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Links to all posts in the 31 Days to Greener Sustainable Living series at the bottom of the post.
Today, we're talking about a different type of pollution: air pollution. Cars are the biggest cause of air pollution releasing carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, volatile organic compounds and benzene into the air. This ultimately affects our health much more concretely than waste in the landfill.
These gases are way more concentrated in cities where the density of cars if much greater. It is one of the reasons why more and more kids have asthma these days, with increase occurrence in cities.
So let's look at several ways we can reduce these gases and make the air we breathe cleaner and more refreshing.
1. Choose to walk or bike.
This is the best option and creates zero air pollution!
I personally bike everywhere as long as there isn't snow on the ground. But it's really easy to bike around where I live. Everything is very close by. School is 10 minutes away, grocery stores 5 minutes or less. Downtown takes half an hour, not that we go very often.
My bike :)
I LOVE biking! You can "park" just about anywhere! This city is really good with bike paths, but some streets are really in bad conditions and that makes it harder on the bikes, and the bum! Not to mention the amount of broken glass everywhere... but that's an other story. You can also instantly become a pedestrian. You don't have to pay for fuel!! Nor for public transportation. If it weren't for me biking, I wouldn't get much exercise these days...
There are some down sides. Like we can't carry too much food in our backpacks, or big or heavy items. But we manage.
When we go for groceries, we walk to the store, which is just 15 minutes away, and we have a trolley (pictured below) to carry our purchases. I'm perfectly fine doing that since we don't have many expenses attributed to owning a car, like insurance, fuel costs, maintenance, parking, not to mention the car itself.
2. Public Transportation
Taking the bus, metro, or train in to work every day has several benefits.
It minimizes air pollution since there is less cars on the road creating pollution, and it consequently reduces traffic which itself leads to increased air pollution because of idling cars.
Photo credit
I always enjoyed taking the bus to work or school. It gave me time to read books, to relax while I listened to music, and decreased my stress levels because I wasn't angry at the stupid drivers around me (yeah, I'm an angry driver, one bad thing I learned from my dad lol). I also never had trouble finding parking! Or paying for it.
Truth be told, I still had to drive to a park and ride and then take the bus, because my parents live in the suburbs, where the buses were extremely infrequent (3 times a day only, in the morning to go into town, and evenings to come back) and required super special passes. I did take the bus for a year while I worked, but I parked and rided when I went to university. It was still cutting my driving distance in 3, even if it did take me twice as long to get there. And the park and ride is completely free.
3. Carpool
In the same idea as public transportation, it reduces the number of cars on the road. If you and your spouse work close to each other, go to work together. Or maybe there's a neighbour that works in proximity to you that you could ride with. Alternate who drives. And the more the merrier! Good reason as any to et to know your neighbours more.
4. Maintain your car and be a good driver
Make sure your tires are properly inflated, you can waste a lot of gas, and create a lot of pollution, if they aren't!
Maintain your car, change the oil when it needs it, so that it's in tip top shape and will operate as efficiently as possible and reduce the emission of bad gases. Not only that, but a well maintained car will last longer and will stay out of the landfill that much longer.
Be a good driver!! I'm not talking about being curteous to other drivers, though that is also a good idea, but more in the sense of not being an aggressive driver. As in accelerate slowly, take your time to break, and don't drive too fast. All these will make your gas go further and limit the amount of air pollution your car emmits.
5. Plan your trips
Planning your trips into town will not only reduce your fuel consumption, but will also make the most of your time. Yes, this requires some forethought and organization, but it's well worth it. You'll have more time to do the things you love like spending time with your family, cooking, crafting, etc.
This means making 1 trip to go do the groceries, and run your errands, though you might want to keep the groceries last so that cold foods stay cold.![]()
This is also where meal planning comes in handy. Buy your food for the week, or for 2 weeks, or for the whole month (that is a bit extreme, but Danielle of Blissful and Domestic does it!). You won't have to worry about what to put on the table every day, if you have the ingredients, and you will reduce the fuel you use!
Lastly, stop by to do errands on your way home from work, or ask your hubby to stop and buy the few things you might still need for supper.
Have you seen the trend so far?? All these methods with decrease the amount of fuel you use and will save you money! With the rising cost of fuel, isn't that incentive enough?!
6. Get a hybrid or electric car
For those that have extra money, or that are willing to invest some money, hybrid or electric cars are a great environmentally friendly solution. Though the money you save by plugging your car instead of fueling up will make up for it in the end...
There is even a tax credit if you buy a a hybrid or electric car, I've seen 7500$ in the US, and up to 8500$ in Canada (wiki; all hail mighty wiki! lol).
