Tips to Heal the Planet and You

If you're anything like I am, you want to continue to breathe fresh air, drink pure water, eat uncontaminated food, and live free of toxic chemicals, pollutants, or worry about global warming and the legacy we are leaving for generations to come.

On this Earth Day I am reflecting about simple "green actions" you may not have thought about or tried before, that can help reduce your carbon footprint. Since all people and the planet are interconnected, the choices each of us makes impacts the planet's healing and health as well as our own.

To green the environment and improve our quality of life, please read and consider

Tips to Heal the Planet and You

Walk for health and planetary healing. Run, jog, stroll by foot or bicycle to improve well-being and cut down on fossil fuel consumption.

Green your transportation; board public transportation whenever and wherever it’s available. Bus, subway, tram, or rail is less expensive and better for the environment than running a car. If you must drive to work, car pool. Make your next car a hybrid.

Plant trees, drought resistant vegetation, and a veggie garden. When you grow and eat food for self-sustainability, you contribute to the earth's and your healing.

Replace grass with xeriscape landscaping. Drip irrigation and using water retention containers are water savers. An added benefit is that this type of garden is much easier to maintain than ones with grass and lawns.

Suggest family members cut down on the number of minutes they spend in the shower. Short showers are better for your skin as well.

Refrain from buying water in plastic bottles. Carry a reusable stainless steel or glass water bottle. Instead of reaching for a one-use plastic bottle read this... 

"According to the Container Recycling Institute, 100.7 billion plastic beverage bottles were sold in the U.S. in 2014, or 315 bottles per person. More than 8 million tons of plastic is dumped into our oceans every year.”

If you buy a large supply of water to use at home, take the same half gallon or gallon glass jugs to be refilled again and again.

This year switch over to products that are biodegradable. Carry a reusable water bottle, and use your own washable cloth shopping bag wherever you go. Swap Plastic-

top-ways-to-convert-to-greener-lifestyle

The process used to make, store, dispose of, and just be around plastics can be extremely harmful to living things. Plastic bags, bottles, to-go containers, designer plastic coffee mugs and drink containers, plastic housewares, and fishing nets pollute the planet and the plastic used lasts for thousands of years. 

Plastics are dumped in landfills, oceans, and toxic materials from them winds up in our ground water. The fumes and chemical emissions from plastics contaminate land, sea animals, wildlife, men, women, and children. 

Exposure to plastics has been linked to health concerns affecting people, sea creatures, plankton, and the food chain around the world.

Speak, call, write, and use social media to alert manufacturers, 

politicians, and community, state, and national governments. Express 

your concerns about the direct environmental link between your safety 

and health and the use of plastics.



Advocate for products made from biodegradable materials and ones that 

use minimal packaging. Buy stock and products from companies that 

don't contribute to global warming. Use your buying power to show 

companies you care about reducing the world's carbon footprint by 

supporting those manufacturers, distributors, and stores who care too.



Here is additional reading:

consumer-products-safe and eco-friendly, and what's not from the Environmental Working Group (EWG).


Before you go, please take a moment to comment about your green 

efforts or mine, and share the word about Tips to Heal the Planet and 

You.


Wishing you a Happy Earth Day and best wishes for a year filled with 

daily efforts to conserve, reuse, recycle, and think and act greener!


The quote for today is from Margaret Mead:
"We won't have a society if we destroy the environment."


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Great Ways to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

You and your family can recycle, reuse, and reduce more than you think! If you care about family and planetary wellness, take simple steps to reduce your carbon footprint. Each positive action helps protect our environment, and contributes to worldwide efforts to keep the planet inhabitable for our children’s children.

Great Eco-friendly Ways to Live Greener and Greener Each Minute

For More Ideas See the Five Points Below...

1. Bring reusable bags and containers when you shop, travel, or pack lunches. Choose products that are returnable (like library books, CD’s, and DVD’s), and refillable (bring your own doggie bag container to restaurants). Don’t rely on single-use items like plastic bags and containers to pack leftovers. Avoid individually wrapped items, snack packs, and all plastic water bottles. Use biodegradable containers and bottles made from glass, stainless steel, or pottery instead.

2. Retrain yourself and your children to conserve resources like water and electricity. Encourage all family members to turn off water while brushing their teeth, and switch off lights when they are not in a room. Unplug your appliances like your toaster, when it's not in use. Use cloth napkins and cloth diapers, instead of disposables. This will help in a BIG way to cut down on junk in the landfill. Reasons Why it's Smart to Use Cloth Diapers.

