As the inhabitants of earth, we have been blessed with an abundance of wonderful benefits that come from nature. Maintaining the wellbeing and prosperity of a green earth is not only visibly beautiful but a must to maintain the existence of its inhabitants. How can we do this living in the city? The lifestyle that accompanies living in the city can cause us to forget about the importance of nature. No matter how strenuous, it is the responsibility of every citizen to keep the earth and our cities clean. Here are 7 ways in which it can be done.
1. Reuse
The first 'R' for a clean environment is reusing waste; rather than buying a new set of products every time you visit the market or dispose of the ones you already possess only after few uses, strive to reuse them in innovative ways. This way is understandably not always easy to follow when you are living in the city. The reasons are because of less time and more hustle, but if you take one step, you can affect change. Instead of throwing away the old plastic cola bottle, cut into halves and use them as a pot to grow plants in your garden or inside the house.
2. Recycle
The second 'R' is recycling. This process is in fact the easiest path that you can take when in the city. In the city and local communities waste is categorized into three groups, (i) Metal (ii) Plastic, and (iii) organic. Collect the plastic and metal wastes in your home and give them to government waste collectors. Organic wastes that are produced from everyday use of flowers, food and vegetables can be used in composting in your garden, patio or yard.
3. Reduce
Reducing waste is a direct consequence of the first two steps; the final 'R' to maintain a healthy environment is to reduce the use of toxic and synthetic compounds. People are so tempted to use abuse this in our ever present carbon footprint environment. There is a common saying that we must give the world more than we take from it. This should be in the form of pure and organic materials. While living In the city, you can reduce your carbon footprint by taking a bike ride instead of driving a car
4. Avoid Littering
For any productive changes to take place, we must improve our efforts and do every bit possible. Instead of throwing the chocolate wrappers and chip bags any and everywhere on the road, collect them and put them in the trash once you reach home or dispose of it when you find a recycle bin on the roadside or sidewalk. Teach your children to abide by these same rules, and they will grow to become responsible citizens.
5. Do not accept plastic bags
The most common thing that one is likely to find in the market is the over supply of plastic bags. To some it is more of a convenient option which is wasteful. You can however have your own cloth bags of different sizes and carry them along with you to market. You can go zero waste and use glass or bamboo bottles to store water or beverages and eliminate the one time use plastics.
6. Plant more trees
One thing that you can do to take part and encourage others in the green movement in your city is to plant trees in your garden or on your terrace. If you feel that you are not being able to devote much time to maintain them, you can involve the entire family and each person can sow the seeds of love in taking care of nature. This will train each person to take on the responsibility of treating the plants as a project of their own.
7. Ditch the carbon emitter vehicles
Rather than taking your private vehicles to work daily look at other options such as a bike ride or the subway and other innovative forms of transportation such as electric vehicles. This will not only reduce the emission of harmful carbon out of the air, but there are economic as well as health benefits to doing so.