Nissan Leaf
7. Buy an electric scooter or e-bike
Less expensive than an electric or hybrid car, less tiring than biking long distances, an electric scooter is the perfect alternative for getting to work! Though not in the winter... My boyfriend really wants one of these bad boys.
Jademark e-bike
What's your favorite way of reducing air pollution?
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How are you guys liking the series so far?! I know I've been bombarding you with lots of info the last few days, so hopefully this post will be more fun :)
Now that we're in the green groove, it's time to think about reusing while staying hydrated. This requires a bit more forethought, so that when you are out and about, you have your reusable items with you and you don't have to waste needlessly.
Oh and I am not affiliated to any of these products, I just googled and found a wide variety of products that were cute to provide you with options :)
Reusable Water Bottles
Unless you live in a third world country, there is no reason why you should choose to drink bottled water over tap water (and then again those people would be happy to have any water to drink!). In fact, most bottled water are taken straight for the tap!! Dasani, Aquafina and the like just filter tap water, put it in a bottle, and sell it to you for around 300 times the profit.
If I haven't convinced you, check out this video:
90% of the cost of bottled water goes into the making of the bottle. So yeah, you are paying for the bottle, and not so much for the water.
What's more, 80% of water bottles end up in the landfills, still. To me, that is an unbelievable number!! It's absolutely disgusting.
So basically, it's expensive for nothing, extremely wasteful, and not any better for you. So ditch it already!! If you can think of grabbing a bottled water, then you can take a few more minutes to fill up a reusable water bottle instead, I believe in you!!
If you don't like the taste of your tap water, get a Brita filter (or a generic brand which costs less). When I moved to Montreal a couple of years ago, I was not able to drink the water here. I still never bought bottled water, though, I just drank a lot of juice, haha!!
(Brita)
A few months ago, we finally splurged and got a water filtration system, aka a generic Brita. And when I say splurged, we got the pitcher and 2 extra filters for less than 20$. One of the best investments we've made so far!!
Next step is to get and actually use your reusable water bottle. Make sure you never leave the house without a reusable bottle. There are so many shapes and sizes nowadays, you can find one to fit your needs.
Nalgene bottles were super popular a few years back. At first they were made of a plastic that leeched BPA, but it is no longer the case. They come in a few different sizes, pretty colors, mouth shapes, with or without closures and are a hard plastic. This is my first reusable water bottle that I took to school and dance class. They make so many different models now!
(Nalgene)
Then it was time for those stainless steel bottles to take the spotlight. I also got one of these a couple years ago, which I brought to the gym with me.
(Otterbottle - 15-25$)
Now it seems like the collapsable bottles are becoming popular, they take no space when not filled, and fold upon themselves! I've gotten one at the dollar store for 2$, too.
(Vapur - 10$)
They even make some with an integrated filtration system.
(Bobble Bottle - 9-13$, filters 7$)
And there are also some glass ones if you are afraid of the chemicals plastics might release.
(bkr Bottle, with silicone sleeve)
These below are absolutely gorgeous, don't you think?!
(Rive Bottle - 20-30$ (Photo Credit)
It doesn't matter which you choose, as long as you use them!!
Do you have a favorite type of reusable water bottles?
Reusable Coffee Mugs
Are you a Starbucks addict fan? Do you always get your coffee or tea in the morning at the coffee shop? Make it a habit to bring your own coffee mug! Need more incentive, Starbucks offers a 10 cent discount if you bring your own reusable mug, how awesome if that?! Probably other places , too, just ask wherever you get your coffee.
Again, there are a lot of styles to choose from. There's the stainless steel mugs, with or without a handle.
(Amazon - Trudeau Boardroom Travel Mug 13$)
Or some similar plastic ones.
(Amazon - OXO Good Grips Plastic LiquiSeal Travel Mug 10$)
The porcelain mugs.
(Amazon - I Am Not a Paper Cup 12$
The clear glass or plastic mugs, great for other cold beverages, too!
(Amazon - Grosche Glassen 15$
I especially love the look of the handle-less mugs, I would so make my own pretty sleeve for it!!
There are so many different styles out there, I'm sure you can find the best one for your needs!
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Our trees are a very precious resource, don't you think? How can you not appreciate the beautiful falls colors they give us this time of year!
(source)
We're lucky that at least trees is one of the more renewable resources we have, if not the most renewable. That still doesn't mean we should waste paper needlessly.
The facts about paper and trees are really jaw-dropping. For instance, the average American uses up 7 trees worth of paper, wood and other tree-derived products. That's 2 billion trees a year used up by the total population of the U.S.A. The problem is that a lot of paper we throw away is useless paper, like junk mail and packaging, that we did not want or needed in the first place.
