NEW YORK (AP) — Fighting climate change will require massive cooperation among industry, businesses, governments and communities, but individuals also have a role to play.
Little things can make a difference and make you feel better.
As we kick off 2024, also known as the season for New Year’s resolutions, here are some small, easy-to-implement ways to live a more climate-friendly life.
Get the most out of your groceries
Lauren Phillips, deputy editorial director of news at Better Homes & Gardens, says food waste is a huge environmental problem, yet it’s often ignored in conversations about how to live more sustainably. he said.
“When you start realizing how much food you’re throwing away, it’s easy to start thinking about how you can put the extra food to use before it spoils,” she says.
Plan your grocery shopping more strategically so you have little to no extras. Even if BOGO is on, only buy what you need.
Other steps: Make sure you eat all the leftovers. Pay attention to expiry dates to ensure you use up your food in time. Buy locally grown, seasonal fruits and vegetables. Invest in glass or bamboo containers to store your food. Freeze things.
Hannah Baker, senior home editor at Real Simple, recommends using beeswax wrap instead of plastic to seal leftovers if a container doesn’t work.
And composting food waste.
“This is easy if you consistently remove the compost and wash the bucket,” Baker says. Don’t put meat or dairy products in your compost pile, she warns.
“An easier solution is a machine like Lomi, which turns fruit and vegetable scraps into nutrient-rich plant food. Note that they are more expensive than standard compost bins,” says Baker. said.
Is takeout your daily routine? Jono Waks, 55, of Brooklyn, requests that his orders be free of plastic utensils.
“If they give it to me, I go back and let them take it out of the bag. My Thai neighbors think I’m a jock because I come back with plastic. ,” he said.
How will such a small step make him feel?
“I’m a lone drop in a great ocean of environmental despair, but I can only control what I can control,” Waks said.
Buy quality. That continues.
“When you consider the lifespan of the products you buy, you end up buying less and throwing away less over time,” Phillips says.
This applies to almost anything you can shop for, including furniture, household goods, clothing, electronics, shoes, and more.
“Sure, you can buy a super trendy shirt at a fast fashion store and wear it three times until it shrivels or falls apart, or you can go to your favorite retailer and buy a well-made, durable shirt that will last for years. You can buy a certain shirt and it’s coming,” Phillips said.
If you calculate cost per wear or cost per use, the final financial burden will be much lower than the cost of replacing a cheap vacuum cleaner after, say, a year or two.
Or how about shopping thrift? Discoveries are everywhere.
Check out antique and second-hand stores and see if you can give treasures lying around your home a second life.
rent and borrow
“I rent clothes for big events, and now I don’t have a closet full of fancy dresses that I only wear once,” Phillips said.
Her rental list also includes reusable moving bins instead of towering piles of cardboard. Libraries vs. bookstores.
“If you look around you, you’ll be surprised at the amount of rental services available today,” she said. “There’s no need to buy items that you only use a few times and then throw away.”
Walking, cycling, bus, train
Note: If possible.
If giving up your car or Uber seems like a big deal, start by making a promise to yourself that you’ll only give up on trips of one mile or less. If four wheels are your only option, there’s always a good old fashioned carpool.
Combine errands to reduce the number of trips you take.
Continue using cloth napkins for a week
That also applies to cloth towels, not paper towels.
“I cheerfully switched to reusable cloth napkins,” said Rachel Cooper, 36, of Chicago. “Not only does it enhance the quality of every meal and brighten up the atmosphere at the table, it also saves paper.”
In the meantime, skip the plastic bag liners for small trash cans that aren’t used for clutter, such as in your bedroom or office.
Speaking of trash, why not make it a habit to pick up trash after your daily run or walk?
When it comes to cleaning, look for eco-friendly cleaning products such as concentrates. Some brands allow you to refill your bottle instead of buying a new one. Concentrates also contain less water than non-concentrates, so they require less energy to ship.
please help the birds and bees
Doug Tallamy, an ecology professor at the University of Delaware in Newark, encourages gardeners to plant more native plants to feed and protect beneficial wildlife like pollinators.
Increase ground cover and plant densely, he said. “If you can see the ground, there’s not enough plant growth, because that’s an opportunity for weeds to grow.”
Consider removing your lawn and replacing it with a native plant or tree or two. Tallamy believed that caterpillars are key to local food webs and advised choosing caterpillar-friendly ground covers and plantings.
“What you do with the land under that tree makes all the difference in the world,” he said.
Finally, he told us not to use herbicides and to stop spraying mosquitoes. He suggests natural larvicides like Mosquito Dunk, which are more effective, less harmful, and much cheaper.
Tallamy says a pollinator-friendly garden patch can be as small as a container on a balcony, and suggests a homegrown national park to connect all those healthy small gardens.
Other tips for more sustainable gardening, both outdoors and indoors, include collecting rainwater in drains or in garden buckets. Collect shower water for houseplants.
reduce juice at home
The National Resources Defense Council, an environmental nonprofit, has many simple ideas for saving energy at home.
Let’s start by turning off the power. In addition to flipping the light switch when you leave the room, completely turn off any TVs, computers, video game consoles, and cable boxes you aren’t using. Or unplug it completely.
If it stays on when the power is off, it will consume a little energy. Chargers for phones, tablets, and other cordless devices work similarly, though they remain connected when not in use.
Avoid streaming video through gaming consoles like PlayStation or Xbox, NRDC says. It can use up to 30 times more energy than streaming on your TV. If you use your gaming console regularly, at least set it to “auto power off” mode.
More energy-saving ideas from NRDC: Buy smarter light bulbs. LED bulbs use up to 85% less energy to deliver the same amount of light as incandescent lights.
Do not run the dishwasher when it is not full.
Set your washing machine to the appropriate water level and wash all but the dirtiest fabrics in cold water. Allow clothing to air dry if possible. If you can’t ditch the dryer, ditch the dryer sheets, Baker says.
“Using dryer sheets increases drying time and wastes energy. Plus, they can dry very quickly because they can’t be reused,” she said. “Try using reusable wool dryer balls instead.”
Set the refrigerator temperature between 28 and 42 degrees Fahrenheit and the freezer temperature between 0 and 5 degrees Fahrenheit. Make sure both are tightly sealed. Try testing a dollar bill at the door. If bills stuck in the door tend to slip off, replace the gasket.
