TOP 10 WAYS BY WHICH WE ARE POLLUTING ENVIRONMENT BY OUR DAILY HABITS

TOP 10 WAYS BY WHICH WE ARE POLLUTING ENVIRONMENT BY OUR DAILY HABITS 

                                          Unless you strongly believe in Elon Musk‘s idea of making Mars as another habitable planet, do remember that there really is no 'Planet B' in this whole universe, and in that case, this article is a must-read for you

Well, it is said that it takes only 3 weeks for a human being to form a habit. But the major concern about daily human habits is how it is slowly destroying the environment. Sadly, most of it is due to ignorance. While some may seem unbelievable at first, reading into them shows how bad some can be damaging to the environment. All we need is small changes in our daily lifestyle to reduce our carbon impact on the environment.

“If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.”

― Albert Einstein

1.Charging your mobiles and computers

Charging all of your electronics overnight sucks up more power than needed.If you leave your chargers plugged in throughout the day and plug your electronics in at night, you use up energy that isn’t directed toward the charging of your device at all.

Many researchers have concluded that the amount of energy wasted with charging electronics is not sky high but you should think about conserving energy. But, if you are on a budget and looking to decrease your environmental footprint, unplugging will save you hundreds of rupees a month and a few watts of energy per year.

2. When you throw those batteries and cartridges ….

We throw whatever we don’t need in the trash, but there are some things that don’t belong in landfills. Household batteries contain trace amounts of mercury and toxic chemicals that damage wildlife and sea life when they accumulate and leak into ecosystems around the world.

Recycling batteries is easy and more environmentally conscious. 

Ink cartridges have an even more toxic effect on the environment when they are disposed of improperly. A whopping 10 million cartridges end up in landfills every year which poisons the soil continuously and degrades the environment. These chemicals have the added ability to accumulate within the animals (termed as biomagnification) – meaning that they are passed along the animal life cycle and food chains harming even more and more animals. Poor animals often mistake the plastic for food, and the ink poisons soil, 

so do the animals of the world a favor and send your cartridges to recycling facilities.

3. Throwing food as waste

Many people even think it is a formal courtesy not to completely empty a plate during a meal. Even in 2020, there are more than 800 million people starving, and every 3 seconds,a person dies due to starvation Throwing food is even worse for the environment because forests are cleared and emissions are made in the process of cultivation, transportation, and processing. Besides, if the wasted food is not disposed of properly, it can lead to an increase in the organic matter in waterways and other aquatic environments that can easily augment the growth of algal blooms.

4. Paper everywhere

Paper is used on a daily basis by human beings in different forms. Examples include the use of paper towels in the kitchen, tissues in the toilet, and in the print media for our daily reads. Regardless of our daily use of paper, what we as humans overlook, is that it is made from trees.

Since it has a steady increase in demand due to our lifestyle and the altered definition of hygiene, we are keeping on cutting trees to fulfill market demands. Every time you buy a notebook you are increasing the demand and a tree is being cut for you.

5. Washing your face

Face washes that most people use contain plastic exfoliating micro-beads, which are being termed by researchers as a serious environmental problem. The beads are not filtered during sewage treatment due to their small size.

When released into water bodies, they are swallowed by fish and other marine organisms that harm their health and could poison their organs or damage their gills. These beads also destroy the animal’s internal systems as they are made with the purpose of scrubbing during use by humans. It is the bead’s abrasive nature that is damaging to aquatic animals.

 If you love the feeling of microbeads, there are some natural alternatives that use ingredients, such as oatmeal, that will do much less long-term damage to both your skin and environment.

6. Buying jeans

On average, a pair of jeans is made using 2,900 gallons of water.

Ever wondered that it is more than 130 average showers worth of water. Water availability and waste is a huge environmental issue globally. When you can, recycle, donate, or repurpose your jeans.

I am sure you never realized that something as simple as a pair of jeans could be hurting the planet, but it's true!

Taking note of the little things that cause big damage in the long-run is a slow, but steady way of doing your part in protecting our planet and this is what that counts.

7. Eating meat

Undoubtedly one of the most widely produced greenhouse gases in the world is methane. This gas traps heat within the atmosphere. As research postulates, the biggest producer of methane gas is farmed livestock. In this sense, the production of animal products is a large contributor to methane which in turn is a  greenhouse and can cause global warming.                                                                  

        By continuing the demand for meat products, the farmers continue to increase the supply of the goods by keeping more animals and in turn leading to more greenhouse gases. This cycle breeds more problems for the environment. Alternative protein sources should be pursued to provide food for people without the environmental cost that farmed food entails.

8. Flushing the toilet

Yes! You heard right, Flushing the toilet uses a bucket of water for every cycle. What’s even more devastating is that once you flush the toilet, the water suddenly turns into the black water and will serve no other purpose until it is processed at the sewage plant. Accordingly, the use of water in this manner is very inefficient as it only uses water singly after which it will require fresh processing.

The better alternative would be to use compost toilets. The use of this option instead of water is a good alternative since the waste can be used for projects such as the manufacture of manure. However, this leap can be too large for some and may not be feasible in some regions.

 So, the alternative could be to reduce the number of times one flushes the toilet or the installation of low-flush toilets.

9.Brushing your teeth

Brushing teeth is another human habit that contributes to water wastage. Brushing techniques becomes especially inefficient at conserving water due to people letting the water run as they brush their teeth, Even though this has been taught from kindergartens

While closing the tap during the brush is one option, the other is to use brushing techniques that do not require one to use water.

Several herb shoots and leaves have been used over the centuries to offset the stale breathe of individuals and provide dental hygiene and protection against germs that cause cavities and it is clearly proved and taught in Ayurveda

A prime example is among the Maasai of Tanzania and Kenya. They use a shrub colloquially known as the toothbrush tree (Salvadorapersica). The stem of the shrub is used to clean the teeth and also serves to provide additional health benefits as it is associated with remedies from complications borne from rheumatism and coughs.

10.In our kitchens

The conscientious mom can chop energy use in half versus someone with more careless practices using the same equipment.  The simple practice of putting a lid on a pot during cooking can cut energy use by 8-fold.  Another best practice is to cook food in pots that are full to capacity.  The efficiency of a pot is reduced by 80% if it is only filled a fifth of the way. (Thermodynamics is useful !) .                                   The majority of studies reviewed agree that specialty appliances such as rice cookers and electric kettles "consistently utilized less energy" than traditional alternatives.  

So those were the TOP 10 WAYS BY WHICH WE ARE POLLUTING ENVIRONMENT BY OUR DAILY HABITS

even though many of these are very simple, we still fail to implement these. Comment down your thoughts below friends...