10 Ways You Can Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

The talk about climate change has been going on for some time in the media with everyone talking about the devastating effects of global warming. There are erratic weather patterns, food insecurity and rising sea levels among others. Carbon pollution is to blame for the most of the climate change. Reducing the amount of carbon that we release into the atmosphere can help lower the effects of climate change. Here are ways we can cut down the carbon footprint. 

 Vehicles release lots of carbon into the atmosphere. Reduce the emissions by carpooling with friends or using the public transport. 

Look for energy star rated equipment at home. They use less energy and help you avoid over-utilizing the available energy resources.

Use technology tools such as video camera to connect with clients and offices around the world rather travel to where they are. It helps lower the unnecessary emissions. 

 Use renewable energy sources like wind, hydroelectricity and solar instead of fossil fuels. The green energy sources do not pollute the environment. 

Re-use containers, recycle as much material as possible. This way, you will not have to spend more energy to produce similar items. 

Go for the bike or take a walk when going for short distances. This reduces carbon emissions from the vehicle.

 Consider growing your plants in the backyard garden, moreover, avoid using fertilizers and compost the kitchen waste for healthier food. Fertilizers contain metal ingredients that pollute the environment. 

 Do not print unnecessarily. Use email communication to share documents. Printing paper comes from trees. If the trees are not cut down, they can help lower the carbon levels in the atmosphere. 

 Support initiatives that support action against climate change such as tree planting, reduction of the use of plastics and bio-fuels initiative. You can do it by donating to the initiative or taking part in the events.

Insulate your home properly to avoid loss of energy. Moreover, conserve energy by installing automatic sensors for your AC and lighting system. It helps conserve the amount of energy spent on heating and cooling the house.   

By reducing the carbon footprint, we are able to lower the rate of climate change and reverse some of its ill effects.

Few high-profile politicians have taken up the cause of combating climate change as Al Gore has done. The former Vice-President of the United States (1993-2001) has been involved in  environmental activism for decades and has been a co-recipient of the coveted Nobel Prize (2007) for his work on the environment. Al Gore has been involved in a number of high-profile environmental conservation projects notably:

Film-making

An inconvenient Truth (2007) - This is an award-winning documentary that showcased Al Gore’s work in highlighting the dangers of global warming. The film was directed by David Guggenheim with input from Al Gore. The film takes the form of an illustrated presentation in which Al Gore reaches out to the whole world and warns of a ‘planetary emergency’ which has largely gone unnoticed but whose consequences will be very grave for the world. The film won two Academy awards for its role in highlighting this global issue on the environment.

An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power (2017) - This is a sequel to the first film. The sequel was done to highlight Al Gore’s continuing activism on the environmental including rallying world leaders to take solid steps to combating climate change. These efforts have partially borne fruit as can be seen in the Paris Climate Agreement in 2016.

Climate Reality Project

This is an environmental awareness project bringing together leaders in environmental activism from all over the world. The aim of this project is to reach out to as many people as possible across the world and educate them on issues around climate change. The project uses methods such as personal outreach, social media, and storytelling to educate any willing learner who is then expected to take up the cause and reach out to others.

Green Investment Management

This is a London fund management firm established by among others Al Gore to help channel funds to green investments. With its headquarters in London, the management fund targets pension funds, foundations and high net worth individuals to influence investment in green projects.

Lectures and conferences

Al Gore is a notable speaker on climate change. He has been involved in a number of high profile talks making policy on climate change and environmental sustainability. He is the unofficial US representative in the UN Climate Change Conference that is aimed at coming up with agreements on among other things, greenhouse emissions.

Vegan diet

Al Gore became a vegan in 2013 as a personal project in contributing to a reduction in greenhouse gases emitted by the millions of livestock bred for meat, as well as reduction in water use. 

As much as poor industrial practices have been blamed for damaging the environment and the climate crisis, human activity has contributed a lot to this damage as well. Inefficient water usage, energy wastage, pollution with household waste, and other harmful personal practices has done a huge amount of damage to the environment. There are several habits you can adopt to have a more sustainable environment and help slow down climate change.

Cold showers

A cold shower is not only good for your skin, but it also feels invigorating and refreshing after a stressful day. Taking a cold shower avoids using electricity to heat the water which in turn means less electricity needed and lower amounts of natural resources needed to produce electricity.

Better water usage

Why take a bath in a full bathtub while a shower can serve the same purpose? You do not need to water your garden with fresh water from the tap. Better water usage helps conserve good drinking water which is increasingly becoming a scarce commodity.

