50 Ways to Make Your Home Eco-Friendly

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50 Ways to Make Your Home Eco-Friendly Eco WALK the Talk.com 550 Wa � The wedding gowns and attires are usually worn only once. Consider renting or borrowing the wedding gowns and attire. � Buy a certified “conflict-free” diamond where the revenues don’t go towards supporting conflict and war. See Conflict Free Diamonds.orgfor retailers who sell these. � Choose a venue manager who understands the green wedding mission, and embraces green practices from lighting to waste recycling. � Instead of Wedding gifts, ask for all guests to make a donation to a cause or charity of your choice. � Flowers use a lot of pesticides. Consider using organically grown flowers or from farmers you know have used less chemicals. � Consider using paper decorations which can be recycled. � Be mindful of food wastage. Use local and organic ingredients to make the food. � Consider more vegetarian meal options, as meat has a heavier environmental footprint. © www.ecowalkthetalk.com Join us on OUT OF HOME/TRAVEL 43.Cut down on Air Travel Air travel presently accounts for 2% of the global annual carbon emissions and this share is increasing. There are more people travelling by air because of increasing disposable income and affordability, a globalised workforce and increase in the number of routes and competition among airlines. But all of this comes with a cost – a cost to the environment. Apart from carbon emissions, planes leave contrails or vapour trails at the upper layers of the atmosphere. This adds up to the greenhouse effect, by not allowing the sun’s heat to escape. These are the ways by which can reduce our carbon emissions from air travel : � Reduce the number of holidays that you take each year entailing air travel. � Take holidays closer to home, so you can travel by train or bus or ferry. According to a study commissioned by Eurostar, taking a train from London to Paris actually cuts carbon emissions by 90%. � Choose airlines which have a good track record of arriving and departing on time. According to Air Transport World, “If we could save a minute on every flight each year, we would save $3.6 billion on total operating costs, including $700 million on fuel, and 4.2 million tons of CO2 emissions, not to mention other pollutants and greenhouse gases.” � If you’re an employer, cut down on air travel for staff by encouraging them toteleconference. According to WWF if all European companies replaced 20% of their business flights with video conferencing, it would save 22 million tons of CO2 every year. Facebook : http:// www.facebook.com/ecowalkthetalk Twitter: http://twitter.com/ecowalkthetalk YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/user/ecowalkthetalk
50 Ways to Make Your Home Eco-Friendly Eco WALK the Talk.com 550 Wa � Whenever you do have to fly, offset your air travel by purchasing carbon offsets for your flight or for your car travel, for that matter, using a reputed carbon offset company. As recommended by Tufts University, the top carbon offset companies are Atmosfair, Climate Friendly and Native Energy � Travel light – It is always a good idea, regardless of the mode of travel, as fuel consumption increases with the weight carried by the airline. Respect the weight restrictions given by airlines, and avoid overloading your baggage. 44. Use Public Transport, Carpools, Cycles Having a personal vehicle is a matter of choice. If you live in a city with a good quality public transport system, then make the most of the infrastructure, and you’ll be saving a lot of money and carbon emissions. Try car pooling, especially for daily commutes to the workplace if you can’t use public transport. Your town or city may already have a formal carpooling service; if not, you can informally tie up with neighbours, friends and colleagues.If the distance and road safety in your city permits, cycling is a great option, and you also get exercise in the process! 45.Invest Green © www.ecowalkthetalk.com Join us on BUILDING WEALTH Where we put our hard earned savings generated from living a green lifestyle is very important for the sustainability of the planet. If you have an entrepreneurial bent, consider starting a green business for an eco-friendly product or service. If you wish to invest, remember that whatever company or commodity or product you are investing in, is ultimately linked to raw materials that come from the earth. Or they are adding something to the earth or depleting something from the earth. Or they impact humans and society in either fair or unfair ways. Consider the impact of these activities, and ask if they are furthering the wellbeing of the planet, and of human welfare, for both current and future generations. This may be called by some as “Socially Responsible Investing” or SRI. If you are delegating the spadework to a fund manager, dig deep and do your own research on the companies in the portfolios under management. What are the companies’ products and services? You can check the Environment Working Group (EWG) database on the toxicity ranking of a company’s brand or product. You may also ask how ethical these companies are in managing various stakeholders – employees, suppliers, customers, the people and communities in the supply chain? Facebook : http:// www.facebook.com/ecowalkthetalk Twitter: http://twitter.com/ecowalkthetalk YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/user/ecowalkthetalk
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50 Ways to Make Your Home Eco-Friendly

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