Earth’s climate state of emergency is a strong call to action. It is urgent to rethink our habits, on a personal and collective level. We are still in time to make a change. For this reason, we share 100 actions to take care of the environment.
From here, you can download your checklist to always have it at hand. With this list, you will be able to track the actions that you are already implementing, and you will have new ideas to always improve. Asking yourself how to take care of the environment is already a very important step. Let’s go of everything!
1. Have a compost! And, in this way, you will transform your organic waste into fertile fertilizer for your plants. Ideally, you should have a special container where you can place food scraps and fruit and vegetable peels. It is so literal: nothing is lost, everything is transformed.
2. Make your love bottles or eco-bricks: two ways to give single-use plastics a new lease of life. It is about filling plastic bottles with plastic waste. Later, these bottles are used as plastic lumber, to build houses, nurseries, urban furniture, and much more.
Plastic pollution is one of the biggest problems facing the environment today. More than 8 million tons of plastics end up in the ocean every year. Just imagine the life of marine animals and all the ecosystems that are altered.
3. Take care of the water. Have you tried taking showers in the shortest time possible? Or turn off the tap when you wash the dishes? Remember that only 3% of the water on Earth is available for us to consume. It is not an infinite resource! Globally, more than 2.2 billion people lack safe drinking water. In addition, it is believed that the availability of water will be further reduced if industries and livestock continue to waste it.
4. Please turn off the faucet when you wash the dishes.
5. Wash clothes in batches full of garments.
6. Water your garden in the morning, early, or in the evening. 30% of the water evaporates if the sun is high.
7. You can recover rainwater and use it to water your plants.
8. Please turn off the tap when you brush your teeth or shave.
9. Install a water filter to reduce the consumption of bottled water.
10. Do not throw oil in the sink! It pollutes the water a lot.
11. Reducing electricity consumption is also a key to caring for the environment. Turn off the lights when you don’t need them!
12. Prioritize LED bulbs or low-consumption ones. In this way, you will help reduce the use of harmful fuels, which are the main emitters of greenhouse gases. These gases are responsible for global warming.
13. Unplug appliances when not in use. No matter how much they are turned off, if they are plugged in, they continue to consume energy. Disconnecting them is a great way to save energy.
14. Optimize the temperature of your air conditioners.
15. If you are going to buy new appliances, choose those that have the class A energy efficiency label.
16. Open the fridge as little as possible.
17. If you have an elevator, aim to use the stairs at least once a week. Win-win for the planet and your health.
18. Do you already know what zero waste purchases consist of? Saying no to plastic containers and replacing them with cloth bags or glass jars. Also called bulk purchases. For example: instead of buying a plastic package of chickpeas, you bring your reusable container and put the chickpeas in it.
19. Pay attention to your diet! At least three times a day, you can choose organic food. Organic fruits, vegetables, legumes, and cereals, in their production, do not contain fertilizers or other types of contaminants that damage the soil.
20. Consider eating a plant-based diet. Did you know that the vegan diet helps the environment? As you read! It helps reduce global warming, favors the recovery of the land and biodiversity, improves water management, and respects nature.
21. When you cook, take advantage of the oven to cook several foods at the same time.
22. If you have the possibility, choose cleaning products without so many chemicals. Currently, some brands offer natural products that do not pollute. In this article, we show you how to make them at home.
23. Trade in your bathroom kit for a sustainable bathroom kit. You can start with the bamboo toothbrush.
24. Ditch chemical shampoo and conditioner and go for solids.
25. Look for toothpaste without a plastic container. You can make your own!
26. Swap disposable razors for reusable stainless steel razors.
27. Give loofahs a try.
28. For the planet and your health, choose organic and cruelty-free cosmetics.
29. Do you have a garden? Plant trees! Do you have a patio or balcony? Fill it with plants! They give life and oxygen.
30. Avoid chemical fertilizers.
31. Take the initiative and start separating your waste. You can propose using buckets of different colors. In this way, everyone will know where to deposit their waste.
32. Turn off appliances you don’t use. In an office, there are a lot of electronic devices working at the same time. At the end of the day, unplug those that can be disconnected.
33. An idea to speed this up? Use power strips with a common switch.
34. Prioritize digital storage over paper storage. The amount of sheets that are used in an office is tremendous! And, many times, they do not take full advantage of it. The great thing about saving your files in the famous cloud? You’ll find them super fast!
35. If you have to print, use the sheets on both sides.
36. Use recycled paper as much as possible.
37. Try to recycle envelopes and folders as much as possible.
38. Suggest the use of low consumption led lights.
39. Turn off the lights in your office when not in use. It is very common for bathrooms or common spaces to always have the lights on. Let’s change this!
40. Pay attention to the air conditioning. Spaces with thermal insulation will allow you to use air conditioning and heating more sustainably. Ideally, avoid having the air conditioner running all the time. One option to control the use of air conditioning is the installation of a thermostat that helps regulate the temperature of the environment.
41. Proposes using laptops instead of desktop computers. They consume 1/3 less energy.
42. Open the blinds and let natural light in. This is a very simple but effective way of caring for the environment at work. In addition, it is healthy for all people who spend a lot of time away from sunlight. The vitamin D that we get from the sun is very necessary for the body!
43. Decorate with plants! In addition to filling the office with life, plants absorb polluting elements from the air and purify them.
44. If you have to send documents by courier, tell your friends about it. Surely they can take advantage of the shipment and reduce the impact of the use of transport on the environment.
45. Establish environmental care criteria in your workplace. Whenever you can, share with your colleagues everything you know about caring for the planet.
46. Study the environmental impact of the product or service you work with. Perhaps you can help reduce it or propose more friendly alternatives to the planet!