Insist on recycled toilet paper

Expensive brand toilet paper is made from freshly cut trees, which is a damaging industrial practice. By insisting on recycled or tree free bamboo toilet paper, you discourage the production of these destructive brands and promote green options. 

Stop printing documents

Printing emails and other electronic documents is futile and wasteful. With today’s advances in cloud storage, your documents are safe and do not have to be in hardcopy to stay safe.

Learn to compost

Eliminate ground water pollution by relying on natural fertilizer. Composting is easy as all you have to do is dump all your organic and plant trash in one heap and wait for it to ‘cook.’ You can use this compost in your garden or lawn.

Switch off the lights

Installing an intelligent home system is the best bet in ensuring that lights go on and off when needed. In the absence of this, develop a habit of switching off the lights when getting out of a room.

Carpooling

Gas emissions from vehicles are the second biggest contributors to green house gases after industries. You can reduce your emissions by carpooling. In a normal sedan will carry 4 people plus the driver, which means that 4 cars stay off the road.

Learn the 3 R’s

Learn to recycle, reuse and repurpose. There are plenty of material that can be recycled including paper, glass and plastics. Reusing basically means using an item over and over again, for example, honey jars to store sugar. Repurposing is finding another use for an item, for example, a shoe box to become a plant nursery.

Does walking by a trashcan filled with empty water bottles or a pile of paper make your blood boil? If yes, then you’re not alone. However, what you need to understand is the fact that there are many people in the world that don’t share your sentiments. These people aren’t on the same page as you when it comes to being eco-friendly.

There are many reasons why these people don’t recycle. Even though we’ve already talked about ways to encourage people to recycle, knowing the top reasons people don’t recycle will help you to devise the most appropriate ways of encouraging people to do so.

Lack of personal incentive

Unlike refundable bottle returns, recycling does not come with any financial payouts. Unless there’s personal gain involved, most people don’t feel compelled to recycle. You need to make these people understand that dumping everything in the trash can is a hazard for everyone.

Tell them that certain metals, electronic waste, printer cartridges, foam, rubber, and other materials contaminate ground water and landfills. Just make them understand that there’s a lot to gain by not throwing everything away.

No motivation for living a ‘green’ life

There are some cities or municipalities that don’t even offer a recycling service. Also, some people don’t have recycling bins in their apartment complexes. As a result of this, people have to take out time just to find out about and where the recycling centers in their area are. Most people see this as an unnecessary trouble and thus, decide against recycling. If you know people that don’t recycle as a result of the above-mentioned things, you can motivate them by doing the following:

Lack of Time

Some people see washing out items, bagging recyclables separately and dropping them off at a recycling center as a time consuming activity. This serves as another reason for them not to recycle on a regular basis. You need have people understand that by dedicating half an hour each day to recycling, they can help make a big impact. Inform them that paper takes five months to break down in a landfill, milk cartons take five years, plastic bags take 10-12 years, and a glass bottle takes about a million years!

Lack of Money

Many people avoid recycling as they don’t want to pay for the gas to commute to a recycling center or see the monthly expense of paying for a recycling service as a burden.  Additionally, paying extra for reusable items like shopping bags is something they don’t like. When people cite the above-mentioned reasons for not recycling, tell them the following fact: An economics study found that curbside recycling delivered an average environmental savings of $68 per household per year. This equated to $424 million per year.

Inappropriate knowledge

Another major reason people don’t recycle is because they have been misinformed about certain things.  Most people have incorrect information about the urgency of the growing waste problem in the world which includes the challenge of limited space and its impact on the Earth. Most of them believe that Earth’s resources are in abundance. Therefore, they don’t feel the need to recycle.

You need to make these people understand that the need for recycling is growing with each passing day. There’s plenty of room for improvement as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that 75% of trash is reusable/recyclable.

You are the difference maker and the encourager we need to steer our global community in the direction of sustainable. There are so many benefits now and for the next generation.

This may surprise many people, but recycling has many benefits that can contribute to a robust economy. So how does this happen? An efficient system is what defines a strong economy. Having to pay for resources that are exceedingly growing scarce can severely stifle an economy. Recycling is the solution and can help the economy in more ways than one. Recycling helps to prevent paying for a number of things including purchasing fossil fuels from other countries, mining iron ore and not having to plant as many trees because of deforestation. Also, when we incorporate sustainability and develop better recycling processes, the economy gets a boost and more jobs are created and employment increases. Additionally, all the money saved is diverted to where it is needed the most when the cost of maintaining the current waste disposal system goes down. So lets take a look at a few more benefits of living a green lifestyle.

