Today is Earth Day! If this does not excite you it should because we are in need of a change. The science is proving the claims that Global Warming is a real and scary thing. I know how hard it is to make the adjustment to go green. If you try to change everything all at once, it is going to be very difficult. But if you make small adjustments then it can make all the difference in your world and the Earth.
Here are 5 habits that help improve the quality of life on Earth:
1. Turn Off Water
One thing that you can do and it is simple is to turn off the water while brushing your teeth. We use about 4 gallons of water when we leave the water running while we brush our teeth. This is a minor adjustment that you can incorporate into your everyday life that can help the Earth.
2. Reusable Grocery Bags
I know that we have all seen these bags at the register of every grocery store for $.99 or $1.99. It is a small price to pay to using less plastic. I know that my family made the change about a year ago and we love it. We carry our reusable grocery bags into the store and feel better knowing that we are making a difference, even if it is a small one. If you don't want to use reusable bags then use paper but make sure you recycle the bags. The best thing about reusable you don't have to worry about recycling or throwing plastic bags away, they're yours to keep.
3. Laundry Routine
Sunday is for laundry. Change around your laundry schedule. Make sure that you are only doing laundry once a week, and make sure that it is a full load when you do it. If you can get away with doing it every two weeks would be even better. I do my laundry every two weeks and it saves the planet water. Make sure you are washing your clothes are the cold setting because it uses less water and hot doesn't get your clothes any cleaner (that's what detergent and bleach are for).
4. Turn Off the Lights
You do not need to alert the whole neighborhood that you are home. So if you are in the living room then you do not need the lights on in the bathroom and your bedroom. That is a waste of energy and not to mention your driving your light bill up. So make sure you when you leave a room to turn off the lights in that room. Also, you have window blinds for a reason. So open them up during the day and leave the lights off.
5. Unplug the Chargers
Unplug your device chargers when you are not using them. Whether the phone is attached or not the energy still flows through the wall plug. So in the morning when you take the phone off the charger unplug it from the wall. You also should not charge you phone over night anyway. You should charge it up right before you go to bed and then unplug it. Our goal is to use less energy.
These are some simple habits that you can do that will help the Earth. You don't have to make the change to going green all at once. I know for me it started with a few simple things and I am still working on going completely green. There are things on this list that I am guilty of sometimes, but I working at it every day because it's not just for me but for everyone. We have to make the Earth a better place for everyone to live. Remember "Go Green" and "Happy Earth Day"!