From Guest Blogger Izzie: Sharing Is Caring for the Environment
Generally speaking, what is the worst thing an average human being can do to the environment? Maintain wasteful habits. With Mother Nature only having a finite amount of resources, being wasteful in your use of any of them is potentially harmful. So how can you fight this? By forming good habits of course!
There are many ways detailed on this website about things you yourself can do in order to live a greener, healthier lifestyle. Today, however, we’re going to look at habits you can form with others. We’re tailoring this towards couples, but you needn’t form these habits with just your partner – these can apply to a whole host of social relationships.
Toiletries
When we say to “share toiletries”, we don’t mean to the extremes of having the same toothbrush. What we mean is that you should share any toiletries that you both use. Say you typically buy one small bottle of moisturiser each. You both use the stuff every day, and replace the bottles frequently. Combine your usage into one bigger bottle, and that is already on bottle saved. Plus, when sharing, the tendency to be lazy or wasteful usually decreases, so you’ll even use up the product at a slower rate.
Bathroom routines
Again, we’re not advocating jumping in the shower together (though that is an option). This is more about smartly timing some of your daily routines. If you brush your teeth at the same time, you are likely to save more water, even if you do accidentally leave the tap running. Similarly, having a shower right after each other means less water and fuel is wasted waiting for the water to heat up. You can find more advice on sharing a bathroom here.
Food
In a similar vein to the toiletries, it makes sense while food shopping to buy in bulk and consume the same kinds of food whenever possible. Two small cereal boxes can be replaced by one big one makes sense, as does getting one large bottle of milk. Individually, they don’t amount to much of a saving, but combined, they do add up.
Cars
Gas guzzling cars are one of, if not the, biggest environmental concern we face today. Having two or more in one family isn’t always avoidable, but having them running simultaneously all the time is avoidable. When possible, look to car pool journeys. If you both need to go to the town, go together. If there are several tasks that need doing, try combining them. This can quickly amount to a serious reduction in gas consumption, which is good news for both your wallets and your environmental footprint.
Rooms
Finally, whenever possible, try to get everyone into the same room whenever you are all home. Obviously, you’ll want some privacy for some things, but with portable technology being what it is, does everyone need to be in their own room if they are just on their phones and tablets? If everyone is in the living room, you only need to heat and light that one room, instead of the whole house. It helps the environment, cuts bills, and means everyone can learn to talk to each other again instead of being buried behind screens all day!