Saves Energy

We can save production and energy costs and reduce the impact of raw materials’ extraction and processing on the environment by reusing and recycling plastics, glass, paper, and other materials.

The principle of resource efficiency is what recycling strictly follows. The principle states that products should be utilized to their utmost potential.  We can conserve natural resources and energy by using recycled materials instead of raw materials to manufacture new products. By adopting recycling as a part of their production strategy, companies will lower their own costs in addition to saving energy and helping the environment.

Keep New York City Clean Campaign

Reduce Greenhouse gas Emissions

You save energy when you recycle products. This will result in fewer greenhouse emissions which is a major contributor to the global warming crisis. By minimizing the number of pollutants that are released into the environment, we become a part of the solution and part of the climate action task force. Recycling also helps in reducing water and air pollution. Recycling 50 million tons of waste is equivalent to taking 20 million cars off the road. This clearly shows the environmental benefit of recycling. Moreover, recycling reduces contamination risk from landfills, pollution, and environmental impact from mining or extracting new materials.

More utilization of ‘green’ technologies

People are slowly moving towards ‘greener’ or environmental friendly technologies as the use of recycling products increases. Recently, there has been an increase in the use of renewable energy sources such as geothermal, wind and solar. This increase in use of renewable energy sources has helped to reduce environmental pollution and conserve energy.

There are many economic benefits of recycling and living sustainable lives. Every person can contribute to a greener environment by simply incorporating daily sustainable habits. There was a time when making the green change was an option, but today it is unfortunately a necessity. The climate crisis is upon us, and it is causing global devastation. We must make changes now in our individual lives as well as incorporate sustainable practices in government and the business communities. The decisions we make today greatly impacts the economy of tomorrow.

The air is crisp, leaves are falling, temps are dwindling, and that means one thing: the Halloween season is right around the corner! Well, did you know that you can make your own Halloween costume using recycled items?

If you are like most of us – the environment-conscious, you might want to DIY a sizzling and dazzling Halloween costume using the following recyclables. Check out the step by step guide and ideas below:

Old Denim Shirts/Trousers

Bring out all those denim attires you’ve amassed over the years. Truth be told, you have never worn some of them. With a little ingenuity, you can convert denim into at least three Halloween costumes: Rosie the Riveter, a train engineer or Western-style Sheriff.

Cardboard

Who knew cardboard could be this fabulous? Churn out near-real cardboard warrior mask for your little boy. It’s ideal for Spartan or Gladiator warrior costume.

Two-Liter Soda Bottles

Two-liter soda bottles can be used to make a cool sci-fi jetpack. Mount them to a small piece of cardboard for steadiness and spray-paint them gray. Add a serrated clothe to showcase a flame.

Old Socks

Do you have a bunch of colorful pairs of socks lying around the closet? Stuff them with cotton balls to create amazing octopus legs. Complete the look with a larger one sewn with two buttons for eyes.

Prom Dresses

Sure, you or your daughter looked like an angel in that prom dress that has been sitting in your closet for ages. The beauty of it is that it can become almost any kind of princess dress.

Black Dresses

Any black dress can be converted into a Gothic themed Halloween costume. The bodice can be embellished with red and black rose ribbons.

Milk Jugs

Looking to dress as a fairy tale? Use milk jugs as the base of the wings the cover it with faux leaves and flowers for a classy and whimsical look.

Old Suit Jacket

An old suit jacket is an excellent choice for DIY zombie jacket. Add some make-believe moss for a spooktacular Halloween. You’ll definitely look like someone who has just come out of a grave!

Grocery Bags

This one is a no-brainer for environmentally conscious Halloween fan. From giddy up cowboy to Wall-E and every costume in between, ideas are truly unlimited with grocery bags.

Old Umbrella

An umbrella would make for excellent wings and ear for a bat Halloween costume.

Foam and PVC Pipes

PVC pipe cuts off, and foam core can help you create a gorgeous Scout Trooper Halloween costume. 

Have some fun this Halloween by being creative right out of your closet. Happy Halloween!

Are you worried that your skin is sagging? Is turkey neck giving you sleepless nights? If yes, then you are in good company.

