Environmental damage is occurring every day and I, for one, don’t want to sit back and watch it happen! Are you with me? If so, this guest post from Andrea Bell is one you’ll want to read. Andrea discusses easy ways for each of us to incorporate more eco-friendly actions into our lifestyles. Let’s give Andrea the floor as today’s guest blogger.
Are you helping effect positive change on this world? Free photo by Gem & Lauris RK, Unsplash.
Everybody talks about wanting to save the world, but much of the time this is mere armchair activism that gives people the feeling of superiority without actually doing anything. However, making an effort to contribute towards saving the world is something that will not just be beneficial for our planet, but also yourself.
There are many things that you are told to do when it comes to feeling better about yourself, but everybody is different, and it might take time to discover what works best for you. There are, however, some solutions that you can explore that will allow you to ease into making life better for you and the world around you.
How does livestock affect the greenhouse effect? Read on to find out! Photo via Pixabay (CC0).
Do you think you know enough about all the food that you eat on a regular basis? The things we eat play a huge role in our lives and have a big impact on our health and the environment around us. However, even though this is such a central aspect of our lives, there are still quite a few of us who do not know some basic facts about the food that we eat. For instance, do you know where certain ingredients come from or how they are made? If not, it’s time to widen your food knowledge.
Here’s a quick rundown of the things you need to know about your food.
A sense of optimism for the environment. Pixabay photo (CC0).
Environmental damage has been one of the hottest social topics of recent generations. The human race has put the future of our planet as we know it at great risk with irresponsible activities. Sadly, the growing population only makes those threats even greater. However, there are signs that we are finally starting to regain control.
A number of factors have contributed to our growing authority in the war to keep the planet in good health. While there is a still long way to go, here are some of the main reasons we can start to feel more optimistic. Continue reading
The big topic of our generation, and all generations to come, will be the environment. It will be about the challenges of going green and how to be more sustainable, and one of the big subtopics is that of food and fish farming. Despite all the evidence, all the arguments and all the new knowledge surrounding this topic and what it means for marine life, the demand for seafood is increasing by the day. This is partly because the global population is on the rise and partly because seafood is the only source of protein a huge portion of the population, especially those living below the poverty line in developing countries.
Fish are the main protein source for many people. Pexels, CC0 License.
To meet this growing demand, aquaculture has been on the rise. In fact, the production of seafood through aquaculture methods have doubled in the past decade. However, they need to double again in order to meet the demands of protein and population.
As such, we have researched inspiring women and men who work in this sector at different levels and in different roles to determine how companies and governments are working to achieve sustainable growth in aquaculture.
One of the best ways to tackle the environmental problems surrounding this issue is to educate the consumer, and that is exactly what the Monterey Bay’s Seafood Watch Program aims to do. It educates people on what should be avoided in order to give sustainability a chance. For example, lake trout currently have populations levels that are way too low, while oysters are perfectly suited to aquaculture methods.
Farming Atlantic salmon has been a problem simply because it takes three pounds of wild fish to grow a pound of farmed salmon. That is not sustainable. However, genetically engineered yeast has now been developed that provides salmon with all the Omega-3 they need, reducing the need for feeder fish by seventy-five percent. The companies leading the way on this are DuPont, AquaChile, and Verlasso, whose joint venture was the first to receive the “good alternative stamp”.
The need for protein is going to grow by 40% between now and 2050. That is where farmed salmon can have a huge role to play in meeting this demand, and a huge reason why everyone with an interest in the environment should learn about the Global Salmoning Initiative, which aims to bolster sustainable aquaculture while simultaneously reducing the impact it has on the ecosystem. This initiative, which is made up of fifteen companies with a market share of over 70%, aims to achieve the necessary changes through collaboration, research, investment and the sharing of knowledge. It is a huge step forward in an industry that has proven it can grow.
Highlighting marine life issues and the initiatives that appear to be helping. Pexels image.
Shrimp is a big issue, with the majority of it consumed in the US yet produced in Asia. Here the producers feed these shrimps wild fish and allow waste to be discharged into coastal waters. This could change thanks to a David Brune who has developed a way to produce shrimp more quickly and with less waste. It involves a paddle wheel that generates algae, which not only deals with waste but can also be harvested by brine shrimp that can be used as food for Pacific white shrimp. This development is both cost and time effective too.
It seems to be a rule of life that the healthier option is always a little more expensive. Going green with your body might mean buying soy kinds of milk, almond milk, vegetables and other food items that are a bit more expensive. It seems that organic foods? They come with a premium. That’s not always the case though – sometimes, the healthy option can be a money saver – especially when it comes to the health of the environment.
Many of us want to live in homes and make the most of our money – but you can get more bang for your buck with your home if you decide to go green. Living a healthier lifestyle can affect your home, the environment and your wallet – in fact, going green could be a great way to save cash in the long run.
