7 easy ways to go green
Climate change seems to be constantly in the news and while most of us would like to treat Earth a little better, it can be hard (and expensive) to do.
Shelves at large stores seem to be lined with products that claim to be environmentally friendly, and it often feels that going green is just a marketing ploy.
However, some of the best ways to be more environmentally friendly don’t require you to spend lots of money.
Here at Titanic Spa we don’t just offer the best spa days in Yorkshire, we are also the first eco-spa in the UK and are dedicated to being as green as possible. With this in mind, we’ve shared 7 easy ways to go green.
1. Go plastic-free
There are so many negative impacts from the use of plastic and none more so than it littering our landscapes. Plastic bags are one of the worst plastic items that litter the country as well as coffee cups, straws and plastic drinks bottles.
Plastic bags are made of polypropylene, a material that is made from petroleum and natural gas. Both of these materials are non-renewable, meaning that through their extraction and production, they create greenhouse gases which in turn contributes to global warming.
Rinkesh Kukreja, the Founder & Editor of Conserve Energy Future, says not using a plastic bag is one simple way of becoming greener.
“Always carry your own bag when you go out for shopping. This way you'd reduce the amount of plastic that end up in landfills each day.”
Surfers Against Sewage share some tips about how you can try and become plastic free.
“Going plastic-free is not easy but reducing your plastic use is. Concentrate on the big four: coffee cups, plastic bags, straws and plastic drinks bottles. Then build from there. Start ticking off your Individual Action Plan and reduce your use of throwaway plastics. Making simple changes to the way you live not only improves our environment but can also save you money!”
2. Don’t buy something new if you can get it second-hand
Waste has a huge negative impact on our planet, whilst recycling has a major positive impact on our natural environment. Fortunately recycling is now more popular than ever and Emma Waight, who runs her own blog, says to become even more eco-friendly we should be buying more second-hand stuff.
“Recycling is now common practice but direct re-use often isn’t our first thought. There are so many options to help you make use of what already exists – eBay, charity shops, Freecycle – and not only is it a far more sustainable way to consume, it can also save money to spend on more interesting things!”
3. Use public transport
Cutting down on the use of your car will not only help the environment with the reduction of fuel emissions and greenhouse gases, but it will also help you save money.
Rinkesh Kukreja from Conserve Energy Future, adds, “Use public transport for at least twice a week instead of taking your own car to office. It might cause little bit of inconvenience to you but we all need to do something to save our planet.”
4. Make a change one day a week
The saying “every little bit helps” is no truer than when it comes to being greener as just making small changes can really help.
Emma Waight, says, “Focus on making a change one day a week. Try Meat Free Monday or Plastic Free Friday and join conversations on social media for hints and tips.”
You can follow the likes of the Meat Free Monday’s website and the Plastic Free Friday twitter account for more information.
5. Use less electricity
Even when an electronic device might not be actively on, it still consumes energy and this is called phantom energy.
This isn’t just a waste of electricity, it is more expensive as it can potentially add up to 10 per cent onto your annual bill.
Unplugging items such as chargers, microwaves, computers and televisions when they’re not being used, or investing in ‘smart’ surge protectors that disable power when items are not being used will help you save a lot of money.
6. Stop junk mail
Stopping your junk mail is really easy and with just a couple of clicks you can stop the unnecessary mail that gets delivered to your home.
Not only does this stop the nuisance spam mail, but it will save lots of trees being cut down. According to the Harvard University, in the US alone more than 100 million trees’ worth of junk mail arrives in the post across the US, which is equivalent to deforesting the whole of the Rocky National Park every four months.
7. Drink tap water
Even small actions like drinking tap water instead of buying and drinking bottled water is a really easy way to become greener. If that isn’t enough of an encouragement, then the fact that it is a lot cheaper might convince you.
Surfers Against Sewage adds, “£0.001 is the average cost of a litre of tap water. 500 times less than bottled water.”
Why is it important to become more eco-friendly?
There are lots of reasons why it’s important to become more eco-friendly and here we get some experts to give us their main reasons.
Rinkesh Kukreja, says “Being eco-friendly has now become a necessity rather than a choice. The way we are degrading our environment and ruining our future, the day is not far when we will be forced to make changes in our daily lifestyle for the betterment of this planet. Being eco-friendly allows you to make use of environment friendly products and move towards more sustainable living.”
Emma Waight, says that being more eco-friendly is incredibly important. “Humans might be the most intelligent form of life on the planet but that doesn’t give us the right to abuse Earth’s resources for our own gain. Plus there is plenty of evidence to suggest that excessive consumption, the kind of consumption damaging our planet, doesn’t make us happy anyway. We have to work together to preserve earth’s resources and in turn create healthy communities for us to prosper in.”
