Thirty positive actions for a sustainable Earth
There are many ways we can use our human energy to lighten the load on natural resources and tread lightly on our home planet.
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Advantages And Disadvantages Of SOLAR ENERGY
Many of us know that solar energy is good, but few really understand why.
Therefore, I compiled a comprehensive list of solar energy advantages and disadvantages that will enable .....
Check how many of these you do already: Many of us know that solar energy is good, but few really understand why.
Therefore, I compiled a comprehensive list of solar energy advantages and disadvantages that will enable .....
1. Recycle and re-use
Wherever possible, separate waste into compost material, bottles, tins, paper, clothing etc and make sure that these get recycled. See if your local council has a policy for recycling, food reclamation to fuel or even methane extraction from waste. If they don't - start one. Ask your neighbours to contribute to a local composting station.
"The UK has one of the worst recycling records in Europe (12.4%) compared with 64% in Austria, 52% in Belgium, 50% in Germany and 47% in the Netherlands.
In the UK we bury 80% of our rubbish in landfills, compared to the Swiss who only landfill 7% of their rubbish." (The Observer 2004)
2. Shop locally or order a veg box
Give your local farmers a boost by buying direct - either by visiting farms, farmer's markets or through vegetable box schemes - which are usually organic. This saves transport costs in 'food miles' and guarantees, fresh, local, un-polluted and healthy, in-season food. Try and avoid supermarkets and shop locally when possible to enhance your own local micro-economy.
"The average household [in UK] spends '470 a year (or one sixth of its total food budget) on packaging. In a typical Asda or Tesco shopping basket only 26% of the cost is accounted for by food; the rest is packaging, processing, transport, store overheads, advertising and the mark-up of supermarkets which is sometimes as high as 45%." (National Farmers' Union)
3. Make more of your own food from fresh
Stop buying ready-meals and throw away your microwave. Take the time to make healthy, balanced and delicious meals and condiments from wholesome raw ingredients. Be like the French and live to eat - rather than eat to live ! Eating food is the only activity apart from sex that involves all of our senses.
4. Promote community exchange
If you can exchange skills, items or energy direct with other people without the use of money - this makes your activities more efficient. If you can share resources with people around you - then you don't have to earn so much to buy things and you don't have to work as much.
5. Improve local diversity of nature
See what you can do to provide the right ecosystems to promote local biodiversity. Bring butterflies, moths, birds, wild flowers and so on into your local environment by providing the resources they need.
6. Review domestic energy use
Check whether you can save energy by cutting down consumption or being more efficient. There are government schemes in the UK to help with heating efficiency and insulation. Even switching off at the plug at night saves power -those little red 'power on' lights add up to over '4 million of electricity used in the UK each year ! Look at how your home uses energy and where it can be saved, even if it means putting a jumper on occasionally.
7. Start a local investment scheme
If you want to save for a future - doesn't it make sense to invest in something you can see and touch - like a local investment system that brings a return on your money and improves your own locality ' Invest money where you can see what it is doing - and where you can lend a hand if needs be. Community companies, local co-operatives and credit unions are a growing resource for sustainable local investment. What better way is there than to invest your energy directly into your local micro-economy where you can cherish it '
8. Use an ethical banking system
Just what does your money do when you invest it a bank' Do you invest in the land mines that blow off children's legs ' Do you support armaments manufacturing, the over-exploitation of rainforests, globalised cartels intent on raping the planet ' Does your default investment in a bank endorse child slavery and prostitution, international drug running and money laundering ' Check the investment policies of your bank to see just where they are putting your energy as an investment. If you
don't like what you see, at least consider using an ethical bank that might invest in things you want in the world. Even better - reach for a lifestyle that doesn't include a bank account at all.
Did you invest in this '
"Japanese physicist Professor Yagasaki calculated that the 500+ metric tonnes of depleted uranium (DU) that the US unleashed on Afghanistan was the radioactive equivalent of 51,875 atomic bombs of the size dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki.
During the 2003 Gulf War the amount of DU used was the equivalent of 103,750 atomic bombs the size of that dropped on Nagasaki. DU fallout will travel from the Middle East to the UK, US and parts of Asia." (International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War)