And here's the thing. In this day and age, most people have their own computer at their disposal, which can replace a lot of our paper needs. Heck, some households have more than 1 electronic device per person, including laptops and tablets (us included). Let's maximise the use of our electronic devices, and minimise our paper use, who's with me?!
(source)
Reduce Printing Paper Usage
Think before you print. Whenever you are printing something, ask yourself if you can go without printing it. I barely print anything anymore because I can make do with the electronic copy only.
If you do need to print, can you print on both sides of the page? Just this would cut the amount of printing paper we use roughly by half. Also make sure you are only printing the pages you actually need. Click print preview before printing to see if you can save from printing the last page, or if you can adjust margins and reduce font size by 1 point to print less pages if it's not an official document.
(source)
Next step would be to reuse paper that was only printed on one side. Place a scrap paper box near your printer at home, or wherever would be most optimal, and use those scraps to write down notes and such, or for your kids to color on. You don't need to stop at paper, let your kids color on cardboard, too!
Then when the piece of paper is at the end of it's life, recycle it. Remember how we discussed yesterday how to make recycling easier and second nature? Each ton of recycled paper saves 64% of energy, 58% of water usage, and 60 pounds of air pollution, compared to making from new trees. Making that extra effort to put paper in the recycling bing saves more than just trees.
(source)
Enroll for ePost (aka to receive an electronic copy of your bills and statements)
I don't see there being any benefit to receiving your bills and statements in the mail. You not only waste the paper copy, but also the envelope, and whatever other pamphlet they send along with it. And it's safer to do online billing, since most identity theft arise from the stolen paper copy anyway.
If you haven't already signed up for epost, put it on your to-do list right now, or just do it! It really doesn't take that long.
I signed up for ePost, a service offered by Canada Post, through which you can select the companies that send you bills and statements so that they send you the electronic version and not the paper/mail version. My ePost is connected to my RBC Online Banking account, so paying my bills is also easy peasy!
(source)
It's been a couple of years that I did that, so I don't entirely remember how to set it up, unfortunately. I think you might also be able to set it up through each company individually. I really don't have many bills, so it's really easy to manage (I got cell phone and hydro that's it; everything else is VISA, through my bank, or my bank directly, which I also signed up for electronic copy only). The only bill I do get in the mail is tuition bills (for uni), because I don't think they have the option.
I'm not sure through which company or website you set it up in the U.S. I'm having a hard time googling it, too, so if anyone can leave me a comment, that would be appreciated!! I think you need to deal with the individual companies, though...
Cancel Junk Mail
We get between 450 and 650 unsolicitated admail a year per person. This is killing trees for stuff we don't even want! But we can stop it!!
(source)
Did you know you can opt out of receiving junk mail? Yeah! There's this site: Catalog Choice (for U.S. residents only). They have a mobile app for it, which seems super nifty! You just need to take a picture of the company who sent the junk mail with your phone and they take care of the rest. There are other options if you can't do it though the mobile app, you can send your junk mail to the company to be removed, but that'll cost you a bit (7$). And there's also the free Firefox extension that'll remove your name from lists. It's worth it to check it out.
There's also DMA Choice you could look into. You tell them what you want and don't want in your mailbox, as far as I can tell.
You can also call 1-888-5-OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688) so that you don't receive most pre-approved credit card offers.
For Canadians, you'll want to check out the Red Dot Campaign. They have links to where to go do be added to the Do Not Contact Service (for addressed mail).
As for the rest of the junk mail (unaddressed), you can put a note in your mailbox asking not to receive these anymore. If it doesn't work, there's a letter you can send straight to Canada Post (here) The postal services are required by law to deliver any mail with the address on it, though.
(source)
Lastly, how many of you actually use the Yellow Pages nowadays? That's what I thought. Remove your name from that list also: Canadians, U.S. citizens.
You are welcome :)
Unsuscribe to magazines
If you receive a bunch of magazines you don't read, unsubscribe from them!! It'll help the environment, and your wallet! If you got an iPad or tablet, subscribe electronically only if your favorite magazines are available.
Invest in an eReader or tablet
This is a toughy for a lot of people, we still love our paper books!! I am no exception, but it's something to consider.
I think this will be really great for schools, eventually! No need for kids to lug around all those books. Can't wait for this to be common. But it seems the problem right now is that it doesn't cater to the disabled...
Compost it
Did you know you can compost paper? Yup, it's organic afterall. Actually, it's best to add paper, like newspaper, to your compost pile, gives it some much needed carbon :) I'll talk more about composting next week.
Burn it
As a last resort, you can burn what you can't recycle, better than going to the landfill!!
Got any more tips on how you can reduce paper usage? I'd love to hear it! So share in the comments :)
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