Working from home has revolutionized our routine and spending habits. Instead of spending hours in traffic and struggling to find a parking spot, we’re focusing on comfort and maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
It’s been shown that we can reduce our carbon footprint by avoiding commutes, but that doesn’t mean we have to stop there. Here are 5 other ways you can help the environment.
- Cook more often
Cooking at home is beneficial for the environment for a variety of reasons. As a start, you’re saving money and the environment by avoiding takeout. A diet free of plastic waste protects more than 260 different species of wildlife from eating or being entangled in plastic waste. As a second point, the kitchen in your home consumes far less energy than a restaurant’s professional kitchen.
Whenever possible, choose foods that are grown or raised on a farm that is either close by or certified organic. Utilize compostable materials for your plants, if possible.
- Unplug devices when possible
When electronic devices are plugged in but not in use, they use energy. Energy is drawn from the grid by everything that is plugged in, which is bad for the environment. “Vampire Energy” is a term used to describe it.
You can start by unplugging electrical gadgets that aren’t in use while working from home to boost sustainability. When you’re not using something, unplug it. This could be your cell phone, laptop, coffee maker, microwave, or TV.
- Go paperless
With the widespread use of laptops and smartphones, you can easily swap out the notebook for a notetaking app or avoid printing documents by signing them virtually. The possibilities are endless and every day there’s a new app functionality that makes this change easier. And there’s the added benefit that you don’t have to waste money on replacing ink cartridges or buying new pens.
- Invest in renewable energy
Spending more hours at home can translate into a heftier electricity bill, which over time can add up and compromise your sustainability goals. One way to fix this issue is by investing in residential solar panels to power your home. It may seem like a large sum at first, but it’s a cost-effective alternative in the long run, especially if you plan to continue working from home for the foreseeable future. And with newer and more affordable solar harvesting technologies, it’s worth checking out the range of options available to you.
- Reduce and recycle waste
This may seem like an outdated approach, but it’s always important to remember that every product we buy has some sort of effect on the environment and may wind up in a landfill. Reduce waste by purchasing from sustainable sources or by purchasing fewer items. The next step is to pay attention to what we eat. A third of the food produced in the globe is lost or squandered, according to estimates. Compost any organic waste that you are unable to eat and reduce food waste as much as possible.
The third and most critical step is to recycle all waste materials. When aluminium and glass are recycled, they are returned to the market in just six weeks. That’s what recycling can do. Lessening landfill emissions, minimizing the carbon footprint and reducing the need to use natural resources to produce new products are all benefits of recycling.
In conclusion, we must keep in mind that there are always further steps we can take to make our planet more sustainable. It doesn’t mean you have to follow all the tips listed above blindly, but hopefully, they inspire you to want to do better and produce real results.