3. Cut down on gas usage by turning off your vehicle while waiting in line at the drive through coffee (bring your own cup) place or when picking up kids from school.

4. Buy in bulk whenever it's practical, because packaging materials are greatly reduced this way. It will save time shopping and save some green too. Bulk items are usually less expensive than individual portions of stuff.

5. Figure out how to minimize your waste. Use less water by watering your garden early or late in the day. Use eco-friendly forms of transportation like buses and bikes. Support companies whose products conserve natural resources, don't pollute the environment, and are manufactured with recycled materials that are minimally packaged. It doesn’t take much to go greener this year. All you have to do is think and act green.


And here's additional green reading ----- 

Smart-Ways-to-Green-Your-Lifestyle, 

Eat-Less-Meat-and-Save-the-Planet, 

How-Will-You-Celebrate-Earth-Day-2015?

Divest-from-Fossil-Fuels-Reinvest-in-Eco-friendly Investments,

Select-a-Car-Color-that-Pleases-You.

The quote for today follows: "Don't blow it - good planets are hard to find." ~Quoted in Time Magazine

How many of these things do you do now and which new eco-friendly steps are you willing to adopt in the future? Please comment directly on this post in the space provided below. Sharing is caring and I thank you in advance for your support.

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Photo Challenge That Illustrates Why I Live Green

I've decided to Take the Change the World Wednesday Challenge and snap photos this week of those things I love, enjoy, cherish, or want to preserve. 

I've included photos which show some of the reasons why I think it's important to live green. I invite you to get your camera out and start snapping too. Post the photos on your blog or share them with #CTWW (link below). If you'd rather not, just take photos to remind yourself of why you live in an Eco-friendly way. 

Every time I've made a small change in my daily life and live greener, I'm contributing to a global effort of common people to make significant strides in helping to save our planet from devastating effects of global warming. Climate change with severe weather extremes has already destroyed homes, killed men, women, and children, and left people starving and with no clean water to drink.

Here's one mess I'd like to change or prevent, that has been captured in the clip art below.

This photo wasn't taken by me, but it does show exactly what is happening to some parts of our planet.

Now here's the good part. Following are some things that I'm doing to conserve, reuse, recycle, and live green 

1. reusing glass jars from foodstuff as storage containers
2. recycling rubber bands that come from store-bought vegetables as an office supply
3. using large food cans, tires, and jars as garden planters
4. using china, glass, silverware instead of paper goods at large gatherings and at small parties too. If I don't have enough of my own dishes or glasses, I ask guests to bring their own.
5. taking my stainless steel thermos bottle along with me for water instead of drinking from plastic throw away water bottles. Just to illustrate plastics' impact on our environment, here's a statistic that may floor you. In 2012, the United States generated almost 14 million tons of plastics as containers and packaging, about 11 million tons as durable goods such as appliances, and almost 7 million tons as non-durable goods, such as plates and cups. See more on this from the Environmental Protection Agency.
6. recycling hangers as mobiles, and for other arts and crafts projects
7. exercise by walking in my neighborhood or doing yoga at home instead of driving to the gym, park, etc.
8. donating my time, money, and energy to the cause of reducing my carbon footprint. I have spoken out to elected officials, government agencies, written blog posts and articles, and contacted companies that manufacture products that are environmentally friendly or harmful and will continue to do this.

I spotted these beautiful flowers in a neighbor's yard, while out for my morning constitutional. Aren't they gorgeous? If climate change made it any warmer here in Arizona, I doubt I would be able to walk outside or see beautiful things like this. I bet this type plant wouldn't even be able to grow so well.

Here's a picture I snapped at a botanical garden. Aren't the plants beautiful and what about these delightful creatures? The earth's water supply is finite. If climate change continues at its rapid pace, I'm worried there won't be enough water for people and animals to survive. In some third world countries, this is already the case.

Don't forget to read what Reduce Footprints and guests @ #Take the Change the World Wednesday Challenge say about this topic. Please comment by email at obloggernewbie@gmail.com or reshare the blog on social media.

Be well. Live well. Lead a colorful, yet green life!

Here's the quotation for today:

"Plans to protect air and water, wilderness and wildlife are in fact plans to protect man." Stewart Udall

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