In a world of large corporations that use a great number of natural resources, it can be difficult for an individual to imagine that they can have any sort of environmental impact. But as a homeowner, you actually have quite a lot of power and responsibility. You have many choices to make while running a household, and sustainability is always an option that will not only benefit the environment but will bring happiness to your entire household.
So the question is: Why should your entire home “go green”?
You’ll Save Money on Heating & CoolingThere are many ways of saving money from your heating system. While not everyone can afford solar panels, though they are increasingly becoming more and more affordable, you can insulate and regulate the temperature in your home to save big on that bill, not to mention gain a more evenly regulated temperature across your house. You’ll be surprised what a simple open window can do for your internal temperature.
Save Trees by Using Less Paper
Obviously, the less paper you use, the more money you spend. But it is often difficult to see how paper use can slowly accumulate over time, and, therefore, conserving paper is less likely to be perceived as a financial gain. And with additional costs like printing and postage, these costs can easily multiply.
Use less paper by going digital. Adjusting margins to fit more on a page, going double-sided, and even stopping a process responsible for the deaths of many trees a year: junk mail can all contribute to less paper waste daily.
Keep The Air Cleaner by Using Less Fuel
While not an issue strictly tied to your home, making the decision to purchase an environmentally-friendly car certainly has the ability to positively affect your household budget. Most electric cars nowadays run using ⅓ of the cost of a normal car, guaranteeing you savings that you will definitely notice. Of course, if you live in an area with easy-to-access public transportation, you are saving 100% of the money you would otherwise spend on fuel.
Before and after making these kinds of changes to your home, you can check out this power profiler to compare your air emissions to the average rate of emissions in your area to measure the impact your changes have made.
But going green brings much more than just savings. When you “go green,” you will also…
Reduce Household Clutter
If you have ever been inside an entirely eco-friendly home, you may have noticed how clean and clutter-free everything is. Living an environmentally friendly lifestyle makes you think carefully about the products you buy and not just the food in your fridge.
It signifies a complete change in your way of living (through in the best way possible!), and you will be amazed at the difference that a few different decisions will make in the liveability and cleanliness of your household.
Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
You want to leave behind a better world and reduce the negative impact humans have had on the environment. You can use this website to calculate your own unique carbon footprint, and as you’ll see, factors like how much electricity, gas, and heating you use in your home play a huge role in calculating your own carbon footprint.
Reduce the need for the ever-growing landfills
The public awareness of landfills has decreased while the landfills themselves have done nothing but increase, posing a real threat to the ecosystem. Having an efficient recycling system in your house can help divert some of these threatening mounds: in fact, recycling can divert up to 50% of the trash that would end up in the landfill or in any other place where trash is left to very slowly decay.
Support a Vital Recycling Industry
Speaking of recycling, the recycling industry has created thousands of jobs, giving many people the opportunity to help the environment while earning a living. It’s an ever-growing industry, and being responsible for recycling in your household can let you be a part of it.
Support the Jobs and Lifestyles of Family Stores
Buying local food and using locally-made products takes your business away from large corporations who are often unpunished for their negative environmental impact. Supporting smaller, local, environmentally friendly businesses is a great way to show your support for businesses that do things ethically and sustainably.
If you’re looking to buy local food, in particular, this site can help you track down the local, organic food in your area, while this article can help you discern what is “green” from what is not.
Tell the Big Businesses What is Important to You
Showing your support for organic, local, eco-friendly products is a great way to join a growing movement that demands corporate responsibility and overall change from big businesses who abuse the environment (not to mention the humans in it) for financial gain. Although it seems like too big of a power to fight, it is still a battle that can be won: and just by making a few different decisions about how you run your household, you can join this movement that has actual results to show for itself.
Be a Part of Something Much Bigger than You
We all want to be a part of something bigger, and living a sustainable life is an excellent way of doing it. Not only will your quality of life increase, but your participation in a global movement to change the way we perceive and interact with our environment is nothing to sniff at. If you need any more inspiration, you hardly have to look far to see story upon story of environmental successes that prove that this is a movement that is worth investing time in, and there are plenty of seats left for you to join!
Maybe the question is not so much “Why go green?” but is, instead: “Why have you not gone green already?” The benefits far outweigh the extra initial effort you’ll have to put in and will bring you health, happiness, and savings in the long run. Become a part of something you can be proud of, and others are sure to follow in your wake.
