Humans are often considered the greatest creation of God, but considering few activities carried out by them, it often does not justify being the best. It is the humans who are responsible for upsetting the earth’s healthy ecosystem by picking up some bad habits knowingly or unknowingly. Lack of awareness and ignorance ruled once upon a time as we failed to realize the grave impact of such activities in future but this justification does not hold today.
Just as old habits die hard, bad habits too take a long time to undo from the system unless a serious good sense prevails. As we are becoming wiser by giving due value in maintaining a green environment, the time is high to check our bad habits which are gradually damaging the healthy balance of our environment.
Stop over usage of water and electricity:
To start with, let us check with the basic amenities water and electricity. Are we using them judiciously? Are we factoring the wastage? A little bit of soul-searching will bring out the obvious answer NO.
Keeping the lights on in rooms even when not required is a common practice both at home and in workplace. You may not care for the high utility bills that you are paying but over usage of both these beyond the requirement is depleting the available resources fast.
Prolonged glowing of bulbs even the energy saver ones are slowly contributing to the global warming which has already reached alarming levels. Let the lights of your room glow only when needed. If switching on one bulb gives enough light, no need to switch on 2-3 bulbs just for more brightness even if not required.
Same applies with water usage as many have the habit of keeping the taps on for a long time in full force even if the water requirement is less. Enjoying long showers is not a crime. But do we think of recycling the used water instead of draining it out?
That would have served your purpose well and at the same time would be good for the environment.Today many houses are adopting water recycling procedures creating separate tanks or collectors, a step good enough to create awareness for others to follow.
Say ‘no’ to plastics:
We are dwelling in a plastic era where most of our daily requirements come wrapped in plastic. Plastic bottles, bags and containers are ubiquitously found, and slowly we have stepped into an invisible bag where we cannot think life without plastic. Dumping of plastics is a serious global concern causing fast landfills. Plastics being non-degradable (it may take thousands of years to decompose) gets piled up and is difficult to dispose.
Recycling is possible but that again contributes to environmental pollution. Convenience in using plastic has gradually inculcated in us the bad habit of using plastic in abundance. This should be stopped immediately specially the use of plastic bags and bottled water which is rampant.
Avoid usage of paper based junk mail:
Although modern e-based communications have reduced the usage of paper to a great extent, but paper based junk mails still in vogue are contributing to environmental damage. About 50% of mails received in the US are junks resulting to about 105 million paper based mails. Such a huge quantity of unnecessary paper production requires immense deforestation causing serious environmental damage.
Opt for healthy transport modes:
When did you last take a public transport to reach your workplace? When did you last walk to your friend’s place or provision store? We all prefer driving our own vehicles for our convenience seldom giving a thought that the accumulated emission from vehicles is detrimental to our environment. Frequent walking and bicycling not only helps in maintaining community environment but are good for your health too!
Reduce dependence on meat:
Having protein rich diet is good for health but reducing the dependence on meat is good for the environment and health as well. Though it may sound weird but researches revealed that raising cattle gives off more greenhouse gas emissions than farmland agriculture.
Consequently, a non-vegetarian consuming high quantity of meat leaves more carbon footprints than a vegetarian. To maintain the demand supply chain of meat, huge quantities of water and energy are consumed which in turn is adversely affecting the environment.
Avoid littering of used up electronics:
Dumping used up electronic gadgets and batteries is not an eco-friendly act. Toxic chemicals leaking from those gadgets and batteries gradually seep into the soil rendering it unfavorable for sustaining life. Throw the used up electronic devices to selected recycling bins or submit in selected stores.
Good habits of an individual can produce a collective success in creating a sustainable environment. You just need to be a bit watchful about those habits and rectify accordingly.