What is the most effective thing we can do to help the environment?

Question

We are bombarded with so many things that it is often easy to think that it is all too hard. If we narrowed the field so that we concentrated on one thing each day what should that be. Maybe by concentrating on one thing each day over a week we could change seven diffrent things that we do.

Answer 1

On my list I personally think that it is the pollution from cars that is the biggest problem. I'm not sure if you agree with me or not but I think that recycling cans, bottles, etc. should as well be at the top of the list. We are running out of landfill space and I do not want my children living in waste.

Answer 2

The various activities being hyped will only bring short term results. Although short term results are important, their benefits will be negated if the population continues to grow. If each person has 4 children, the population doubles each generation so a short term reduction of damaging environmental activities will be negated in a single generation. The most effective (actually the only) long term environmental action is therefore to limit family size to 2 children or less. Perhaps credits for having fewer than 2 children could be sold to those wanting larger families as carbon credits are now traded. The number of children needed to replace an individual (and spouse) is actually 2.2, but a gradual reduction of the human population will bring the population size closer to an environmentally sustainable level at which time a slight increase in family size can stabilize the population.

Unfortunately some religious and cultural groups will adamantly oppose limits on human reproduction since a higher reproductive rate of these groups will result in their group representing a higher proportion of the population in future generations and hence have more political power than the groups which limit their reproduction to sustainable levels.

Answer 3

Great question! There is a lot we can do individually. for example: recycling, if we recycle newspapaers, even those grocery store ads, furniture ads, etc, which are printed in same paper, for every three ft. pile you are conserving a 100 yr old tree.
plant a small garden (do it for your grandma and not only will you be doing something good for the environment but you'll be doing something special for her as well.)
donate a tree, plant it at a park, govt. office building, your backyard, do this once a yr,and in 10 yrs you've planted 10 trees, imagine if we all did this.
If you need to go somewhere less than 1 mile away, walk instead of driving, you might even get there faster depending on traffic and the exercise will do you good.
when showering take shorter showers specially if you shower more than once daily.
When doing laundry have your washer drain onto your grass instead of the sewage system.This way you are recycling water and the laundry detergent serves as an insecticide for plants as well.
and above all every so often go online for ideas on how to keep this going, don't ever think that one person can't make a difference, you can becuase you are doing it and by setting an example for others to follow. If you are in school coordinate a weekend to clean your city,school or park, plant a garden, get others involved. I'm sure if you are passionate enough about this you can get local businesses to donate things you might need and get them involved as well. It will make you feel great, and you will be making a BIG difference for everyone. Good luck!!!

Answer 4

The world is such a large place, not all specific suggestions will work everywhere, such as taking mass transit to work. What if the nearest such service is 45 miles away? That service is something we CAN work on improving.

But, the best suggestion I can really have is to think beyond bits and pieces and remember the real picture. Visualize looking into a mirror of yourself seven generations from now. It is the philosophy begun by Native Americans. By so doing, you begin to get into the habit of regarding each action taken as effecting so much in ripple effects far into the future. Once we begin viewing our lifestyles in terms of the effects we are making upon the future, for seven generations, we realize we must live responsibly and deliberately with footsteps that vanish quickly leaving only a healthy earth.

Looking to the future will soon effect every aspect of our lives, and soon we will go from feeling worry and stress about our delicate planet, to hope and enjoyment from knowing we've played a positive role in sustaining the planet's ability to nourish life.

Attitude is everything. "One step is the other shore," as the eastern religion teaches. Everything else will follow.

Maybe cut in half the amount of trash you throw out, OR recycle by conciously buying less of it. Maybe use fluorescents. Maybe carpool, or walk. Maybe plant trees. YOU have to decide for only you know your possibilities. But do think of long term impact, and do constantly look for more ways to be greener.

The planet thanks you, our five great grandchildren thank you and I thank you.

Answer 5

Wow, this is a great question! It's hard because we always put things off and say we'll do it eventually. We need to start doing things today. I think if we start walking or biking for just a day or a week that'd help. And then maybe we could have a turn off the water day. Imagine what we could accomplish if we just work together day by day and do simple small things. This is an excellent idea. I say we contact someone about this and start today! =] It's the simple things that will help!

Answer 6

thats a great idea do one thing at a time, because there is not just one thing that you can do in order to make a difference its a collection of all your and our efforts together that is going to make the most difference. start by planting a tree or 2, switch one bulb to a cfl every pay check, the next time you go shopping use your own bags instead of plastic or paper, and recycle everything you can, also when you brush your teeth or shave turn the water off while you are not using it to rinse your tooth brush or razor, also make sure your hot water heater is set to 120 or about medium. then once you get all these going you can find more ideas on line.

Answer 7

Energy is used about equally to heat/cool homes and power cars, reduce the amount you use of both.

Maybe laws to raise the driving ago to something like 25 or so to eliminate a lot of wasteful joy-driving.

Hitch hike more, drive less.

Do not use air conditioning, either at home or in the car, it is a big waster of energy!

CD's contain some of the most toxic compoundsin the world, like Ruthenium and Beryllium. Evertually every one of those CD's is going to wind up in a landfill. Do not buy CD's (or DVD's)!

Answer 8

Well, I was going to give ytou a whole list, just like I did for Matt Dillon. But since you want one, here it is:

1.) Turn off those lights that are just flashing light for no reason. Especially schools at night time, they are always on, what is with that? During the day, open the blinds and turn off the lights no matter where you are.

Hope this helps.

Answer 9

Great idea, if we do one tiny thing each day it could make a big difference. How about we resolve to only give girts of danations to worthy causes to people for birthdays and such? We all have so much compared to the rest of the world, the last thing we need is more stuff.

Answer 10

What I think are the easiest and most practical things that the public can do:
>bringing your own bag to the groceries store/whatever shops
>take public transport instead of driving your own cars whenever possible (minimise greenhouse gases)
>donate to organizations trying to help the environment