Go Eco at Home
Here's a list of things you can do and use around the house that will help the environment, and maybe even make life simpler and easier at the same time! Click them or scroll down for more details.
- Energy Smart light bulbs
- Eco-friendly cleaning products
- Eco-friendly toiletries
- Conserve water
- Hang dry your clothes
- Use biodegradable kitchen sacks
- Eat less meat
- Recycle, recycle, recycle
- Speak up for the environment
Energy Smart Light Bulbs:
Did you know that 20% of our household energy bills are spent on keeping bulbs lit? The culprit is our old friend the incandescent light bulb; only 5-10% of the electricity it consumes is emitted as light- the rest is wasted as heat! Now you see it affects your wallet, but how does it affect the environment? For every kilowatt hour of electricity wasted, power plants release close to 700 grams of climate altering CO2 into the air. On top of this, tons of other pollutants are being poured into the atmosphere to run these plants. To save yourself money and help control our wild weather, switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). These bad boys last 10 times longer than regular incandescent light and use two thirds less energy. In fact, if every house in Canada switched just one regular incandescent to a CFL, we'd save over $73 million in energy bills and stop almost 400,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions from pouring out of electrical generators. Just make sure you pick up CFLs with an Energy Star label as this guarantees that the product uses 75% less power than regular bulbs. Canadians, per capita, consume 5 times more energy than the world average. Let's all do our part to end Canada's energy gussling reputation by changing our light bulbs, turning off lights, switching to energy star aplliances and unplugging unused electronics!
[Back to top]Eco-friendly cleaning products:
Thanks to years of well planned and targeted marketing campaigns, we've fallen for the notion that the only way to get your house clean is by attacking it with a bottle of the strongest chemicals on the planet. This simply is not the truth. The truth we are doing more harm than good with our cleaning products for our health as well as our world. There can be anywhere from 2-100 times more pollutants in the home than outside . What's more, the cleaners we wash down the drain make their way into our water, bringing these harmful chemicals to every living thing on this planet. Don't be fooled by terms like 'biodegradable' or 'natural'. Many things break down but often what they break down into is just as harmful. Surfactants (the stuff that makes products sudsy and spread well) break down into hormone-disrupting agents that feminize fish. What's even scarier is that when tested, 70% of American streams were positive! And just because something is claimed to be natural, doesn't mean it's harmless. After all, everything can be considered natural on some level. Do not worry; there are many safe alternatives out there. Health food stores and even some regular grocery stores now carry eco-friendly cleaners. Eden Initiative's personal favourite is Oil Lift- a BC based and created eco-certified product that can tackle any cleaning mess you throw at it. It's available at Canadian Tire or online at www.oillift.net.
[Back to top]Eco-friendly toiletries :
When it comes to personal hygiene, humans consider themselves at the top of the evolutionary rung. We use hundreds of products everyday to primp and preen ourselves, but we're doing more harm than good. Everything from our soap to our toothpaste to our eye shadow and lipstick is full of known toxic chemicals. DEP, for example causes DNA damage in sperm of adult men yet was found in 52 of 72 name-brand beauty products tested by a coalition of environmental and public health groups. The list of scary beauty ingredients is too long to list, so I recommend you steer clear of them all together. Want to know exactly what you are buying? Adria Vasil's book Ecoholic is packed full of information on best beauty buys, not to mention loads of other eco-info. This book is an environmental Mecca for anyone who's looking to green up their lives. In the meantime, invest in an eco-friendly beauty line like Terra Essentials or Ecco Bella.
[Back to top]Conserve water:
Heating water takes energy, which costs you money and hurts Mother Earth (pollutants are pumped into the atmosphere by energy plants). Here's just a few things we all can do: Take shorter showers, install a low-flow show head, fix leaky taps, flush less, install a low flow unit in your toilet, shut off the tap while brushing your teeth, don't leave taps running. A dripping tap can leak 55 litres a day- that's over 20,000 litres a year! If you find you can't fix the problem yourself, call a plumber. Putting out the money now will save you more in the long run anyway.
[Back to top]Hang dry your clothes:
Back to the energy saving idea. If you must have your clothes dried in a hurry, try getting a newer, more energy efficient model. If it was made after 1984, it will save you about 300 kilowatts a year in energy. While you're at it, cut down your drying time. Chances are you don't need the full sixty minutes per load- try 30 or 40.
[Back to top]Use biodegradable kitchen sacks:
Yes, they do exist. It's mind boggling that we have the technology to make such a plastic but haven't replaced all bags with it. Bioplastic is made from plant sources instead of petroleum and will biodegrade after several months once composted (a lot better than a 1000+ years!). What's more, making bioplastic creates up to three time less carbon dioxide per ton of plastic than the petrol type. Yay!
[Back to top]Eat less meat:
The energy that goes into meat production, not to mention the pollutants produced in the process are staggering. This isn't some hippie vegetarian theory, it's a fact. Just one single burger patty creates as much greenhouse gas as a 9.6-kilometre car ride. The Union of Concerned Scientists says being a vegetarian is on the top things you can do for the environment. That being said, you don't have to give up on meat completely, just cut back and buy local organic whenever possible. But if you are wondering about the pros of going veggie, here are some interesting facts to consider: Meat production requires 10-20 times more energy per edible ton than grain fed production. A fifth of Earth's land surface is used for grazing animals. That's double of what is used for growing crops. An area larger than the state of New York is estimated to be destroyed for grazing every year. Over three- quarters of the world's fish stocks are on the verge of collapse. Canadian Lambs, chickens, and pigs cannot legally be given hormones, but cows can! The worst part is these growth hormones end up in streams (and our bodies) and have been found to alter sex-related traits of fish and turtles. What do you think it's doing to us?
[Back to top]Recycle, recycle, recycle:
We've been saying it for years, but it seems people do not fully understand its importance. Recycling means less production, pollution, garbage, and meaningless waste. The best part is almost everything can be recycled, if your city has the proper facilities. Batteries, light bulbs, plastic bags, clothing tags, you name it, it can be recycled. At the very least, go for the traditional paper, bottles, cans, and cardboard route. If you're feeling especially green, find a local place that recycles plastic bags, or drop your used light bulbs (which contain mercury so should never reach a land fill) at a Canadian Tire (most offer this service). And I cannot stress enough the importance of recycling your electronics. Your old laptop, stereo or televison set contains hazardous materials such as cadmium, lead and mercury.
[Back to top]Speak up for the environment!:
Voicing our concerns once in a while is sometimes not enough. Like it or not, we are facing some serious issues concerning the environment and they cannot be ignored. The more people that show their concern, the quicker we will solve the problem. I encourage you to write a letter on what environmental issue you believe needs the most attention. Send it to your local paper. Send it to your friends. Send it to your MP. SEND IT TO US! Send it to anyone and everyone and encourage them to do the same. If you can, write more than one letter, perhaps one a month or even one a week, if you're super ambitious. If you're ignored, write again. Write us! Call. Do whatever you must to draw attention to the problem because the cold hard visible facts just aren't enough for some people, and these are the people with the power to help. There are no more excuses. We've created this mess and we need to clean it up. Everyone can do something, no matter how small and that needs to be stressed. Once we are all contributing in some way, going eco will be second nature and our planet will never be in danger or suffer from our exploitations again.
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