50ways50 ways to be a better lover ………..of nature

1. Green at home –                  Make a commitment to be friendly to your environment.

2. Plant a tree-          In your own back yard and watch it grow or gift a tree sapling to a friend

3. Fruits of labour – grow fruit trees and share with some friends as well with the wild birds.  It makes for a pleasant environment to enjoy life.

4. Do not burn  –       Let your dried leaves and cut grass in your garden turn into compost.

Smoke pollutes the atmosphere, produces CO2, destroys soil nutrients.

5. Gardening  Home –             Have your own vegetable home garden be a hobby.

6.  Glirillcedia fence –             It’s a nitrogen fixer, provides you with shade, fertilizer, and wood for fuel.

7. Miracle and Magic-              Learn about the benefits  of  Murunga -the miracle tree

and Neem (Khomba) –the magic tree.  Plant one in your back yard.

8. Clean backyard –                 clear potential mosquito breeding places each morning.

It would save your life as well as your neighbours.

9. Keep your cool-   Add heat deflectors to your roof to keep cool during hot sunny days.

10. Power efficient –                Change your lighting to CFL (select “warm glow” for your home lighting.

(Switching  off CFL of for less than 5 mins, does not save much energy.)

11. Power  counts- Know the power consumptions of your regularly used appliances.

12. Sleeping off mode-          Don’t leave your computers and TVs on sleep mode overnight.

13. Ipod or Iron?  –   Think of your iron as burning 40 light bulbs or using Ipods.

(If you keep forgetting to switch off the iron, switch on a radio before the iron and switch off the iron before the radio. So if the radio is on, you know the iron is on)

14.Be in good runner –           Keep your vehicle well maintained an in tune.  You reduce waste, save on petrol and reduce pollution and will have a safe journey and get there on time.

15. Global warning.                 Frequent  flooding, droughts, rise in temperature and  sea level , extreme weather conditions can be attributed partly to Global warming. It’s up to us to make a difference.

16. Think Global –     Learn about different trees, fauna and flora and appreciate its natural beauty.

17. Act Local-              Buy your fruit and vegetables from your local farmer. It saves on transport costs and pollution. Buy  fresh vegetables in season.

18. After your pet-                  Be prepared to clean up after your pet  when you walk your dog in public places.

19. Don’t be a  pest-               Chemical pesticides harm your environment- Find out about alternative organic solutions for pest control.  Neem oil works wonders with no harm to nature

20. Recycle –               Recycle paper, glass and metal.  It takes 20 times more energy to produce new than to recycle

21. Reuse –                  Take a cloth or reed woven carrier or shopping bag when shopping.  Reuse plastic bags.

22. Reduce –              Refuse to take that extra plastic bag at the shopping counter.  If each person just refuses every other bag,  it will reduce the import and waste of 100s of tons of plastic each year in landfills.

23. Plan errands-      If you are taking your vehicle, plan to do as many tasks to avoid several repeat journeys

24. Walk to town-    Good for your health and would save our planet – This planet Is the only home we have, at least for now.

25. Fingers to driving –            Shop online, call before leaving and avoid wasted journeys.  While the computer uses 50 watts, your car uses an equivalent of 50kw (or a 1000 times the energy per second and a whole lot more in pollution)

26.  e-statements –                 Request your bank to send e-statements and stop receiving printed statements.

27. Be public spirited –           Use public transport wherever possible. You lose the hazel of finding parking spaces.

28. Save on tap water-            Water from your tap in treated clean. Do not waste.

29. Bottle  water –  Take your own drinking water in a glass bottle. Avoid buying bottled water unnecessarily.  Tap water is cleaner than plastic bottled. The cost of energy for producing plastic bottles and pollution adds to landfill.

30. Healthy life –      Eat more vegetables.  It is estimated that it takes 2000 gallons of water to produce I kg of meat. Smoking pollutes, bad for your health and bad for your pocket .

31. Green  work–     build up a team spirit to protect your work environment together

32. Skip the lift-         If you are only going one or two floors up or down use the stairs. Avoid the lift.

33. Shade the sun- Sun shades will cut glare and  will cut down your energy bills for cooling.

34. Lower the cooler –            Reduce the AC cooling by setting the level at 24 deg C and reduce your energy bills. Not everyone enjoy  shivering.

35. Go paperless –   Does your front office sales still need those multiple copies of invoices and delivery notes?  Change the system to reduce paper.

36. Stop polluting-  protect  your environment by not sending toxic waste down the river or drain

37. Switch off –          switch off electrical appliances before you leave office. It is your business to stop waste.

38. Stop plastic –        Stop using plastic cups and paper plates- Encourage your workmates to have their own ceramic cups. Take your own Ceramic mug for drinking water at office or when travelling

39. Camouflaging –   Avoid using harmful and toxic air freshener sprays  to camouflage bad odor. Keep clean instead.

40. Prints-out-           Avoid printing  unless it’s absolutely necessary, Use both sides of a paper. Use multimedia to broadcast your message.

41. Printed Junk –    Avoid sending printed junk mail.  It’s less effective, costs more, cuts down  trees  and pollutes more.  Boycott products with printed junk mail ads.

42. Speed kills –         Drive safely and carefully.  fast acceleration, speeding at short distances wastes fuel, causes accidents and injuries. Over-takers make work for undertakers.

43. Telecommute–  Not everyone needs to come to office every day.  Telecommuting makes for higher office productivity.  Measure by results

44. Flexi-time-           Introduce flexi-time working practice to help employees avoid heavy traffic. It makes them more productive.

45. Staff transport-  Provide common transport services for your staff- .  It improves efficiency and productivity.

46. Bigger profits – Increase your profits by cutting wastage of power, water and paper. Replace old equipment with new energy efficient systems.

47. Green traveler –                 Avoid traffic congested rush hours for private journeys. Leave home fresh and early and avoid the hazel and breathing in fumes. You’ll get to your destination fresher.

48. Picnic litter-         Do not litter the roadside or picnic sites. Leave the roadways and environment clean and pleasant.

49. Noise pollution –               Honking in anger, loud music only raises the toxic levels in you and in others, leading to poor health.

50. Be a hero – save the earth.  Let’s change the world, to….. make it a better place………for you and for me and the entire human race…

 

How much power does it take (approximately)

Appliance	Power consumption  (Watts)
Ceiling Fan	50
Box fan	60
Air conditioner	1400
Water heater	3800
Fridge/freezer	100
Incandescent bulb	60
CFL   (equivalent brightness to above)	14
Computer	75 (up to 300w for powerful machines)  (sleep mode-10)
Laptop	25
ADSL (Wi-Fi)	10
TV	50 (sleep mode 3)
Microwave	1100
Mobile charger	4
Washing machine	500 (average over washing cycle)
Rice cooker	500
Sandwich toaster	500
Kettle	2000
Iron	1500
Average Car/private vehicle	40,000 to 60,000 Watts (equivalent in energy  ) plus a lot more pollution