We all know how tricky and expensive it can be to alter your daily routine and make changes to reduce your environmental impact. While making those big changes are great, we all need an easy place to start! Here’s what you can do right now to help our planet:
Credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org
1. Delete those old emails! That email sitting in your spam folder for an expired 20% off coupon to a store you shopped at once surprisingly has a negative impact on the environment. While emails may seem like an eco-friendly alternative to traditional mail since there is no physical waste of paper, the process of sending and storing emails on servers uses electricity, and oftentimes that electricity is created with fossil fuels that release carbon emissions into the atmosphere. It is estimated that just one email can create 0.3 to 50 grams of carbon dioxide. To put that in perspective a paper clip is about 1 gram, so while 0.3 of that may seem like a small number those emails add up!
2.Cut the strings on your disposable masks when you throw them away. A lot of us have heard about cutting up the plastic soda can holders and this same practice can be used on the ear loops of the single-use face masks. When these strings are left uncut and they find their way into the environment, animals can get stuck and tied up in the strings. This can really hurt that animal as it may limit their movement if they need to search for food or make a quick escape from a predator.
3. Stop idling your car in drive through lanes. The next time you’re in the drive-through lane picking up your coffee consider turning your car off in between moving forward. Some newer cars already do this on their own! If you speculate that you will be idling your car in a drive through lane for longer than 10 seconds, you are saving yourself gas and reducing carbon emissions by turning your car off and then restarting before pulling forward. An alternative to this would simply be parking and going in to place your order so that your car can be completely shut off while you make your purchases.
The idea behind this blog post is to inform the reader on ways that they can make small changes in their life to make an impact. If you have more suggestions please comment on one of our posts we’d love to hear your ideas!
Samantha King
Naturalist