6 Eco-Friendly Living Habits that Everyone Should Try

With the natural world under heavy threat, it’s becoming increasingly important for us to take up eco-friendly living habits. At the end of the day, creating a fairer, greener environment will go a long way towards making all our lives better.

While you might be eager to try eco-friendly living yourself, it can sometimes be difficult to determine where to start. We’ve gotten rid of all the guesswork and put together six solid habits to help make your world a little greener:

Cut Down Your Water Use

According to statistics from the EPA, the average American family uses around 300 gallons of water a day. With the world facing a serious climate change problem causing drought in most parts, it’s crucial that we all do our best to save as much water as we can. Conserving water ensures its stability and prevents shortages. Besides, by saving water, you save extra money!

Even though most parts of the country have safe drinking water, things like fossil fuel emissions, toxic runoff from agriculture, and degraded infrastructure have put many at risk of contaminated water. Avoid tossing any chemicals down your drain at home. This will go a long way in keeping local water tables safe.

Practice Energy Efficiency

Energy in the form of gas or electricity is essential when it comes to daily operations, powering nearly every aspect of modern life. Unfortunately, energy consumption is also one of the biggest hurdles to eco-friendly living. Luckily, there are lots of ways to practice energy efficiency in your daily life. This can be as simple as opening the windows in your home instead of relying on air conditioning to increase airflow.

Similarly, during the fall, you can put on a heavy sweater instead of cranking up the heat. Statistics show that heaters often use a significant, costly amount of energy in the home. Apart from that, you should also fix any loose windows to keep conditioned air in and save big on bills.

Go Nontoxic at Home

EPA stats show that indoor air is around 10 times more polluted than outside air. This is due to the high number of chemicals found in conventional cleaners and many other home products. If you want to dive deeper into eco-friendly living, this can be a great starting point. When you choose nontoxic cleaning products, detergents, toiletries, and candles, you make your indoor air cleaner and healthier.

Get Smart with Your Electronics

Basic home appliances also tend to use up a lot of energy – but there are several ways you can conserve energy here, too. For example, you can use outlet timers and power strips to regulate their energy consumption. These devices automatically stop energy consumption once a certain amount is reached. It will also help if you turn off your laptop or desktop when not using them. These devices tend to consume a considerable amount of energy even when not in use. You should also mitigate e-waste by properly recycling old batteries, cell phones, and light bulbs at designated electronic waste recycling centers. This helps conserve energy and facilitates proper e-waste management.

Smart Laundry

Wearing clothes means you have to wash them. While this is good for your personal hygiene, poor laundry practices could see you waste a lot of energy. To make sure you’re not using too much energy when doing your laundry, start by adjusting your washer cycle to match the size of your laundry load. This goes a long way in promoting energy efficiency, as running regular settings on a small load wastes both water and electricity, which directly equates to more money out of your pocket. In addition, you should use cold water to wash clothes whenever you can, as using hot water only further increases energy consumption.

Choose Good Food

Good food refers to food that is organic, or food grown without fertilizers and synthetic pesticides known to pollute the planet. Organic foods are also planted and harvested in ways that don’t undermine and exploit farmworkers, nor are they tough on the animals they may come from. It’s important to note that regenerative agriculture heals the soil and allows it to act as a better carbon sink. In fact, several studies have found that a global switch to organic foods and regenerative farming could play a significant role in reversing the current climate crisis.