Photographer : smallandround @ flickr
I’ve always been told the best place to start anything is in your own backyard. I don’t have a backyard, so my house seemed like the next best thing. To be honest, I thought I was pretty good as far as recycling, water management and energy conservation. Oh how wrong I was!
Water, water everywhere
Before I took notice, I thought fifteen 15 minute showers were short, and washing machines didn’t use that much water. After doing a little background research, I realised that showers spit out between fifteen 15 and twenty 20 litres of water every minute, and you can save up to ten litres of water just by making sure you have a full load. Even leaving a tap running while brushing your teeth can waste around sixteen 16 litres a minute.
Action needed to be taken. First, the shower head was changed to a water saver (shoots out about nine 9 litres of water a minute), and I only allow myself an eight 8 minute shower. It was really difficult to begin with, especially when you wake have to get up early for work and need those extra minutes of indulgence to wake up. Once you get used to the routine, you don’t even need the alarm. I also have a permanent bucket in the bottom of the shower, so I can water my balcony garden and minimise water going down the drain.
Taps were the next target. All taps were checked for leakage and washers replaced if they were too old. Also, water aerators have beenwere fixed onto the main taps so that it cutsto cut the amount of water that comes out by almost half. I keep and re-use water bottles so that I always have cold water in the fridge, and there’s minimum excuse to turn on the tap! And lastly, instead of leaving the tap running while brushing my teeth, I now fill up a glass of water and rinse my toothbrush in there. Water saved!
Then there was light!
Once again, I thought I was aware of my energy use. Wrong again! But to give myself a little credit, I don’t leave on lights unless completely necessary and I do catch public transport. That’s about it though. I didn’t know that even if the appliance was switched off, it still uses energy if the power point is on. So, I am now in the habit of not only turning off lights that I don’t need, but all appliances that aren’t being used –— computers, hair dryer, kettle, dvdDVD player, everything!
All my lights have energy-saver light bulbs. Not only is it better for the environment, but they can take a chunk out of your electricity bill. I only allow myself to use the dryer for emergencies, instead of drying everything using the dryer. I’ve also discovered that most energy providers have a green energy option. And some of them can beare really cheap. So I now have 10% of my energy coming from renewable energy sources, and I am working my way up to 100%. Why not pay for an energy resource that is good for the environment with the money I’m saving?
What else to do?
I’ve built a little recycling system in the house.— Kkeeping newspapers, bottles, and glass containers and recycling them instead of throwing them away. like I used to do. I didn’t realise how much stuff I was throwing away that could be re-used. I was disgusted! I guess you don’t realise until you actually take notice.
Organic waste takes up a great deal of space in landfill, so I now have a worm farm. Instead of throwing out veggie scraps, I can feed them to the little guys, they can break it down naturally, and I can use the castings on my plants. I have started a mini herb garden, so that I grow organic products and reap the rewards (pun intended). I also keep plants inside now. They are natural air cleaners, so no need for aerosol cans.
I’ve also started taking extra care in choosing what products I use to clean with. Phosphorous and chloride are really toxic for the environment and cause major damage in water systems. Anti-bacterial products can promote bacterial mutations and cause illness. So, I began to use biodegradable products and non anti-bacterial. They work just as good as normal cleaners!
Along my research path I discovered that there are household items that can double as cleaning products. Things like —white vinegar, talc powder, lemons, tea-tree oil, eucalyptus oil, and bi-carbonated soda all have cleaning properties. So I pretended that I was back in science class, and carried out an experiment. Funnily enough, a mixture of vinegar, bi-carb soda and water can basically clean anything just as well as marketed products. So, for those struggling uni-students who would rather spend their money on beer than multi-purpose cleaner, this is for you!
Was it all worth it?
I’m really proud that I started this, not just for implementing it and hopefully saving money, but to actually realise how much I could impact the environment by just keeping and keep to my lifestyle. It’s quite astounding. The funny thing is that Tthe changes aren’t that big and don’t impose on my everyday living. If everyone changed one behaviour, imagine what we could achieve. I really believe that little actions make big results.
How I know this…
Save Water.Com
http://www.savewater.com.au/index.php?sectionid=154
Treehugger
www.treehugger.com/gogreen.php
Joey Green’s Wacky Uses
www.wackyuses.com
Eco-Living Action
www.livingthing.net.au/WYKD.h1.htm
Australian Greenhouse Office
http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/education/tips/home.html
Origin Energy
http://www.originenergy.com.au/home/template.php?pageid=1542
Nancy’s Neutral Cleaning Resources
www.nancysnatural.info/index.html
