Posted on Thursday, 6th September 2018
Last year, the world was made aware of the impact that plastics are having on the environment by David Attenborough’s Blue Planet 2 documentary. As a result, many of us were inspired to try to live more sustainably to limit the damage moden life is having on our planet, but what exactly is sustainable living, and how can we incorporate changes into our daily lives to tread more lightly on the earth?
Sustainable living means choosing consciously and ensuring we do not compromise the earth’s natural resources for future generations. To lead a completely sustainable life, we all need to reduce pollution, our relience on non-renwable resouces, and replenish our natural world.
Here at Space Station, self storage provider, we have idetified personel targets to half our carbon footprint within three years. We have put together our top tips for every-day changes we can all make to live more sustainably.
Whilst it can be convenient to leave your laptop or television on standby, doing so can be costly to the environment. The average person uses 727 kwh (units of electricity per year). This amount of energy results in over 300 kg of CO2 a year, which is equivalent to pollution caused by driving 870 miles in a car. Consider your environmental footprint at home by switching off devices when you aren’t using them and, where possible, try switching from environment harming products to eco-friendly ones like Space Station has, such as changing fluorescent lights to energy efficient LEDs.
The UK produces waste equivalent to the weight of 100 million cars each year and toxic gases from these overstacked landfill sites contribute to the amount of pollution we have in the air. Reducing the waste we create by choosing carefuly what we purchase, reusing what we can, and recycling the rest, is an easy way to help do your bit. If you’re creative, you can upcycle items - finding a new purpose, or new style for items that you already own. Upcycling furniture can be very satisfying anc cost-saving at the same time. Even if you're not, just by taking action to reuse packaging that you might have put straignt into the recycling or rubbish bin can make a diffrence. Washed out jam jars can be stylish storage containers, or a place to pop some homegrown flowers.
When we plan our evening meals, many of us do not think about the impact our food is having on our ecosystem, but 20% of all our greenhouse emissions derive from the meat on our plates. Becoming flexitarian or adopting ‘Meat Free Mondays’ is an easy way of reducing your meat intake without giving up all together. Eating one less steak a week is the equivalent of taking a car off the road for three months!
Wherever possible, replace your short car journeys with walking or cycling. This is a great way of helping the environment and also getting a bit of exercise. Living car-free saves the environment 2.4 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.
The average person has £1,000 worth of clutter in their home, so it’s important that we think carefully about our purchases to prevent us accumulating so many items. Letting go of items that don’t bring value to our lives gives us more space and can give us a greater sense of wellbeing. It also allows us to focus on those items that really do mean something to us, without them being diluted by clutter. If you find yourself with far too many items and not enough space to put them, but you would rather avoid throwing them away, putting them in storage gives you the best of both worlds, meaning you can lead a clutter free life, without the worry that you might regret throwing something away completely.
For more information about Space Station’s green initiative visit: http://space-station.co.uk/about-us/going-green/
