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CHAOS' NOTE: THIS WAS DOWNLOADED FROM GREENPEACE BBS, AND HAS BEEN
EDITED SOMEWHAT TO MAKE IT CLEARER AND EASIER TO READ. IF YOU WANT
THE ORIGINAL LET ME KNOW.
CHAOS
I've compiled the following list of small, everyday things ordinary
people can do to lessen environmental damage.
I've tried to keep it to simple, uncontroversial suggestions that you
can quickly implement in your life. Some of them are not that simple,
so I've included a "compromise" suggestion that you can do initially.
Some of them are not that uncontroversial either. For example, I've
followed the debate here on disposable vs cloth diapers and made the
suggestion that I consider to be best.
No, I don't practice all of the practices on this list, but I'm
getting there. I'm not an environmental expert, and I'm receptive to
corrections, additions, and other comments on this list.
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Suggestions for living in a manner that is respectful of the
environment.
- Think globally, act locally.
- Don't buy products from or invest in businesses that harm
the environment. Explain to them why.
- Don't buy cosmetics from companies that abuse animals.
- Recycle. Start with newspapers, glass, clear plastic, and
aluminum cans.
- Use recycled products. Buy greeting cards made from
recycled paper.
- Purchase drinks in glass or cans instead of plastic
containers. Glass and aluminum are easier to recycle.
- Ask for paper instead of plastic bags at the supermarket.
Ask that your frozen foods not be wrapped in plastic wrap.
Don't use a bag when you can easily carry your purchase by
hand.
- Refill drinking water instead of buying a new plastic
container each time.
- Cut up the plastic rings that hold together 6-packs so that
there are no loops. (Birds get caught on them.)
- Cut up plastic bags you dispose of, especially clear ones.
(Sea turtles mistake them for jellyfish and die from
ingesting them.)
- Purchase items in bulk packaging.
- Avoid aerosol cans.
- Buy organic produce.
- Avoid clothes that need dry cleaning.
- Use cloth diapers. Compromise: use disposables on
vacation. Use disposables at night.
- Use a laundry detergent that is low in phosphorus.
- Use a clothes line.
- Avoid products packaged in plastic. E.g. buy margarine in
paper/wax wrappers instead of the plastic tubs. Reuse
the plastic containers you do buy.
- Wash your dishes by hand.
- Don't let the water run when you brush your teeth.
- Limit offspring. Consider adoption. Compromise: make the
first, adopt the rest.
- Teach your children the importance of the environment.
- Dress according to the weather, and set the thermostat
appropriately.
- Live close enough to work that you can walk or bicycle
there. Compromise: Carpool. Use public transit.
- Carpool. Use public transit. Compromise: buy a fuel-
efficient car.
- Don't buy a car air conditioner.
- If it's within walking distance, walk to it.
- Don't flood your house/yard with insecticide, chemical
fertilizers, etc.
- Dispose of toxics properly (paint [thinner], motor oil,
...).
- Have only as much lawn as you're willing to cut with a push
mower.
- Water your yard at night.
- Plant trees. Garden; use your garbage as compost.
- Shop by mail.
- Avoid products made of animal parts (ivory, leather
wallets and belts, snake skin boots, etc, etc).
- Donate to environmental groups.
Environmental Defense Fund: Dept P, 257 Park Av
South, NY NY 10010.
Environmental Action Foundation: 1525 New Hampshire Avenue,
NW, Washington, DC 20036.
Sierra Club: 730 Polk St, SF CA 94109.
Conservation Foundation: 1250 24th St NW, Suite 500,
Washington DC, 20037.
- Encourage the easing of world tensions, so as to
increase the opportunity for arms reductions.
- (Publicly) congratulate and encourage reformed
polluters and those with good environmental records.
- Support measures that will mitigate population
pressure.
- Encourage your town/city to start a curbside recycling
program.
- Discourage the attitude that the Earth and the life forms on
it exist to be plundered and shaped for the pleasure of
humans.
- Discourage the attitude that the future is destined, --that
events are beyond our influence, that we can not solve the
problems we have created.
- Encourage the viewpoint that it is immoral to future
generations for us to not move the human race toward a
sustainable lifestyle.
- Discourage over reliance on technological fixes.
- Emphasize that much of the problem is due to everyday
activities of ordinary people.
SOME COMMENTS AND ADDITIONS TO THE ABOVE FROM REPLIES ON ENVIRONET.
CHAOS
> - Ask for paper instead of plastic bags at the supermarket.
Bring your own sturdy, reusable bag(s) (backpacks work very well).
(Note: this is the norm in Europe, from what my German teacher said.)
Actually asking for paper bags at the supermarket is not really the
answer. The brown paper bags are composed of paper with the longest
fibers which only come from fresh trees. Bags like this are not made
of recycled paper, but they can be recycled. The newest plastic ones
(with cornstarch) do degrade faster in the environment than the old
ones, however, the above suggestion is the best.
Chaos
> - Carpool. Use public transit.
> Compromise: buy a fuel-efficient car.
Compromise: buy a motorcycle, scooter, or moped. They're generally
far more fuel-efficient, from what little I've seen. (Best of all,
walk or bicycle, but that was mentioned in a suggestion I clipped. . .
> - Avoid clothes that need dry cleaning.
Don't buy synthetics -- cotton is generally more comfortable, anyway.
> - Discourage over reliance on technological fixes.
Depends on what the "technological fix" is. Wind power is a TF,
as is the bicycle. Also houses/apartments, telephones, mail-
order shopping. . . .
(i.e. Think about the technology you use, not all technology is
environmentally damaging.)
>Avoid products made of animal parts (ivory, leather wallets and
belts, snake skin boots, etc, etc).
While I (mostly) agree, this has more to do with being kind to animals
than helping the environment. Leather, after all, is a durable and
non-environmentally-harmful material (as opposed to, say, nylon or
rayon). The leather belt I'm wearing has been in daily use for about
the past fifteen (15) years, and is still in good condition; it may
well last five more. On the other hand, if a company is doing animal
testing, chances are their product isn't exactly what one would call
environmentally safe. Cosmetics, Drano. . . . Yeesh.