Adopting Eco-Habits: Your first steps towards an environmental-friendly lifestyle
By: Maliha Amanat
Tags: Ecology, Conservation, Climate Change, Environment

The way we choose to live profoundly affects our environment. Our role in the grand ecosystem is indispensable. We are continuously contributing to transforming the environment around us. Each of us has an impact on the environment. And, so we have wonderful opportunities to make our impact on the environment constructive and beneficial. We can potentially reduce our negative impact on the environment by adopting an environmental-friendly lifestyle.

Did you know, scientists claimed that humans are 100% responsible for global warming and climate change. The ceaseless anthropogenic activities resulted in hefty growth of radiative forcing — it is a climate forcing which refers to the amount of energy that remains in the Earth’s atmosphere and surface. Although climate forcing can be man-made and natural, research says over the past 150 years human-caused radiative forcings significantly dominates. These radiative forcings include greenhouses gases (GHGs), atmospheric aerosols, ozone, etc. However, greenhouse gases (the red line) take the lead.

Figure 1 — Global mean surface temperatures from Berkeley Earth (black dots) and modeled the influence of different radiative forcing (colored lines), as well as the combination of all forcing (grey line) for the period from 1850 to 2017. Chart by Carbon Brief using Highcharts.

Experts said,

“… Last year, following an intensive research effort involving a dozen scientists, I concluded that global warming was real and that the prior estimates of the rate of warming were correct. I’m now going a step further: Humans are almost entirely the cause.” Richard A. Muller (an American physicist) “… The best estimate of the human contribution to modern warming is around 100%.” Zeke Hausfather (a researcher and author at CarbonBrief)

Essentially, our course of action is limited. We cannot and we should not stop industrialization, or completely stop deforestation, or eradicate plastic consumption, or stop using engines and vehicles. Obviously, these extreme measures would cause an economic depression. Although there are several useful, sustainable systems, and eco-economic concepts which have been implementing by institutions. But such measures necessitate rigorous management, skills and knowledge, and stakeholder involvement. They are next-level actions.

On the other side, there are many ways that we can execute on our own and by which we can save the environment and play a positive role in combating climate change and global warming. These are personal actions called eco-habits short for environmental-friendly habits that are simple and small though they are effective in the long-run.

Ironically, the first step is not a single step. The first step is adopting eco-habits, that you and I can perform on our own without any collaboration or management or skill. However, you do need some knowledge to execute them.

Education is important

You cannot act until you don’t know. And when you don’t know you cannot change anything. So, a very basic eco-habit is to educate yourself. Equipping yourself with correct knowledge is absolutely beneficial and essential. We have powerful tools that are books and the internet which are ample to educate ourselves. The correct and authentic knowledge can be achieved by studying different perspectives from different information sources. Educate yourself about the causes and effects of environment-pollutants and toxins and their impacts. Learning about your environmental footprint, about GHGs, and viable solutions to these may serve as a good start.

Reduce waste

You are privileged that you are accessing fresh food and water every time you need it. But there are more than 500 million people who do not have access to fresh food and millions of children are suffering from fatal malnourishment. And, because of the evaporation of freshwater reservoirs, the number of climate refugees is increasing, and freshwater — which is drinking water — is becoming a commodity. This is depressing. But we have mitigation opportunities. So, essentially, don’t waste water and don’t waste food — easier said than done! It is easy. Let’s break it into doable and easy eco-habits.

We should,

properly close taps/faucets after use– do not let water to continuously flow from taps

repair water leakages — there are ways that you can do it without needing a plumber, all you need is to check for water leakages and YouTube the fixture or use google — which one you like

reduce water usage in washing purposes — we usually consume more than required water in dishwashing, car washing, laundering, body washing, etc.

close the faucets while washing face or hands or brushing

not let the even one gram of fresh food to go in the trash

take only that much food that can be consumed before staling it

For your information, organic waste releases methane gas (a greenhouse gas) in the environment. Every time, you save these important resources from wasting, you combat these global issues. This eco-habit would be effective if it is performed with consistency.

Grow Plants

Plants offer remarkable benefits to health, wellbeing, and the environment. These beautiful living things purify air, increase humidity, absorb Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), adsorb atmospheric aerosols and dust, keep you closer to nature, offer psychological and cognitive benefits and so much more. Growing plants is easy. All you need is a seed, soil, a pot, and some water. There is diversity in plants. They can be grown indoors and outdoors, with soil or without soil, and even for specific purposes — for example, there are plants that repel insects, treat wastewater, etc. Regardless of plant size and specie, they serve as a natural sink to Carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide gas is released by breathing, cooking, and using electricity: plants absorb it and reduce concentrations of GHGs from the environment. However, plants do release carbon dioxide but they absorb more gas than they release. Therefore, plantation gives opportunities to offset GHG emissions.

Practice Conservation

Resources are never infinite. Conservation is a wise practice. Domestically electricity and natural gas are common resources that are obtained by burning fossil fuels. Every time, we consume electrical energy and natural gas we contribute to the burning of fossil fuel and emission of GHGs — and that’s negative. However, fortunately, we have opportunities to make it less negative. There is so much that we can do.

We should,

not leave the lights on

watch out for electronic plugins and do not leave the appliances plugged — electrical appliances consume energy even when they are un-played and plugged-in

not leave the gas stove open — save natural gas

use energy-saving lighting instead of incandescent bulbs and tube lights

try to use natural solar light (sunlight) in morning and noon if you have ample exposure of sunlight — saving electricity means reducing GHGs

Re-Use Plastics

Plastics are rapidly reaching oceans and landfills. They are harming wildlife and oceans and consequentially, damaging our foodchain. Plastics (a polymer) serve a very good example to imitate the Linear Economy approach — it is an approach of Take (natural resources), Make (the manufacturing and products), and Waste (dump or release in the natural environment or landfill) — which is prevalent in the contemporary world. Therefore by this approach, we end-up in depletion of natural resources and more and more waste. Plastic takes non-renewable resources as raw materials which are oil, coal, and natural gas, and in making it requires even more energy and releases GHGs and other pollutants, and eventually, it goes to waste — where it becomes a pressing issue for the world. Again, it is not a wise approach to stop plastic production at once across the globe without the provision of sustainable alternatives. What you and I can do individually is to reduce the use of single-use plastics.

We should,

use cloth bags or baskets for shopping or groceries

re-use plastic bags multiple times

avoid taking straws

reduce the use of plastic bottles and replace them with glass containers

Walk, Walk, Walk

This eco-habit could be annoying for many of us — because we are so used to seeking elevators and avoiding stairs, and that’s okay to go for easy. But this difficult activity if done with regularity would provide impressive results. While it is genuinely beneficial to your health and wellbeing. It is having environmental benefits too. One, when you walk you actually save engine emissions; two, walking regularly may motivate you to contemplate nature and may connect you with nature and natural ecosystems. And, when you contemplate the natural environment you tend to conserve it.

Therefore,

No one alone can eradicate global warming and climate change. What we can do is to minimize its causes. To start from basics, we can individually adopt environmental-friendly habits to at least somewhat minimize our negative impacts on the natural environment. The eco-habits are not limited to the mentioned ones. There are many other good things that we can implement on our own.

The urge is to possibly and easily minimize the use of non-renewable energy and wastage of resources. And, be a part of the solution instead of the problem.