Green Living - Eco-Friendly Tips for the Home

I had a light bulb moment the other day (a low energy light bulb, of course...).  I looked around my home and realized that I may think I'm environmental responsible, but actually I have a long way to go. 

Have you ever stopped to really assess your lifestyle in environmental terms?  We all know the basic "green" things to do - recycling, turning off lights, not using plastic bags - but in truth, we have many other environmentally damaging habits which we don't even think about. 

I'm going to take a walk around my home now, and let's have a look at what I could do better. I hope it will prompt you to make some changes, too!

Looking in my storage cupboard, I see some tins of beans and tomatoes from Italy. In the fridge I have bacon and butter from Denmark. It's taken gallons of aircraft fuel or ship’s diesel for those items to reach Australia.

I may feel virtuous because I save a little gas by walking to the local shops instead of driving to the mall, but it's a drop in the ocean compared to the amount of fuel consumed to get those imported products to me!

Sure, sometimes the imported product is cheaper – but what would I rather save, a few pennies or the planet?

Then there's the bottled water. Each year, 1.5 million tonnes of plastic is used to make bottles for water. And what's more, it's quite likely the bottled water you THINK is spring water, isn't. Even Coca Cola has been caught putting plain old tap water in its bottled water!

If I installed a water filter at the sink, I'd not only make a huge contribution to saving the environment, I'd save a lot of money, too. For more information, read this article on bottled water.

My bathroom is an environmental disaster zone! My make-up bag is full of plastic bottles - cleanser, moisturizer, eye cream, foundation, the list goes on. Neutrogena and Dove both make cleanser in the form of soap - both are good for all skin types and recommended by dermatologists, so why am I buying the stuff in a bottle?

I have no excuse for buying liquid hand soap, either. Think of how much plastic would be saved if we all went back to good old-fashioned bar soap (which is usually cheaper, too!).

In the shower, my body wash catches my eye and I immediately think, "Oh, no, I can't do without my body wash". Excuse me? Is having my skin a little softer really more important than the future of the planet? I'm ashamed of myself.

My husband buys disposable razors. What is it with that? I understand you need to replace the blades regularly, but the whole handle? They don't even make sense for travel - it actually takes up less space to carry one handle and some spare blades.

Of course, I always recycle the plastic, but that's not good enough. Each time plastic is recycled, it gets made into a lower grade plastic - until eventually, it can't get recycled any more, and it has to be thrown away.

Every single plastic bottle you've ever used will last longer than you, and probably longer than your children and grandchildren. Isn't that a scary thought?

I have a pretty postage-stamp garden. It may look green, but it's not Green. Any garden that's built purely to look pretty is a wasted garden.

Realistically, I'm never going to convert my garden to vegetables. They need too much care and attention, and the neighbours would be horrified. OK, I know those are feeble excuses - but I have to live here!

I have made some attempts to improve things. My borders are alpine strawberries, I have a small herb garden and a patch of wild rocket, a lemon tree and a feijoa (pineapple guava bush). All these things look attractive, need no attention and just grow and grow. But I really should be replacing my conifers with fruit trees, and my gardenias with native flowers to feed the birds.

In most parts of the world, it should be possible to find productive trees or shrubs suitable for your garden, and herbs that will grow. Where you can't plant fruits, vegetables or herbs, look for native plants which will support your local bird and insect life. Your garden will still look pretty, but its contribution to the environment will be dramatically improved.

The reason our environment is in trouble isn't just because of polluting factories or power plants, or because our population is growing. It's because individually, we all consume - and waste - so much more than our parents or our grandparents. I've looked at only a few parts of my home, and already I've found plenty that's environmentally unfriendly. I hope I've encouraged you to take a similar look.

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Text copyright Marisa Wright. Make up pic courtesy of RedCherryHill.  Garden photo by Jo-H. Both on Flickr.