47. If you have colleagues who live near you, propose carpooling.
48. Whenever you can walk or bike to work.
49. Proposes the use of recyclable cups and glasses to replace disposable ones.
50. Suggest implementing Meatless Monday in the office.
51. Do not throw papers in the street! Although it may seem obvious to you, it is one of the main actions to take care of the environment on the street. If we throw paper or packaging in the street, they will probably end up polluting the land and the oceans. The ocean begins in the sewers. Let’s be responsible!
52. Choose sustainable mobility. The bike is a perfect means of transport to take care of the planet. Using public transport or sharing a vehicle among several people is also a way to reduce the gases that are harmful to the environment that transport emits.
53. How about starting a community compost? Thus, the neighbors who still do not dare to have their compost bin can leave their organic waste in the community compost bin. With a few people in charge of looking at it, voila! The rest of the work is done by nature.
54. Have you thought about making a community garden? The benefits of growing your food are immense: you get fresh, toxic-free food, you save up to 80% water, you promote green areas and you help restore the fertility of the land. Here you find the step-by-step guide to starting an urban garden.
55. Expand the information on the importance of environmental care in your community. Join forces for the planet! There are so many ideas to take care of the environment, be more sustainable and inspire each other.
56. If you see any improper action, such as open burning or dumping waste into rivers or lakes, contact the authorities in your area!
57. Get informed. Find out what the environmental problem is in your community, in your country, and on your planet. Below, we share a video made by the UN to understand why actions to care for the environment are so essential.
58. Find out everything you can about public policies that protect the environment: which ones work, which ones fail, and which ones are urgent and necessary.
59. If you can go clean the nearby rivers, seas, or beaches, call for community cleanups.
60. Take care and take care of yours! If you feel well, you will have more strength and energy to help the planet.
61. Let’s start with this essential key: promote environmental education in all classrooms. The children are the future, but they are also the present, and the greater the environmental awareness, the greater care, and respect they will have for the environment.
62. Learn and apply the 3 R rule: reduce, reuse and recycle.
63. Teaches how to create eco-bricks with plastic waste.
64. Encourages the consumption of healthy and natural foods. Fewer ultra-processed kiosks and more breakfasts and snacks with fruits and vegetables!
65. Proposes implementing Monday without meat in the weekly menu.
66. Reuse books. You can generate spaces for the exchange or purchase and sale of used books within the school.
67. If you print a bibliography, use both sides of the sheets.
68. Use more environmentally friendly school materials: recycled paper, natural paints, and refillable pens.
69. If you have to buy materials, prioritize bulk purchases to reduce packaging.
70. Create a school garden. Nothing is more beautiful than learning, from childhood, to harvest our food.
71. Make a school compost. In this article, you will find all the info.
72. Carry out activities or propose excursions in the open air, especially in the schools that are located in the cities. Seek that l@s ni@s are in contact with nature and learn to respect it!
73. Save energy by turning off switches that are not in use.
74. Teach students to properly turn off water faucets and reduce their use.
75. Plant trees around the school!
76. Another nice idea is to create a herbal shop with the native plants of the area.
77. Take a walk around the school neighborhood and identify the birds in the area.
78. Encourage students to walk to school.
79. Likewise, it encourages students to ride a bicycle or use public transport.
80. Invite everyone to remember that they are guardians of the Earth and that every small action adds up.
We have already seen how to take care of the environment at home, at work, at school, and in the community. We share some more actions.
81. Do not fund any kind of animal suffering. Normally these industries involve high levels of environmental pollution.
82. Choose sustainable tourism.
83. If possible, travel less by plane.
84. Choose second-hand clothes and cruelty-free!
85. Give sustainable gifts. In this article, you find a guide.
86. Menstra without plastics! In this article, we tell you all about how to have a sustainable menstrual cycle.
87. Besides all this, say NO to cigarettes.
88. Always have a cloth bag in your backpack, in case you need to make a purchase.
89. Take your reusable bottle with you.
90. If you go out to eat, bring your Tupperware, straws, and bamboo or stainless steel cutlery. See in this article how you can make your purchase zero waste.
91. Request that your bills and bank statements reach you by email and not by post.
92. Replace disposable tissues with cloth tissues.
93. Use wooden matches instead of plastic lighters. They take much less time to break down.
94. Prioritize appliances that don’t use batteries.
95. If you have used batteries, take them to a collection center.
96. Join the cleaning of beaches and forests.
97. If you see a fire, report it urgently.
98. Offer yourself as a volunteer in NGOs that lead the care of the environment.
99. Share this article so that, every time, we are more guardians of the Earth.
100. Mistress. Be happy. You are also part of the PLANET
To teach children the importance of actions to take care of the environment, we must make it fun! Play with the colors of the recycling bins, show him how to care for animals, and learn songs that celebrate nature.
Involves caring for the environment in the school agenda, promotes the use of ecological materials, implements recycling, raises awareness about the 3 Rs, and encourages the consumption of healthy and natural foods.
To know this, we must pay attention to its manufacturing process. However, plastic is one of the biggest polluters on the planet.
After these actions, we can say that we know how to take care of the environment. On a personal level, a vegan or mostly plant-based diet is essential, as well as responsible consumption of resources. Also, a life that leans towards the principles of zero waste, wherever you are. There are many ways to implement more environmentally friendly attitudes and habits. You don’t have to do all of them but do as many as possible for you. At a collective level, expand information, denounce bad environmental practices, and ask for a more sustainable system. Always: much desire and much love.
Leading a sustainable lifestyle means wholeheartedly embracing respect for the environment and making a positive impact for people and the planet.
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