Natural Living Tips

We all want to do our part to protect the environment, but without a large paycheck, that can be seem difficult, if not impossible. But doing your part doesn’t have to be hard. Small steps add up to a big difference, you just have to know which ones to take.

Use less water.

Saving water is all about small steps, here are a few that will help save big.

• Shut off the water while you brush your teeth
• Take showers that are a minute or two shorter
• Only flush the toilet when you need to
• Only run full loads of laundry and dishes
• Buy from sustainable producers. These are farmers, ranchers, and other producers that use techniques that pollute less and use less water. You can do some research online or ask at your local organic market to find these products.

Use less energy.
If you don’t have the money to buy a hybrid car or convert your house to solar power, you can make a big difference with small changes.

• Buy energy efficient appliances.  They may be more expensive, but make up for the increased cost in lower energy bills.
• Unplug chargers when you’re not using them.  Cell phone and other chargers use up powers even if there’s nothing attached to them.
• Put devices with remotes, like T.V.s, VCRs, and stereos, on a power strip and turn it off when you’re not using them.  These devices use a lot of power to run the remote receiver even when the device is off.
• Walk or ride your bike for short trips.
• Buy local products. It takes energy to transport food and other products across the country. Buying local not only supports your local economy, it helps them use less energy.

When it comes to saving energy and water, it’s a great idea to get the kids involved. You can even make it a game. Have them track how much water and electricity everyone is using. You can compete to see who uses the least water.  You can often count on your kids to help keep you on track when given the task.

Reuse.
Most of us know the three R’s: reduce, reuse, recycle, but when we work on conserving, we often leave reuse out of the picture. While you can often find tips on how to reuse common products from other people, what you need most is creativity. With a little thought there are many items around your home that can be reused – toilet paper holders can be used to sow seeds for the vegetable patch. And old yogurt containers can be cut into strip to make plant labels. Old food jars can be refilled with homemade foods or can make great impromptu vases.

Use environmentally friendly products. When you go to the grocery store, you probably see more and more “natural” or “eco friendly” products every time.  There are generally two big problems with these products: 1. Just because they’re more natural than regular products, doesn’t mean they’re entirely natural. 2, They’re often expensive.

If you want inexpensive, natural, safe products, why not just make them yourself. Vinegar is a great way to clean and disinfect glass and other surfaces. Need to remove stubborn stains? Just add some baking soda to your vinegar cleaner. Some quick searching online will lead you to hundreds of other natural safe home-made cleaning products.

We all knowing that going green means better for the environment, but it’s also better for you.  Conserving resources also helps save you money, which is something most of us are happy to live with.

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You can always do more.  You can give more love, play a little more, work a little more, spend more time with the family. There is always room for improvement and the Japanese way of improving just a little every day, will always produce better results than trying to apply massive changes - the principal of continuity.

And the same philosophy applies just as well to living green, no matter how green you may consider yourself.  At the end of the day it is the little things in life that make it worthwhile and give value.

With a little effort and perhaps small sacrifices you can be a little bit greener, benefiting yourself and making the planet greener and healthier.

Principal of continuity attitude:  Give a little and leave a little for the others.

Use less: water, electricity, gas.

• Cut down your shower time
• Washing and cleaning. (You also save on detergents and utility bills).
• Cut down on waste and use alternative materials (less plastics).
• Save energy by unplugging appliances when not in use.
• Look for energy efficient (Star Energy) electrical products - there is a wide range of appliances available.

Green alternatives:

• Natural products, if you can grow some of your own food you will be way ahead of most of the western world. You can also look for fresh and organic produce.
• Garden, go native.  Choose local and native varieties (from grass to plants) as they have adapted perfectly to local environment and this means less additional water and nutrients.
• Transport: One small step is by pooling and when you are able to go for a new car look for the most energy efficient car you can find.

With a little imagination there are many things you can do, and the wonderful thing about all this is that by following the principal of continuity, everybody wins both by saving money and from the green angle.

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“Going green”, “Eco friendly”, “environmentally conscious” and “living natural” are terms that are now part of our daily lives. You hear about it on the news, your read it on magazines and newspapers and continuously on the internet. Even news services have a nature category.

Going green and living natural. It seems as if everybody is doing it.

But what does it mean?

It can go from a full scale change in life, going 100% natural and even be militant about it, to small continuous changes without affecting your quality of life except for the better. My suggestion is starting little by little. Rather like eating the proverbial elephant (at least I hope you don’t actual try the elephant).

Take food for example. You can increase your fresh fruit and vegetables intake. What sort of packing does it come in? Every day you have more green food choices - look for them and learn about them. Your proteins - the meat or fish you eat; they are being farmed. How are they fattened?

Or energy requirements. At home, with a little effort, you can reduce your electric bills just by turning down the air conditioner or heaters. A simple formula is: use what you need. Leave a little.

Can you afford to do it?

Yes you can. Just start with a conscious decision. At the end of the day that is all it takes. There is an enormous amount of information and consumer alternatives around, and there will be more each day.

Be creative. A British couple have recently taken their honeymoon in the US and paid their flight with recyclable aluminum cans.

Can you afford not to?

A few thoughts for you. How about your health? We really don’t know the toxicity levels we have or a clear idea of the long term effects. We do know that heart problems, cancer, diabetes and others are much greater than at any other time. Think about it.

What about climate change? The weather has always been unpredictable, specially long term but we must all be aware that something is going on. We hear the news, we see the images and many times we are right in the middle of it - and these are not just isolated news items. We are just not sure of the long term changes or the subtle effects that are happening. The butterfly effect must be overworked.

What about the next generations. Will they be able to see animals in the wild or outside a zoo. Or even worse in a book or on film?

What about energy sources. How renewable are they? What about solar power and wind power? Developments in these area are indeed amazing.

If you reduce your waste (and probably waist, as well), your bills will go down and so will your carbon footprint.

You can find many sources of information all over the place. Just give yourself a bit of research time and you will be able to live a little greener.

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