What is Being Eco-friendly?

Being eco-friendly or environmentally friendly is becoming

more and more important. You can see the term used in
everything from job ads to dating profiles to even listings
houses and vacation homes. So, what is being eco-friendly?

The simplest way to define what being eco friendly means is to

say that it is the act of living with intent. The intent is focused
on not creating harm to environment, and to prevent as much
harm from occurring to the environment through your
interactions with it. It goes beyond an idea and extends to
actual practices that influence how communities, businesses and
individuals conduct themselves. Being eco-friendly goes far
beyond just turning off lights when you leave the room or
separating your garbage for recycling – it is about changing the
purpose of how you live.

Eco-friendly products promote green living that help to

conserve energy and also prevent air, water and noise pollution.
They prove to be boon for the environment and also prevent
human health from deterioration.

How to Become Eco-friendly?

You can start to become eco-friendly by becoming aware of the
how your choices effect the environment. There are three basic
stages to becoming eco-friendly, they are –
 1. Learning to consume items that cause minimal
environmental harm.
2. Discovering the extent of your carbon footprint and
acting to lessen that footprint on the environment.
3. Striving to support others that work to live and
produce eco-friendly and sustainable communities.
As you can see, the first step is about you immediately acting to
change the way you consume things in life. This means
changing your habits about driving, what types of packaging
you use, how you dispose of waste and how you use natural
resources.

The second step looks at the extent of your carbon imprint that
you may not be able to change – such as living in a house,
having to drive a car or the type of employment you have and
acting with the responsibility to lessen that imprint to the best
of your ability.

The last one involves actively seeking connections with other

eco-friendly persons, communities and businesses and choosing
to network and support them to create a more sustainable life.
That may not be as easy as it seems, which is why it is the third
step. To live in and support a sustainable community and
economy you may not have many of the conveniences that you
are used to – by far this is the hardest thing to adjust to.
Here are 10 Steps to Become Eco-friendly:-
1. 3 R’s of Waste Hierarchy: The 3 R’s of waste hierarchy can
reduce the amount of waste generated and improve the waste
management processes. Reducing what is produced and what is
consumed can reduce the amount of waste that is generated.
Reuse items for different purposes instead of disposing them
off. Recycle items like aluminum cans, plastic, paper, glass that
can be shaped into a new item.

2. Conserve Water and Electricity: It takes energy to produce

fresh water and electricity. Few simple ways like turning off
lights when not in use, fixing leakages, proper insulation, using
maximum daylight, installing energy efficient windows,
purchasing energy efficient gadgets can reduce your daily
energy consumption. Learn here more about 151 ways to
conserve energy.

3. Plant More Trees: We all know why we need more trees on

this planet. They give us oxygen, fruits, timber, prevent soil
erosion, control floods, provide shelter to wildlife. Massive scale
deforestation in last couple of decades has reduced forest area
by significant percentage. The need of hour is to work
with environmental groups to educate more people and  plant
more trees so as to make this planet clean and eco-friendly.

4. Protect Local Water Sources: Hazardous waste materials

like paint, oil, ammonia and other strong chemical solutions
should never be disposed on the ground as they’ll seep into the
groundwater. Join local water conservation groups and fight
against water polluters who dump their industrial waste in
rivers.

See also  Eco-Friendly Approaches to Interior Design to Conserve Energy

5. Drive Less, Walk More: A simple and yet more effective way
to live eco-friendly life is to either take public transportation for
your daily commuting needs or try pooling in with your office
colleagues to save fuel and reduce your carbon footprint. If your
office is couple of miles away from home, you can either start
half an hour early and walk on foot or ride a bicycle. If you’re
and avid traveler, you can follow these green travel tips.

6. Buy Energy Efficient Products: Energy efficient products

with 5 start energy rating consume less energy and prove to be
eco-friendly. For instance, CFL bulbs consume 40% less energy
and last 10 times longer than traditional bulbs.
7. Buy locally Grown Products: When you buy or produce
locally grown products, you are actually reducing your carbon
footprint in the form of using less plastic bags, saving fuel to
get vegetables from the market, using less packaged material…..
. Apart from this, you can also sell surplus to your friends or
relatives.

8. Prevent Littering: Litter can originate from construction and

demolition sites, households, industries, uncovered trucks,
pedestrians, and moving vehicles. Littering can have big impact
on environment, wildlife and local tourism industry. Being a
responsible citizen, it’s our responsibility to make our cities
clean and impart same education to our kids.

9. Buy Recycled Products: Always look out for recycling

symbol when you visit grocery shop to buy items for your
home. That will make you environmentally responsible and eco-
friendly. Also, try to carry grocery bag with you to avoid buying
items in plastic bags that will later end up in landfills.

10. Join Environmental Groups to Combat

Pollution: Protecting mother Earth is everyone’s responsibility
including you. The best you can do is to join different
environmental groups in your city and provide helping hand to
make this planet environmentally friendly.

The Eco-friendly Life

Living the eco-friendly life has some advantages and
disadvantages. As mentioned earlier, one of the disadvantages
is that may have to forgo some of the more modern
conveniences. Not many, but the conveniences like fast foods
and certain types of luxury activities do little more than create
a burden on the environment. One of the best examples is the
idea of the personal car. While you may realistically need a
personal vehicle, you do not need one that gets poor gas
mileage or is made with luxury accessories or advanced
electronics that are impractical, and also consume vital natural
resources.

That Land Rover may have a special gauge to tell you if you are
right side up or upside down in the event of a sandstorm, but
chances of encountering a sandstorm in New Jersey, much less
actually doing an activity that would need a vehicle like the
Rover is so minimal that it is a luxury that is unnecessary.
The Eco-friendly Business
Creating an eco-friendly business means you are mindful of the
waste products your business creates, and the way it uses
resources to do business. There are very many options for how
you can do packaging and advertising that have a much lower
impact on the environment. As a business, you stand to make a
stronger impact in how fuel conservation is approached by
working with suppliers that utilize hybrid technologies and
making sure that a part of what you consider when buying or
selling is the cost and impact of the shipping of the product.