Newsflash: you can now say bye bye to turkey neck and loose skin with the good old lemon juice. You read that right – LEMON JUICE! Well, lemon juice has for many years been touted the anti-aging “wonder drug.” And for an excellent reason; by unleashing vitamin C in lemon juice it can do more than boost your immunity – it can also turn back kthe clock for your skin!

The benefits of Vitamin C for your skin are three-pronged:

It Rids Your Skin of Age Spots

Age spots …ugh, right? The good thing is an excellent way to use Vitamin C on those unsightly age spots is lemon juice. Hold your horses; Can lemon juice can make age spots go poof? That’s right; the citric acid therein can help fade them leaving your skin nicely toned. As if that isn’t fabulous enough, the process is quite simple; all you do is dab a little of lemon juice onto these spots and let it stand for a few minutes. After a couple of weeks you will begin to see the fade.

It Removes Fine Lines and Wrinkles

Parts of you face that tend to move most often will indeed bear a brunt from wrinkles. The science behind wrinkles is pretty simple. Beneath your outermost layer of skin is collagen, a connective tissue that keeps all the layers together. As you age, you begin to lose some collagen causing the skin to droop creating wrinkles. Vitamin C plays a crucial role in both replacement and retention of collagen.

It Tightens Your Skin

Again, vitamin C is a great collagen booster. Through the use of lemon juice you will improve your skin’s elasticity leaving it dazzling and tone.

DIY Tightening (Lemon Juice) Toner

People spend a tremendous amount of money for cosmetics, surgeries to get their skin tighter and looking younger. Instead, try the following DIY tightening toner;  it’s effective, natural, and will not break your bank.

Ingredients

1 tsp. lemon juice

1 cup rose water

1 tsp. witch hazel

Almond or any essential oil of your choice

Directions:

Pour all the ingredients into a container and stir until mixed well. Soak the mixture in a soft cotton ball and dab it on your skin, making sure that you don’t miss any wrinkles. Do a bang-up job on the turkey neck. The essential oils are rich in antioxidants that help get rid of free radicals in your skin.

It is true that lemon juice can work like a charm on skin wrinkles and turkey necks. If not directly applying it to your skin, add a drop or two or lemon wedge in your water.

Let’s be honest; we are all going to miss summer. Lucky for you, there’s something better and much more fun in the air. That’s right – the sizzling football season is upon us. From college football to the fabulous NFL, this season is billed as one of the most exciting in decades.

As you root for your favorite NFL or college football team, it should be a wake-up call to root for our beloved environment too. To get you started, here are top items from the game you can reuse and recycle.

Commemorative Cups

If you intend to enjoy your favorite drink in a commemorative cup dressed in your team colors and logos, you should consider taking it home later. This way, you’ll give the landfill a break as well as have something lovely and useful at home.

Food  Leftovers

Right from the outset, disposing of food trash and leftovers with the help of waste management companies can be an expensive affair. Why not turn it into a fantastic compost? Of course, football game-days churn out tons of food leftovers. Composted food leftovers offer myriad benefits. For one, it makes for an excellent organic fertilizer you can use on the garden, potted plants, nursery beds, and so on.

Plastic Bottles

From water to soda bottles and everything in-between, plastic containers can have a spiral effect on the environment. See to it that you place them in the right recycling bin often tucked right at the exit.

Glass Jars and Bottles

Recycling glass containers from a soda can be a two-fold approach – you can take the jars home to use in your kitchen or even put out sassy flowers. You can also put them in the designed recycling bins so they can be taken to sustainable recycling plants.

Aluminum Cans

Aluminum cans are almost synonymous with football games. The beauty of these soda or beer cans is that you can whip up many tantalizing DIYs from them. Oh yeah, you can turn aluminum cans into stunning DIY cookie cutters, bracelets, candle holders, lanterns, soda tab belts, key chains, box toppers, pencils holders and coasters to name a few.

Plastic/Clear Bags

As you might already know, most NFL stadiums have instituted a clear-bag rule. That means lots of plastic or clear bags will make its way to the stadium. Well, nothing to worry as there are tons of ways you can reuse or recycle them.

There you are – tops items you ought to recycle or reuse from a football game day. Even better, you can consider bringing your consumables in reusable containers, cups or plates.

Are you thinking about doing a home makeover and you are on a budget.  With a little ingenuity, you can use and add these recycle and reuse home décor ideas to your place and go from drab to fab without going deep into your pockets. Here are eight ways to spruce your home up.

