99 Ways to Save the Planet – Part One

How can I protect the rainforest – the lungs of our planet? How can I conserve energy around the home – and save money at the same time? Is nuclear power a threat to our world or the answer to its problems?

These are just some of the questions we need to be asking ourselves when it comes to looking at ways to save the planet and our environment.

During this twenty part series of posts, you will learn practical and different ways of making not only your life more sustainable, but also easing the burden on our planet’s resources.

So how do we help to save the planet!

1. Speak Up: -

Too many people make assumptions. If you see something you think might be pollution; it could be litter left on the roadside, or foamy scum frothing on the surface of a river – then notify your local authority or environmental agency. Perhaps somebody has already pointed out the problem, but you are not to know that. It is far better to report the problem twice than not at all.

2. Recycle, recycle, oh and recycle again: -

Newspaper is one of the easiest materials to recycle. It has a multitude of uses, including; insulation, composting, cleaning windows along with vinegar, papier mache dolls, swatting flies, and so on.
Did you know that every time you recycle a pile of papers one metre high, you save a tree from the chop.

3. Water Torture: -

Heating water to near boiling point for the purpose of washing and bathing is both pointless and wasteful. Once you fill the basin with hot water, you only end up mixing it with cold water. So conserve energy and only wash in tepid water, unless you like the lobster look of course.

4. Directional Heating: -

Radiators can be quite efficient if a few tips are adopted. Firstly, make sure you are heating your rooms rather than your walls. This is achieved by fitting reflective foil behind them. Also bleed your radiators regularly to remove any trapped air and ensure they’re working at maximum efficiency.

5. Put a brick in it: -

Toilets use about 30% of the total water used in a household. An old style single flush toilet can use up to 13 litres of water in one flush. Newer toilets use only six litres for a full flush and four litres with a reduced
flush.
This seems excessive to say the least.

Why not put a brick in the cistern, this helps reduce the amount of water needed for each flush.

When using the toilet. Remember this simple motto: –

If it’s brown flush it down, if it’s yellow, let it mellow.

What are your thoughts? Do you have any suggestions or practical tips for saving the planet?

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7 Responses to “99 Practical Ways to ‘Save the Planet’ – Part One”

1. Cato Green Says:
   November 24th, 2008 at 9:45 pm

   Solreka,

   Lovin’ the first five and look forward to the remainder. A lot of what people can do to help save themselves and the world, are just good old fashioned common sense things like this.

   Major kudos for the reminders and do keep up the good work.

   I just wrote a couple of popular posts on Save the Rainforest and a personal knowledge article about the largest wind energy farm in New York State, with photos.

2. Mr Javo Says:
   November 24th, 2008 at 10:49 pm

   Nice tips Rob. I recycle all what I can. I have a stack of papers printed by one side that I use to print non-important documents for the other side, like ebooks, guides of something, etc… Then, when they are printed by both sides, I deposit them in a box on my university which they send to a recycle center .

3. colleen Says:
   November 25th, 2008 at 12:16 am

   Hubby gets pretty annoyed if anybody lets it mellow. even for 3 minutes when somebody else is just going to piss right on top of it.

   colleen’s last blog post..Typealyzer — Psyche out that blog

4. SolReka Says:
   November 25th, 2008 at 7:15 pm

   @Cato Green
   “good old fashioned common sense” – I couldn’t agree with you more. Trouble is, that we live in a dumbed down society, whereby people are loosing the ability to think, never mind worry about the state of our planet.

   Perhaps one of the later posts will be on culling the masses. If your IQ is less than 100, then hard cheese, please step into this lovely looking cubicle, don’t worry about the sharp objects, they won’t bite… much. (See suicide booth – ref Futurama)

   @Mr Javo
   Kudos to you my good man Javier, the eco-warrior reigns supreme in your part of the world.

   @Colleen
   
   Really, now that does surprise me. I hope I’m not being sexist by saying… But men are generally sloths when it comes to hygiene and cleanliness. You tell your old man, to stop flushing so often, or the yellow mellow police will come a knocking on your door, and put a clothes peg on his willy wonka lol

5. Simply Stephen Says:
   December 12th, 2008 at 11:39 pm

   It’s interesting that your first tip was speak up…the first song I wrote for guitar was called Speak Out. Without a voice we won’t change things. People are apathetic and I’ve discovered that the easy way to help people change is point out the benefits of something, not their faults. Oh…and telling them how it will affect their wallet!!!

   I trust these are not in any specific order…because going local is one of the biggest changes we can encourage.

   Great tips so far, looking forward to the rest.

6. SolReka Says:
   December 13th, 2008 at 12:29 am

   @Simply Stephen
   I totally agree with you, people only understand if you either a) speak to them face to face, or b) explain the benefits to their wallet. Is it me, or are we loosing our altruistic values. Did we ever have any altruism in first place?

   Energy tips are in no particular order. Many thanks for your kind words. I look forward to seeing you again when I post Monday’s ‘Save the Planet’ post.

   Regards
   Sol

7. Simply Stephen Says:
   December 23rd, 2008 at 5:06 pm

   @Sol,

   I choose to speak via blog because in conversation people can misinterpret or feel like they are being spoken “at” and lectured…if they visit and read it is clearly their choice!

   The wallet thing really does work. Altruism is something that works on a a scale…there is lots of it from all walks of life. Look at Bill Gates and the funds he puts up, Bono working on assisting Africa, Ted Turners Billion dollar donation to poverty. In part it boils down to Maslow’s Heirarchy, we do what we can based on our means. Other people just have more focus on what is important to them and care more about the people and community in which they live!

   It’s hard sometimes, but I think most people have a little bit of caring in them! One of my purposes in life is to help people realize that and make changes…after all we need an equilibrium.

   I’ve put you on my RSS feed, so I can keep up with your thoughts and posts…keep up the good work!

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