Saturday, September 12, 2015

A few ways to reduce your carbon footprints

A carbon footprint as defined by Wikipedia is "the total sets of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an organization, event, product or individual."

Plant a tree.

Trees inhale carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen. So if you've got a space within your yard for a little tree, why not plant maybe one or two. As it grows, it will store a significant amount of carbon dioxide thru its woods. Trees also absorb heat, so don't wonder why during summer, staying under a tree has a cooling effect. Tree roots can also delay flooding because its roots absorb water.



Have a mini garden or if you don't have any space, a container garden is a good idea.

Busy moms, wives, entrepreneurs, employees or even students sometimes cannot find enough time to squeeze in gardening so why not have a mini herb garden or an ornamental one depending on your preference. These two are easy to maintain, just start by having at least one or two pots then continually add if you still want more. Little plants as little as they may be just like a tree reduces carbon dioxide into the air and in return releases oxygen. A few pots of decorative plants inside the house would sure give you your daily  oxygen source too.


Water Vapor is the most abundant greenhouse in the atmosphere 

Contrary to the belief that carbon dioxide tops the list of greenhouse gases abundant in our earth, nah, it is actually the water vapor. These are the produce usually of our daily way of life like heating the water or drying our clothes. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to advise you to re-use all your clothes and not wash the bed sheets as frequently as you can. No, not that. Well, we can limit our emissions at least by not heating up water for our bath at least every other day or by turning off the shower heater when it won't be in use anymore within the day. These are for the people in warmer climates or if we are enjoying the hot season. Because I live in the tropics, we are not a fan of shower heaters, the average household here do not have shower heaters, if the weather gets a little colder, the means of  people is to heat water by the stove then add it up to their pale, and that's it, its a heated bath already. So if hot water is not really wanted, sure there's not enough reason for us to boil water and just let it cool down, it will only add up to the abundance of water vapor in our atmosphere.

Turn off the lights or any electricity consuming gadgets/appliances when not is use.

If no one's in the living room, turn off the electric fan/lights quickly. When no one's watching on the television, turn it off. When the computer is not in use, don't let it sleep, all appliances and gadgets in a sleep mode still consumes electricity, shut it down. Many of us are heavily addicted with online games or just staying online facebooking, instagramming, ebaying, well, we can't stop surely, but we can at least cut off the hours we stay online, it will not only reduce our carbon footprints but also our electricity consumption within the month. Instead of staying online we can clean the part of the house that has not been cleaned for a while or re-arrange our closet or find a good book to read.

Why use the car if you can burn a few calories by walking or biking?

If you are to buy at a store somewhere near your place, won't it be a good idea instead to walk it through or if you have a bike, go use one. This way, you will burn the extra calories you consumed on your previous yummy dinner plus it will reduce your carbon footprints. 

Reduce. Re-use. Recycle.

Here in our country, it is almost always a tradition for an average home to burn their yard waste such as fallen leaves, dry grasses including all household waste especially during the summer months. Please refrain from doing this. Burning plastics are harmful and pollutes the air we breathe the same thing with burning leaves. We can just recycle instead by re-using plastic bags or bring along with you recyclable shopping bags when you're shopping, so you won't have to bring home another plastic to throw away. Segregate your waste. Papers that aren't heavily printed can be an addition to you compost bin, that is if you have one and I would suggest you might want to if you have started your mini garden. More so, the kitchen and yard wastes are a great addition to your compost. You maybe thinking, garbage trucks pick-up our garbage on a regular basis, so I don't burn my wastes. Okay, sure, but do you know that biodegradable wastes that are buried in a land fill releases a more potent and harmful gas known as the methane gas via anaerobic decomposition. 

These earth is not only ours to enjoy but of our heirs and the future generations too.  Let us do what we can while we can.


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12 comments:

  1. I am bad at most of these I will admit. I am good about keeping unneeded lights turned off. Do plastic plants provide any benefits? I am terribly lazy :) xoxo

    All Things Bright and Lovely

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    1. hahaha! Plastic plants will do for now til you decide to have real ones dear. xoxo.

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  2. Such lovely ways, thank you for sharing! I want to buy some more plants when I move into my new flat next month :) xx

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    1. Thank you Nevena! I wish you'd feature your new flat on one of your future posts.

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  3. we should really love mother earth ....great job, Lei!

    http://jehanmohammad.blogspot.com/

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  4. cool post!
    thx for sharing!
    xoxo

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  5. Oh thanks for this amazing tips
    xx

    www.sakuranko.com

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  6. But I still need my car...other than this totally no issue at all. :) Nice to me you dear!

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    1. Nice to meet you too Cindy! Thanks for visiting my blog!

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