Use Old Spoons and Forks as Cabinet Handles

Tired of those lousy cabinet handles that doesn’t add value to the beauty of your kitchen? Get a little creative with your old spoons and forks. Affix them on the cabinet or drawers to replace those wooden or brass handles.

Use Old China or Cups as Curtain Holders

Spruce up your window treatment by recycling old china or cups for original curtain holders. Make sure that you cut out the bottom part to create a sassy curtain holder. You can kick things up a notch by painting the cups with colors and patterns of your choice.

Use Old Suit Cases as Nightstands or Night-Tables

Take advantage of the classy allure of old suit cases. Stand a bunch of them to create a sizzling nightstand. They’ll  add a touch of sass, style, and flare to your bedroom. And, yes; you can still store some of your valuables in them.

Handmade Candle Holder from an Old Soup Serving Spoon

Nail or glue your old soup serving spoon onto a piece of painted wood. Whether hung indoors or outdoors, the handmade candle holder will sizzle up the interior look.

Recycled Sari Fabric Shower Curtain

A sari is one of the ancient forms of dress still in existent; its characteristic colors and intricate patterns make it stand out from other fabric dresses. Sew up several saris to come up with flamboyant yet colorful sari shower curtain. You’ll always get enchanted by the colors when you take a shower.

Decorative Bowl made out of Recycled Record

It might not be the heydays of vinyl anymore, but records can add some substances to the overall feel and look of your home décor. They can be turned into stepped or smooth decorative bowls.

T-Shirt Rug

Don’t throw away all those fancy tees you don’t wear anymore. These t-shirts can be cut and braided into a lovely rug. The tee colors will certainly provide the rug with an array of patterns.

Use Spoons as Key Hangers

Fold the spoon (or fork) beautiful and fix it on the wall to be used as key or hat hangers. You can also spray paint the metallic part with a color of your choice. There you have it! Now get started today and begin making your house a home with these simple small changes.

Many people are still trying to comprehend how Hurricane Harvey bore down on Houston, bringing with it billions of cubic meters of rain water and destruction on a sinfully large scale. As the death toll continues to add up, we can’t help but notice that Harvey was truly a peculiar hurricane. It intensified quite rapidly, lingered over a single area, and dumped record rains for several days.

Which begs the question: did global warming revved up the intensity of hurricane Harvey? A clique of bespoke scientists seems to think so. And here’s why they are dead right on the spot:

The Question of Wind Intensity before Landfall

Here’s the thing you need to know right from the outset: hurricanes typically dwindle in intensity as they approach the land. That’s purely historical and scientific. You see, evaporation is what fuels hurricanes, implying that the wet, hot ocean air is their rich source. That’s why they tend to lose power and virility as they approach the shore. Surprisingly, Harvey’s speed built up quickly in the last 24 hours to landfall. That alone is a sure-fire sign of the effect of global warming.

According to Professor Kerry at MIT, the potential for wind speeds to soar intensifies in warm temperatures. Borrowing a leaf from Kerry's Statement, we can say that Harvey swelled up because the air on its path was more heated than usual, implying global warming. Startling, right?

A storm that can add more than 60 knots to its speed in the 24 hours prior to landfall was unheard of. In fact, its frequency was estimated at once every century back in the 1900s. According to Kerry, however, we can expect these hurricane mammoths every decade or so by the turn of the century if global warming continues at its current rate. With Harvey having hit that threshold, it should be a huge wake-up call to the world.

The Question of the Volume of Rain

Harvey dumped more than record 50 inches of rainfall within a few days, something Texas has never experienced in its history. Most scientists are now in agreement that Harvey could only have been driven by global warming to pack enough moisture to deliver such tremendous volumes of water. As the planet continues to warm, heat buildup on the surface of the ocean enables the storm to sweep more moisture. And since the air within the storm, too, is warmer, its capability to hold more precipitation also increases.  No matter how you look at it, all signs point towards global warming as the primary culprit for Harvey’s ferocity.

People cannot move towards a sustainable life and a sustainable future until they have the knowledge and understanding of certain ‘important’ aspects of sustainable living. The responsibility of providing people with the knowledge and understanding of these ‘important’ values falls on each one of us. Here are principles that we can educate others about:

Sustainable education is all about making people realize that without considering and involving every person that lives on this planet, we cannot achieve a sustainable future.

We must therefore work in partnership with one another to make sure that the systems we live by are owned by both young and old alike, and that they are feasible not only for this generation, but for all generations that follow. This is what sustainable living is all about.