10 Habits to Reduce Your Environmental Impact
“Think of weather as what you see outside on a given day — the thing that influences your daily outfit choice. Whereas climate’s the long-term averages in daily weather in a particular place. ”
We now have almost unanimous support in the scientific community that climate change is caused by humans. Dissenting opinions try to say weather fluctuates, which is true, but it does not mean climate change is not a threat. But there is a difference between climate change and weather. Weather is day to day changes while climate is long term averages. And changes to our long term averages can have a significant impact. In a recent Planning Magazine article, my friend Eric put it this way— “warming winters have been our biggest climate issue. Normally in Minnesota we go into the deep freeze and we stay in there until March. Now we have a situation where we're hovering above and below freezing. It's going to wreak havoc on our roads and pipes." If you are one of the many residents that complains about potholes, just give it a few more years of warming climate and see what happens.
The good news is there are small changes you can make to help reduce your impact on the climate that wont significantly impact your lifestyle. It is important for all of us to work together because we cannot rely on strong, sustained federal guidance. It is up to local government and individual residents to do their part to contribute to a more sustainable future. Here a just ten small changes you can make in your daily routine to help.
Shut off the water while washing your hands or brushing your teeth. The recommended amount of time to wash your hands is 20 seconds. It pains me every time I watch someone turn the faucet on, scrub their hands outside the water, then rinse, leave the water on to walk over to the paper towel holder, wait for it to dispense, dry their hands, then walk back over to turn it off. All that water is washed down the drain for absolutely no reason. One study showed people who leave the water running while washing their hands was an average of 12.5 gallons of water every day. If it weirds you out to touch the faucet after washing your hands, have the paper towel ready to go to turn off the tap the second you are done rinsing or use your elbow to shut it off.
Image Credit: @jaye_haych via Unsplash
Turn off lights when you leave a room. This drives me nuts about my husband. He is improving, but I would walk into his office after he left for the day and the light would be left on. Do not forget to turn off the ceiling fans either.
Install a programmable thermostat. This is less a habit you have to change and instead a way to automate your routine. You can program the thermostat to go up or down depending on the season during periods of time you are always away like for work or school.
Shut the water off while you are scrubbing dishes. My approach is to rinse the chunks of food off everything, shut the water off, scrub it all with soap, then rinse. Another option that requires no habit changes is to buy an energy efficient dishwasher. It will clean your dishes with a fraction of the water you use to hand wash.
Turn the temperature down on your water heater. It takes an immense amount of energy to heat the average 50 gallon water heater tank to provide hot water to your home. Often we can be just as comfortable with a lower setting, reducing the amount of gas or electricity used to heat the tank. Experiment with lowering the setting and testing whether your water temperatures are still adequate. According to the CDC a temperature of 120 degrees is adequate for most households. Keep in mind that a hotter temperature on your water heater doesn’t mean the water will heat up faster in your shower. That all depends on proximity to the actual water heater and amount of time it takes for the water to reach your shower head from the water tank. Another great trick is to turn down the temperature to its lowest setting when you leave for an extended vacation. Just remember to crank it back up when you get back.
Swap your short trips that are less than a mile for a bike ride or walk instead of car ride. A survey done by the League of American Bicyclists revealed 30% of all trips are less than a mile. Of those trips, 60% are by car. You can walk a mile in a brisk 15 minutes (bonus points towards the CDC recommended 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week) or a casual stroll in about 20 minutes. You are helping your health and the health of mother nature by getting out of your car.
Jump on the Meatless Monday bandwagon. This is one of the most impactful ways on an individual level to reduce your carbon footprint and it doesn’t require any extra work. According to the Washington Post article, “if you trade in steak for beans once a week for a year, you will keep the equivalent of 331 kilograms of carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the atmosphere.” That is a savings equivalent to 32.4 gallons of gas in emissions by cutting out one steak a week. Can’t give up meat? Try chicken or pork, each have a significantly lower impact than beef.
Use cold water for your laundry. Cold water will save a significant amount of energy compared to hot water cycles. Even Tide is getting on board with a cold water campaign. According to their marketing material their tide pods clean better in cold water than a leading baking soda 2-in-1 Pak does in hot water. But skip the pods and go with powder detergent in a cardboard box. You will avoid all the negative impacts created by the plastic wrap that holds each pods liquid.
Unplug appliances and chargers when not in use. I am terrible to adhering to this habit. Right now I can think of three chargers, a water kettle, and laptop charger plugged in but not in use. It’s so much easier to just leave your bedside chargers plugged in and ready to charge.. According to the National Resource Defense Council, households waste an average of $165 annually on this lost phantom power. There is an easy solution to the hassle of unplugging each power source—power strips. You can plug multiple devises into one easy to switch off power source.
Remember the three R’s when you make your next purchase—Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Think about whether its really a necessary purchase. This is especially true this season as people shell out $30 to $100 on a packaged Halloween costume they will wear once. Can you make due with something you already have? Can you borrow the item? If not, check second hand shops, garage sales, or websites like Facebook Market Place, Craigslist, or NextDoor to buy a used version. Finally, look into sustainable options for your purchase. Websites like Sustainable Jungle make it easy to find the ethically sourced, sustainable version of the items you are seeking.
Looking for ways to make a bigger impact? Vote. Your vote matters and its the people we elect that have the power to create meaningful and large scale changes, especially at the local level. Do some research and find representatives that match your mindset and have a record of speaking out for protecting the environment for future generations. Make sure you are registered to vote and do not skip your city elections!
