Moving to a Green Lifestyle
A green lifestyle means living a healthy life and a full commitment to “conserving energy and water”[1]. Making it a goal to care for the environment also means taking care of yourself. Green living entails minimizing the waste you put out into your surroundings and refusing to contribute to the pollutions worsening global warming.
Taking time to align life decisions to a more eco-friendly lifestyle contributes to reshaping the planet to a healthier one in the long run. The positive effect of green living further increases if more people were to take the road to a much environment-friendly day-to-day life.
Achieving this lifestyle is a matter of aligning everyday actions. This can start with the choices you make regarding your home: from the location and construction of the house you are residing at to the minor everyday routine you unconsciously do to start your day.
Ideal Community Locations
Going green can first start in choosing to live in a home near nature. Being close to nature is not hard to achieve in the Philippines, given the country’s reputation of being rich in natural wonders.
More people are starting to desire a life where fresh air is not overpowered with the smoke coming from vehicles, or where the natural light is obstructed by the walls of buildings. There is a growing recognition that a home situated close to nature does not just increase physical health, it also greatly affects mental and emotional stability.
A community located near establishments providing the needs and wants of residents is also ideal. This lessens the number of people using either public transportation or private vehicles, which both greatly contribute to air pollution. This guarantees a fresh environment, making a healthy life more feasible for residents.
Go for Sustainable Homes
The floor plan, design, and materials used in a home are vital when choosing to live lightly with lesser waste production. A sustainable home conserves energy as it is constructed to provide natural ventilation to the homeowners.
Choosing energy-efficient roofs such as metal ones allow temperature regulation inside the house to be much easier. For tropical countries where bouts of warm to hot weather happen, regulating the temperature inside the house is much easier with metal or ribbed type roofing. It requires low power usage of electric fans and air conditioning units (ACUs).
The placements of windows also help conserve energy, as its strategic design planning allows utilization of the natural air and light. This lessens the use of temperature-regulating appliances, therefore reducing carbon emission and saving electricity. Even the materials used in windows have the potential to be energy efficient. One of the great window type choices when pursuing a green lifestyle is the Jalousie window, as they can control the heat inside residential houses.
Use Eco-friendly Products
Using alternative materials for plastic products has been a long-running campaign worldwide, in which major plastic-using industries, such as Fast Food chains, have actively participated.
Wood, porcelain, and metal utensils overtook the public dining set-up. Usage of plastic straws remarkably declined — seeing the more environment-friendly option of just drinking by the glass or using the more durable metal straws. Adapting these alternative materials at home further ensures a green living goal.
The goal to use less plastic can also be achieved through the initiative to bring cloth bags when doing grocery shopping. Doing this helps in avoiding disposable plastic bags.
Recycling Goes a Long Way
Separating garbage at home is one step in making a greener environment.
Currently, the country has imposed a stricter waste segregation scheme pioneered by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). The stricter implementation highly encourages every household to be responsible for their wastes. It also motivates each person to identify which of their trashes can still be reused and recycled.
Proper disposal also lowers the risk of toxic waste potentially harming people or the environment. Having a separate bin for toxic, wet, biodegradable, and recyclable wastes can reduce landfills and lessen the spread of toxins and harmful gases.
Recycling saves a lot. This minimizes the need to buy new products that will eventually turn into waste when not wanted or needed. One example is plastic bottles. Joining the bandwagon like hopping into the trend of buying several indoor plants produced positive effects during the quarantine period. It encouraged plantitos and plantitas to recycle unused plastic bottles and turn them into creative indoor plant pots.
Moving to a green lifestyle does not just entail making real differences and benefit the environment. It is also about living a healthier life. One of the key indicators of this is a community capable of satisfying the worries of the residents when it comes to the accessibility of their daily needs.
From life decisions, such as choosing the best home option, to the minor details, such as garbage segregation, every point can contribute greatly towards the goal of impeding the progress of climate change; fulfilling the objective of a green lifestyle.
Source:
[1]Movements: Exploring the Intersection of Lifestyle and Social Movements by Ross Haenfler, Brett Johnson, and Ellis Jones