Energy is needed to collect, process, manufacture, and ship everything you buy. In today's world, that means fossil fuels burning and emitting carbon dioxide. So what's the single best way you can help reduce those carbon dioxide emissions? It's simple: buy less.
What You Should Know
- Seven out of 10 women rank shopping as the number-one way to cheer themselves up. Imagine how much carbon dioxide emission would be prevented if they called a close friend instead.
- If everyone in the world lived the way the average American does, we would need four more planet Earths to provide all the necessary materials and energy.
Easy Things You Can Do
Become a minimalist. Americans get to choose from 200 types of breakfast cereals and over 5,000 styles of shoes, while many people in this world can't even afford a loaf of bread. Take stock of what you have and conduct a thorough examination of what you need. Next, go through your house today and donate or recycle everything you don't really need--then leave it that way! Stop reflexive, impulse purchases and develop new criteria to base your decisions on buying new stuff: Do I really need it? Can I make do with what I already have? Can I borrow it from a friend instead? Stores respond to the demands of their customers: The less we fill our closets and cupboards with things, the less our factories will burn fossil fuels to manufacture those things.Buy quality items over cheap, disposable ones. Save up so you can buy quality goods instead of cheaper products that will wear out and need to be replaced sooner. You'll end up saving money (and energy) in the long run. This is especially true for furniture and major appliances.
Use up your food. Every few months (or weeks depending on your current shopping habits), skip your weekly grocery trip and spend the week cooking what's buried in your fridge and cupboards. If you find something good, you just saved money and energy. If you find something that's gone bad, isn't it better that you found it sooner rather than later? To really get a fresh sense of perspective about how much westerners have compared to others, check out these images from the book Hungry Planet: What the World Eats by Peter Menzel.
Find new ways to use less. There are a million ways to use less stuff: get a library card instead of buying books, buy fewer toys and do more arts and crafts projects with your kids, or simply make a vow to use a bag at a store only if you can't carry the item in your hands or put it in your purse. Make coffee at home and pour it into a travel mug to take with you to work instead of visiting your local coffee shop. You don't need to be a creative genius--just step back and look at how much stuff you use and buy. Then ask yourself, Do I really need that much?
Source: 51 Easy Ways You Can Prevent Global Warming (and save money!) by Jeffrey Langholz, Ph.D., and Kelly Turner