Going Green in the 21st Century
Don’t waste clean water
What is the first thing we usually do when we wake in morning? Go to the toilet and then bathroom of course. After ten minutes we have probably used 20 liters of water, probably much more if we are wasteful. Now, in Australia the are 22 million people so that amounts to about 440 million liters of water enough to fill about 180 Olympic sized swimming pools. All of that water flushed down the drain in just in the first ten minutes of the day.
Saving water is easy
So get into the habit of saving water. When you go to the toilet it is not always necessary to flush urine every time so just leave it there till the time comes when there is solid waste to flush. Old style toilet cisterns are very wasteful so rip it out and use a modern type with a low flow efficient flushing. When showering we use about 80 to 120 liters of water! There too, invest in a low flow shower head and save up to 80% on your water consumption, if possible save the grey water and divert it to the garden. Grey water from the shower is quite benign and will not harm the environment if used in the garden. Even grey water from the washing machine can be diverted to the garden if you don’t use washing powders with harmful chemicals. There are eco friendly detergents available that you can be used instead.
Don’t waste electricity
No matter how much we try to avoid it, the elephant in the room is global warming and the single biggest cause is electricity produced by coal, the cheapest means of producing power. The western world has always been ‘power hungry’ and now the vast populations in the Asian regions are rapidly becoming more technologically advanced and electricity production there is increasing rapidly.
Be energy efficient
Did you know that even when the TV and other consumer products are ‘switched off’ they can still be using electricity. Even the charger for the laptop or mobile phone is using electricity even though the laptop is closed or the plug pulled from the mobile phone. So get into the habit of switching appliances off at the wall to ensure that power is not being wasted.
Use a solar charger for mobile phones, we all use mobile phones, some have several so every time save electricity and reduce global warming by not using a wall charger that is connected to the local power station that is using dirty coal which pollutes the atmosphere and generates greenhouse gases.
If we all do a bit it will help to turn the tide.
