Earth Day: five habits that allow us to save and reduce our environmental footprint

The specialist has identified five aspects that we can take into account in our daily lives to reduce our environmental footprint and that can even help us save money.

The protection of our planet is directly linked to the preservation of the environment and, in recent years, has become one of the main concerns of humankind.

For Earth Day, one of the great challenges is to control the actions that increase the environmental footprint, and we can do it in our daily lives, to improve planet conditions and make life sustainable over time.

Mercedes Gómez, academic director of the Environmental Engineering program at the Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC) points out that the most common mistakes range from wasting water when bathing, using plastic bags when shopping or even charging cell phones when they are not being used.

In this sense, the specialist has identified five aspects that we can take into account in our daily lives to reduce our environmental footprint and that can even help us save money:

• Each drop counts. Measure your water consumption while bathing or brushing your teeth and try to turn off the faucets when you do not need the water. Also, you should avoid washing cars with a hose, since a lot of water is wasted. The best solution is to use a bucket and a cleaning cloth that can be wet and wrung out.

• Plug only when using an appliance. A mistake we constantly make is to leave appliances, such as  toasters, fans or our cell phones plugged in even when we are not using them and this contributes to unnecessary energy waste. Also, it is essential to check the rooms in the house that are not being used to make sure the lights are off.

• Separate organic and recyclable waste. Follow the three Rs rule: reduce, recycle and reuse. As part of our responsible consumption and recycling, it is necessary to choose bottles made of recycled and less polluting materials instead of plastic, and use recyclable bags for household shopping. In the same way, it is necessary to use ecological and biodegradable products that guarantee the reduction of harmful substance emissions.

• Reduce car use. Cars that are not electric or run on natural gas produce higher C02 emissions and various pollutants that affect the environment. Therefore, their use should be reduced, taking into account the distance over which they are driven and the number of people being transported. In short distances, it is better to use a bicycle or walk, and at other times, you can car pool with your family and friends to reduce the number of vehicles used per day.

• Improve eating habits. Eating well can also mean helping the planet. Reducing meat intake, and even being vegetarian or vegan -always with medical supervision-, is a vital option whose reasons go far beyond health or weight loss, since the mere fact of reducing our meat consumption helps to reduce our water footprint.