn can other parts environment eventually it can impact the areas we inhabit and affect our oxygen which can harm us as well.
Recently, Bernie Sanders and Bill Nye had a talk about about the environment. They discussed topics like global warming and CO2 emissions. These are important topics to consider in our lives. We should all strive to reduce our carbon footprint. The first of the three R's is Reduce which means it is more important than reusing and recycling. Recycling as much as people think it is the best thing for us is actually not that great. Most things can only be recycled once before it ends up back in a landfill which means that these items still harm our environment. We need to reduce our carbon footprint to help our environment and ourselves.
Here are ways to reduce our carbon footprints nationally and individually:
1. Reduce water usage.
This can be turning the water off while brushing your teeth and shortening showers or using only doing full loads of laundry.
2. Drive less or carpool
You can walk to the store on the corner instead of driving there. You can carpool with your fellow co-workers which will lower your gas costs as well.
3. Go paperless
Most banks and billing companies have started sending bills and important documents through emails and your online accounts. Some places will even reward you for going paperless.
4. Use reusable water bottles and containers
It's cheaper to reuse a water bottle than buying a pack of water bottles every few weeks. It's also comforting to have your own personalized bottle.
5. Eat local
The food tastes better and you're supporting your local businessmen. It reduces the carbon released from trucks and planes that transport the food across the country and world.
6. Use energy efficient appliances
This does not mean buy a fridge. This can be anything from changing your light bulbs to energy efficient ones.
7. Reduce electricity usage
Turn the lights off when you leave a room. Try to air dry your clothes when it comes out of the dryer. It lowers your electricity bill too.
8. Don't use plastic bags
Most people our age go to the store for one or two things so there is no point to have an entire plastic bag for one item. If you do have a lot of items go ahead and use a reusable bag.
9. Create a Community Garden
community garden educate people on horticulture and allows for cheaper and fresher foods to eat. It also allows you to interact with others in your community.
10. Public Transportation
This is great for cities but small towns could use this too. Growing up I had to find rides places because everything is so far away and this lowers spending on gas lowers traffic and allows for more opportunities to be accessible.
11. ROBOTS
This sounds far-fetched but there are machines that do clean up our waste. Baltimore has a machine that sweeps there rivers and cleans up all the pollution in it and I think every river should have something like that.
