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DO YOU DO your bit for the planet? Are you careful about always putting paper and plastic into the green bin rather than the black?
Good stuff. However there is more that you can do – and it’s not much more difficult than chucking your paper into the recycling bin.
Here are six easy ways to help reduce your impact on the planet today. If you have any more tips, let us know in the comments below.
Did you know that using water more efficiently can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions? This is because it takes a lot of energy to purify and bring drinkable water to your home. Turning off taps and taking shorter showers can help but so can putting a brick in your toilet cistern to displace some of the water and so you don’t flush so much.
Sometimes you can’t avoid using plastic plates, cups or cutlery, but for the most part, if you can, do. If these are put into a landfill, as they tend to be, the plastic never biodegrades. Ever. So ditch those dishes.
Look, we all need that coffee jolt of a morning, but did you know that even if you rinse out and put your coffee cup into the recycling, chances are it’s still not getting recycled? A better option is to bring your own reusable coffee cup with you and save the planet one caffeine boost at a time.
Same goes for your water bottle. Buy a reusable one and… reuse it.
Some things that you can recycle that you mightn’t have known about are light bulbs, including CFL (energy saving) light bulbs, electronic cables and batteries, just not in your green bin. All these electrical items are handled through the WEEE programme which offers several different ways to recycle.
You can also recycle aerosol cans. Just make sure they’re empty, the lid is removed and never pierce them – not that you ever would.
We all know the old ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ but what’s becoming popular more and more is the fourth ‘R’ – repair. Repairing an item rather than throwing it away means it won’t end up in a landfill and will save you money. There are Repair Cafés around the country where you can go and see if someone has the skills to fix what’s ailing your item, or you can offer your own skills to items in need.
It’s not a glam as a thug life, but the Zero Trash life is out there, and it’s gaining ground. It may seem impossible at the outset, but there is plenty of evidence to show it can be done. Much like eating better and getting exercise, it takes planning and preparation. You might not be able to get to Zero Trash, but you can significantly reduce your rubbish output. Check out Trash is for Tossers for inspiration.
Fancy doing even more for your planet? Don’t throw your old CFL (energy-saving) lightbulbs in the bin. You can swap any old CFL bulb for a flowering bulb for free at any participating hardware store . It’s another bright idea from WEEE Ireland.
Nobody have children. Within 150 years things will begin to improve.
Killing your pets also has a big impact
@Etherman: strange to read an article so full of clichés and not one mention of disposable nappies, never is, have they bought up all the anti climate change companies now?
Eat your potatoes with the skin on them
@ricky bobby: to achieve what exactly?
I think we can do with a little purge. 9am Friday night until Sunday morning 8am.
Take one big shite a day, instead of three small ones.
If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down
@Celtic_Horizon: to achieve what exactly?
Go vegan beats all of the above hands down.
@Stephen Brady: Veganism looks and sounds incredibly dull and boring. At present I’m tucking into a beautiful steak, with mushrooms and chips. Mmmmmm, gorgeous.
These sanctimonious arse hole vegans need to fk off!!!
@Sarah Clifford: Correct Sarah, don’t believe a word they say. If they could get away with it, they’d have us all living in caves, eating grass.
Haha. Sounds like a GREAT existence! !! Not!!!
Paper less office !!
There is no reason to print paper any more anyone doing it is just greedy!!
STOP Buying newspapers its ridiculously old fashioned and primitive
Eat less beef
@brian boru: “There is no reason to print paper any more anyone doing it is just greedy!!” – a totally ridiculous statement. What are books printed with.
@brian boru: you don’t print paper, you print on it.
@Jho Harris: boring pedant.
Go vegan
Try to go vegan. http://www.theveganrd.com is a good site with info on how to have a balanced diet. If you can’t manage vegan, go vegetarian. If you can’t do that, cut your meat consumption and go for meat with a lower carbon and water footprint, like chicken. Food miles don’t actually add as much to the carbon footprint of food, so you are better off opting for imported vegan foods rather than locally grown meat.
Use public transport or cycle. If you can’t do that at the moment, and there’s something the government could do to help you use public transport or cycle, then tell your local TDs.
Consider giving up flying. If you take one long-haul trip, the carbon footprint will be larger than the global average carbon footprint for an entire year. Airplanes will not be running on clean energy for the foreseeable future, and meanwhile air emissions are climbing. Try to have a holiday in Ireland instead of abroad and see if it’s enough of a break for you.
See how low you can set your thermostat. Maybe have a rule that you don’t turn on the heating unless you’re already wearing a jumper. (Or, if you want to go mad, unless you’re already wearing a jumper and a dressing gown over it).
Don’t buy stuff unless you really need it. Everyone talks about China’s emissions – they’re now making all the stuff we buy, and the emissions from those products are counted as China’s carbon footprint, not ours. So if you want China to decrease its footprint, decrease the amount you buy.
If any of the above seems extreme, it’s nowhere near enough.
@Sheena Power: why don’t you kill yourself, just as a start.
It’s not about saving the planet, it’s about saving the human race and many other species. the planet will be fine without when we’re gone as it was before we showed up. It might take a few million years but it will sort itself out.
Nothing any person can do will reduce any ‘impact’ upon the earth. Environmentalism is a fraudulent movement – ignore what the enviros say, its all nonsense.
@Patrick Mac:
I’ll just not use my private jet today, maybe Leonardo could do the same
What a totally ridiculous article…if everyone on the planet did all these things not one iota of energy would be saved..try some practical tips…ie ..the led bulb uses on average one fifteenth to one twentieth the energy of a standard light bulb..incentivise people to change all lighting to led and you could drop the world power usage on lighting to one fifteenth ,one twentieth…some saving….no pain involved..practical…
This article forgot to mention the big one “Don’t have children”. This planet will not be able to sustain the current rate of population growth. And also it will save you about €200,000 over the next 20 or so years
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