Small Changes Make a Big Difference

I recently watched an Instagram story posted by @touchoftweed and they shared a quote.  I can’t remember the exact phrasing, however it showed a drinking straw the message was that whilst we may think ‘well its only one straw’ we are using, if 37 million people all thought the same we could make a difference.

Sometimes its easy to think ‘what can I do?’, or ‘I am only one person’ so I can’t make a difference, however if we all did that one thing collectively we would make a difference and help our environment and planet.

We may already recycle on a daily basis, have cut down our use of plastic and changed to a reusable water bottle, however there are so many other little things that we could do, and this list is only some of those ways, although I will feature more in future blogs.

Saving Water

There are ways to save water, and that could probably be a whole blog by itself (in fact it may just be).  We all like a hot bubble bath, and it can be a lovely way to unwind after a long day or after a back breaking day, and I for one am not going to say don’t have baths but I am going to say could you take one less?  Now a bath is an occasional treat then please go ahead however if you have a bath every day could you switch to a shower?  If you shower every day, could you have a shorter shower? 

So many people brush their teeth whilst leaving the tap running, just by simply turning off the tap during this period you could make a difference.

Collecting rain water in a water butt in the garden makes a huge difference as you have are able to use this for watering your plants and it saves switching on the hose.

Are you on standby?

We often never stop to think how many gadgets we have running 24 hours a day, our TV is on standby, our laptop is on standby, you get the picture.

If we all turned our technology off for periods of the day that would make a massive cumulative difference.  I’m not for one moment suggesting that your technology isn’t readily available when you need it, however if you only use your laptop during the day or only watch TV during the evening could you switch it off properly for the other hours in the day.  Imagine what a power saving that would be if we all switched our gadgets off for actual hours in a day.

Imagine how many hours of electricity and not to mention how many light bulbs would not be needed if we all switched off our power in rooms that we weren’t using.

Another simple saving is the investment in a clothes rack or clothes line in the garden.  Not only would you notice a financial saving in not using a tumble dryer, if we all used it even one time less a week that would be a massive difference.

Waste not Want Not

We throw away tonnes of food each year, much of which could have been eaten.  Often we head to the shops without a plan for the week ahead and buy more food than needed or can get sucked into buy one get one free, or half price offers without thinking whether we will actually eat it.  Where possible meal plan so that you only buy what you need, shop for local produce thus reducing the distance it has travelled to you.   Cook from scratch not only does it taste better but it also results in less packaging and therefore waste.

Walk more, not only is it good for your wellbeing it also is better for the environment. 

If it was possible for everyone to do just one journey less each week and walk instead that would add up to a lot of miles, and much less emissions.

Buy items made from reused materials or upcycle

Is often far too easy to add to the landfill by discarding what we have and replacing it with something new.  There are so many beautiful pieces that have been made from reclaimed materials such as wood, metal and reusing these raw materials means that they are so much better for the environment.  Not only that these reclaimed materials often have so much character and a history and quality that can last for generations.