Checklist: Which of The 35 Ways To Help The Environment Do You Do?

Well, I should be working on finding (luxury) property buyers but here I am writing about ways to save the environment. Lol. Nevermind I will just use some telephone directory somewhere for Monday's task. If I can find one. Whew.

This is what I spent my time on instead of going to today's Sunday mass to get my birthday month blessing. Ugh. I completely forgot about it. Huhu. I went to mass last night and completely forgot about today! Ah life.

Anyway, I've been on an environmental streak again the past few days. Discovering the Pasig River is not dead anymore and sharing what I think is the best way to best spend millions of money has brought me to another idea. If we really want to help save the seas and our environment, we must know of what each of us can do in order to really do it. Most of us cannot think of small ways on saving the environment without any point of reference so I searched for a list online that I can use as a to-do list.

Of course I am no expert on saving the Earth as well. The most I always do is throwing my waste in trash cans anywhere I am, stopping my friends from carelessly throwing their trash anywhere when I see them doing it, plus using eco-bags when doing grocery or shopping. Also I feed leftovers to the apartment cats. Of course I also share environmental conservation posts that I find online for it to reach more people and for them to be more aware and start being environmentally conscious.

So now after doing a quick search online, I found a list from a site. Aside from the usual reduce, reuse and recycle, it shares 40 things we can do. Five are not really applicable in the Philippine setting so I didn't include them. Here's the summary of what was listed.

I. Reduce Car Use

Use bicycles.
Walk more.
Use public transportation like MRT/LRT.
Practice carpooling.
Combine errands in one trip.
Do virtual shopping.
Telecommuting.
Record your trips to pinpoint where fuel use and gas emissions are not necessary.

II. Reduce Food Waste

Make a plan (or grocery list, etc.).
Keep track of trash (to notice waste pattern).
Donate good food to food kitchens and/or give unsold food to the less fortunate.
Understand expiration or "use by" dates.
Learn to love leftovers. Or do not order more than you can eat! Also feed still good leftovers to cats/dogs/pigs, etc.
Create a compost pile (or find a way to do so if you live where you don't have a back yard.)
I-take home mo ang tira beybeh. (Take home the restaurant food order that's uneaten)

III. Use Less Food Packaging

Carry your own travel cup or water bottle.
Buy more for less trash.
Invest in good metal or ceramic baking pans (for bakers)
Buy items with minimal or no packaging or check if packaging was recycled.
Reuse plastic and glass for other purposes.
Say no to plastic spoon, forks and knives for take outs.

IV. Eat Locally

Grow your own food (if you can. And without pesticides and herbicides.)
Visit your local food grower's farmers market or palengke, not the supermarkets.
Support restaurants that serve locally grown food.
Join or start a community food garden.
Eat food that's in season.
Start small or with one local food saving goal at a time.

V. Shop with the Environment in Mind

Bring your own bag, or use eco-bags.
Clean safely. Check if household cleaning products are good for the environment.
Use eco-friendly beauty products.
Buy used products (books, clothes, furniture, etc.)
Bring your own water bottle or liquid container.
Use what you have or borrow things instead.
Use energy efficient appliances.
Recycle paper products.

_{List is taken from and based on this Greatist article.}

Recommendations: I'd like to add my own list too

1. Be sure to buy real eco-friendly products.
There are fake eco-friendly products out there. Just because the label says it is an "eco-product" doesn't mean it is. Some just put it on the label because the general public do not read the ingredients anyway. Learn to read the ingredients and not just the labels so you are not made stupid by big or small corporations.

Do your research and look for real eco-friendly alternatives. For example, instead of using plastic to wrap food, use a non-plastic food wrap that can still preserve the food for a specific time.

2. Teach children to have concern for nature and the environment.

If you have kids then bring them to zoos or other nature parks and have them watch nature shows on Discovery channel, National Geographic or on YouTube. In case you don't have kids but are around some children, it doesn't hurt to also make them aware of how they can help save our seas and sea creatures, endangered species, etc. Start by teaching them to be responsible pet owners.

If you can't teach them how to love and care for the country then at least let them learn how to appreciate and care for nature in general.

3. Support people who are working to help reduce the pollution on Earth.
There are many ways to support people who strive to make the world a better place. Let us not ridicule them just because we cannot do what they do. Let us help them in whatever way we can instead. It can be through increasing public awareness, providing or finding financial help, or even looking for people who can further the cause.

Help any nature warrior or environmentalist you find so we can also help ourselves and the future generation.

4. Find ways on our own to help save our planet from pollution or global warming.
If we want to be professional experts at it then we can study more by taking masters degrees or PhDs.

Ordinary citizens like us can also help the Earth in our own small way. Just using the internet can allow us to learn how to change our polluting ways and habits. Whichever you can do to lessen your impact on Earth pollution is a big enough help over time so don't lose hope. We can all reduce and stop pollution if we put our mind to it.

Based on the 35 item list, I still have a long way to go and some of them are not applicable too. I definitely walk and ride the MRT/LRT more. I do 13 out of 35, minus 2 more since I will never buy a car. Now that I know of more ways to help out nature, I will add some of those in the list one by one to my daily life.

How about you? How many of the above do you already do?

XOXO,
@artgirl