It does come at a cost though, green options aren’t always free, but you can improve your house, save money and save the environment if you’ve got a nice starting fund to kick-start an eco-friendly life.
How do you get started? Well – with the home. Eco-friendly home improvements are a great way to start. Firstly, invest in insulation and sealed windows. What these do is keep the heat of your home in, so it’s not lost through the walls, roof and windows. It might cost a fair bit, but it saves heavily. The more heat kept in the house, the less money you’ll actually spend on heating it up. Overworked boilers, fires and central heating systems are a great way to burn cash and money during the winter – so heat up and keep it in with some insulation.
Also – add a bit of intelligence to your heating, with a smart temperature control system. You can find a bunch of them ready to go, like Nest – that just need installation to your boiler. What this does is allow you to control the temperature of your home from anywhere in the world with your smartphone. This ensures that the boiler is not working when you do not want it to, and it also ensures a bit of efficiency, which is good when it comes to saving money.
Technology like the Nest hub is one way you can save money by avoiding pointless heating, but even without tech, it’s something you should avoid in the first place. If you want more warmth – plant some trees in your garden. Not only do trees present life into the garden, but they do a number of things. Firstly, they give you a bit of privacy, so you don’t need high fences or walls if you have a tree. Secondly, they act as natural barriers to your home from the environment in the winter, by protecting our homes from the cold winds. Continue reading
Global warming is a huge topic at the moment and the biggest known cause of it is waste. The waste from machinery like cars and buses, as well as factory waste contribute to the troubles we have with global warming today. Being able to do something about global warming is a privilege and it can often feel like nothing you do can truly make a difference. You’re wrong.
Making a difference. It starts with you. Let’s protect our beautiful Earth! Image by Frank Vassen, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In your home, you probably have two or three different waste bins. One would be for wet waste; such as food leftovers and wet tissues. One would be for plastic containers and bags and the last one would be for recyclable materials. It can be a pain, sometimes, to separate things that you perhaps once lobbed into just one bin without thinking about it, but recycling is doing so much more than just organizing your household rubbish.
As a species, humans go through so much waste that the landfills are overflowing, meaning we are forcing a loss of biodiversity by moving into other habitats and destroying surrounding nature. Recycling at home is just one place you can make a difference, so never think that how your household rubbish is handled would mean nothing. These are the following ways that household paper recycling can help the planet:
Using recycled paper is one way to help the planet. Photo by Jonathan Joseph Bondhus (own work), via Wikimedia Commons.
Paper is one of the world’s biggest energy consumers. It actually takes less energy to produce recycled paper than it does regular paper, and reducing the consumption of energy reduces the gas emissions that affect the ozone layer. Wherever you can, use recycled paper and food that has packaging which is recyclable. These small changes in your life can make such a difference to the world around you, which is exactly what so many try to achieve. Continue reading
These days, more people are realizing the importance of living in a cleaner and greener kind of way. But it’s not as easy as we all wish it was. Green lifestyles come with their own problems and challenges. You have to be prepared to deal with these if you’re going to live successfully with a green lifestyle. Here are some of the main issues that you’ll face, and why it’s still worth doing more to go green.
There are some problems that will necessarily arise when you are using technologies that allow you to will in a green way. For example, you might be using new energy saving appliances in the home. Sometimes, these tech items are brand new, and they can be relatively untested.
This can lead to problems and issues with things breaking down. These teething problems just have to be accepted and overcome if you want to push forward and become greener. Even solar panels can experience difficulties; repairing solar panels can be necessary sometimes. Make sure that you let an expert take care of that work, though.
Leave repairs of green technologies, such as solar panels, up to the experts. Image via Pixabay.
For many people, this is the most challenging thing of all. Breaking those simple everyday habits that you’re so used to can be a real struggle for some people. It’s a struggle that you should work hard at, though. You might occasionally forget to recycle things or turn the lights off or conserve water.
But if you start to pick up on these mistakes and correct them, you will eventually get into the habit of doing things differently. We’re all creatures of habit, so it’s not going to be easy for you, but it certainly can be done.
It’s occasionally necessary to sacrifice some of the modern world’s ease and convenience when you want to go green. You have to do without some of the things that make life simpler.
For example, you might want to cut down on the amount of plastic you use and throw away. But if you choose to do that, you will have to cut down on the amount of quick, processed and packaged food you buy from supermarkets each week. It’s definitely a positive step, but that doesn’t make it any easier for you to implement. That’s just one example of how convenience may have to be sacrificed a little.
Going green within the home may mean sacrificing a bit of convenience. Flickr Photo.
After reading all the things above, you might be wondering why you should bother going green at all. But that’s the wrong conclusion to draw. In fact, you should see these challenges as worth overcoming because you have a very positive impact on our environment if you do.
Still not convinced? Well, the biggest issue for most ordinary people is the financial side of things. If you start conserving energy and water, and looking to clean, renewable alternatives, you can save your family a lot of money. That’s why you should push ahead regardless.
