Just a few ideas for keeping up our shared home, and making it more
pleasant and more useful for generations to come:
Refuse: If you don't need it, don't take it! This includes
paper and plastic bags, straws, napkins, and plasticware. Break the habit
of taking unnecessary things!
Reduce:Buy what you need,
avoid "big eyes" shopping syndrome.
Re-use: A powerful way to conserve resources, re-use
is a challenge to the imagination as well. Many of the consumer goods and
products we use today can easily provide uses beyond their original intent;
this in turn eliminates the need to manufacture additional goods to serve
these dual purposes. Unlike recycling, re-use takes little or no energy
input (except for a bit of brain-power!) and produces much quicker results.
Recycle:Not everything
can be re-used, and everything has its useful limit. Nonetheless, recycling
provides a means to reclaim many otherwise wasted resources, and to restore
them to usefulness reincarnated. You can even recycle diskettes
and other electronic media. Today, many cities already have recycling programs
in place, designed to make recycling as easy as possible for the consumer.
Check with your local municipality for more details.
Public Transportation: Two words that strike fear into
the heart of anyone who has become dependent on their own four wheels and
gas tank. Unfortunately, public transportation varies greatly depending
on where you live; the pick of the litter is not always available. However,
investment in better and safer transportation can only come with a commitment
from you to use the resource as a means to get from here to there, and
perhaps back again. Take available opportunities to use buses, subways,
and rapid rail whenever possible and convenient. Rely on your own transmission
only when absolutely necessary.
Carpool: Ever drive on the highway, in bumper-to-bumper
traffic, and notice how many cars have only one passenger? Now, imagine
the same number of commuters, riding two or more to a car. Makes a big
difference, right? Not only does it mean less stress, but it also helps
the environment, by conserving gas, oil, and reducing pollutants and dangerous
emissions. Bottom line: drive with a friend or colleague whenever possible.
