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3 Green Living Tips for Families
While most families want to take steps to reduce their
carbon footprint, many don’t know where to start. Others think that making more
environmentally-friendly choices won’t make a big difference to the planet or
that sustainable living is too much time and effort.
Aside from going solar with an ecoflow delta max
generator, making a few other eco-friendly changes to your lifestyle can
have a massive impact on your family’s carbon footprint. Everyday choices about
what we eat, what we buy, and what we do with our waste can significantly
affect the environment.
Here are three low-effort tips that can make a big difference.
1. Eat Less Meat
Whether firing up the grill for a family barbeque or packing
our lunches with cold deli cuts, we Americans eat a lot of meat. We don’t
consider that meat production and distribution require vast outlays of
resources (such as fuel, feed, pesticides, fertilizers, and water). It also
releases toxic chemicals and greenhouse gases into the environment.
According to a lifecycle assessment by EWG, producing and
distributing red meat like beef and lamb creates 10 to 40 times more greenhouse
gas emissions than vegetables and grains.
While it’s not for everyone, becoming a vegetarian or vegan reduces a single person’s carbon footprint by 30 to 50% instantly. However, simply eating less red meat or dedicating one or two days per week to vegetarian meals will reduce a family’s overall carbon footprint by around 5 to 15% - that’s a big difference!
2. Compost Your Food Waste
It’s easy to buy too much food from the market or grocery
store only to toss it away a week later. Food waste accounts for 40% of all
waste in North America – but let’s face it: we’ve all done it. And food waste
doesn’t just take up space in landfills; its decomposition also releases large
amounts of methane gas into the atmosphere. So, what’s the solution to our food
waste problem?
The answer is surprisingly simple – all you need to do is compost
your family’s food waste. Instead of releasing methane into the atmosphere
and taking up space in a landfill, your food waste will become a rich, organic
compost to use in your veggie patch or donate to your local community garden.
You can compost nearly all organic waste – from kitchen scraps, eggshells, and coffee grounds to grass clippings, paper, and cottonwool. To get started, designate a large container (preferably with a lid) in your kitchen for all organic waste. Once a week, empty your container onto a compost heap, add some soil and water, and you’re done.
3. Avoid Single-Use Plastics
Whether you’re packing the kids’ lunch or your own, it’s
easy to fall into the habit of relying on single-serve plastic items – like
wrapped cheese sticks, packets of nuts, plastic juice containers, etc. Instead
of buying individually packaged items, opt for big containers and portion them
yourself. By purchasing these items in bulk, your wallet will thank you too!
You should also cut down on the number of plastic single-use utensils and water bottles you use. Instead, use reusable utensils for your food, glassware for your water, and a reusable mug for your coffee. Most coffee places will even allow you to bring your own reusable mug when you buy your morning cup of java.
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