Shelves at large stores seem to be lined with products that claim to be environmentally friendly, and it often feels that going green is just a marketing ploy.
However, some of the best ways to be more environmentally friendly don’t require you to spend lots of money.
Here at Titanic Spa we don’t just offer the best spa days in Yorkshire, we are also the first eco-spa in the UK and are dedicated to being as green as possible. With this in mind, we’ve shared 7 easy ways to go green.
1. Go plastic-free
There are so many negative impacts from the use of plastic and none more so than it littering our landscapes. Plastic bags are one of the worst plastic items that litter the country as well as coffee cups, straws and plastic drinks bottles.
Plastic bags are made of polypropylene, a material that is made from petroleum and natural gas. Both of these materials are non-renewable, meaning that through their extraction and production, they create greenhouse gases which in turn contributes to global warming.
Rinkesh Kukreja, the Founder & Editor of Conserve Energy Future, says not using a plastic bag is one simple way of becoming greener.
“Always carry your own bag when you go out for shopping. This way you'd reduce the amount of plastic that end up in landfills each day.”
Surfers Against Sewage share some tips about how you can try and become plastic free.
“Going plastic-free is not easy but reducing your plastic use is. Concentrate on the big four: coffee cups, plastic bags, straws and plastic drinks bottles. Then build from there. Start ticking off your Individual Action Plan and reduce your use of throwaway plastics. Making simple changes to the way you live not only improves our environment but can also save you money!”
2. Don’t buy something new if you can get it second-hand
Waste has a huge negative impact on our planet, whilst recycling has a major positive impact on our natural environment. Fortunately recycling is now more popular than ever and Emma Waight, who runs her own blog, says to become even more eco-friendly we should be buying more second-hand stuff.
“Recycling is now common practice but direct re-use often isn’t our first thought. There are so many options to help you make use of what already exists – eBay, charity shops, Freecycle – and not only is it a far more sustainable way to consume, it can also save money to spend on more interesting things!”
3. Use public transport
Cutting down on the use of your car will not only help the environment with the reduction of fuel emissions and greenhouse gases, but it will also help you save money.
Rinkesh Kukreja from Conserve Energy Future, adds, “Use public transport for at least twice a week instead of taking your own car to office. It might cause little bit of inconvenience to you but we all need to do something to save our planet.”
4. Make a change one day a week
The saying “every little bit helps” is no truer than when it comes to being greener as just making small changes can really help.
Emma Waight, says, “Focus on making a change one day a week. Try Meat Free Monday or Plastic Free Friday and join conversations on social media for hints and tips.”
You can follow the likes of the Meat Free Monday’s website and the Plastic Free Friday twitter account for more information.
5. Use less electricity
Even when an electronic device might not be actively on, it still consumes energy and this is called phantom energy.
This isn’t just a waste of electricity, it is more expensive as it can potentially add up to 10 per cent onto your annual bill.
Unplugging items such as chargers, microwaves, computers and televisions when they’re not being used, or investing in ‘smart’ surge protectors that disable power when items are not being used will help you save a lot of money.
6. Stop junk mail
Stopping your junk mail is really easy and with just a couple of clicks you can stop the unnecessary mail that gets delivered to your home.
Not only does this stop the nuisance spam mail, but it will save lots of trees being cut down. According to the Harvard University, in the US alone more than 100 million trees’ worth of junk mail arrives in the post across the US, which is equivalent to deforesting the whole of the Rocky National Park every four months.
7. Drink tap water
Even small actions like drinking tap water instead of buying and drinking bottled water is a really easy way to become greener. If that isn’t enough of an encouragement, then the fact that it is a lot cheaper might convince you.
Surfers Against Sewage adds, “£0.001 is the average cost of a litre of tap water. 500 times less than bottled water.”
Why is it important to become more eco-friendly?
There are lots of reasons why it’s important to become more eco-friendly and here we get some experts to give us their main reasons.
Rinkesh Kukreja, says “Being eco-friendly has now become a necessity rather than a choice. The way we are degrading our environment and ruining our future, the day is not far when we will be forced to make changes in our daily lifestyle for the betterment of this planet. Being eco-friendly allows you to make use of environment friendly products and move towards more sustainable living.”
Emma Waight, says that being more eco-friendly is incredibly important. “Humans might be the most intelligent form of life on the planet but that doesn’t give us the right to abuse Earth’s resources for our own gain. Plus there is plenty of evidence to suggest that excessive consumption, the kind of consumption damaging our planet, doesn’t make us happy anyway. We have to work together to preserve earth’s resources and in turn create healthy communities for us to prosper in.”