Earth5R

15 Steps To Save The Environment : Home Equals Planet

Global climate change is a big matter of concern as the concentration of greenhouse gases are increasing in the Earth’s atmosphere.

It is becoming more and more important to bring sustainability in our lifestyle. 

It is crucial to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals which are a collection of 17 interlinked global goals set in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

Sustainability should be implemented on an individual level, people should bring sustainability in their life. In order to achieve this, Earth5R has launched its HOME EQUALS PLANET programme.

HOME EQUALS PLANET is a set of 15 tangible actions that citizens can take on a personal level. These actions are a step towards a healthier lifestyle and a healthier planet. HOME EQUALS PLANET also meet the Sustainable Development Goals and bring change in the life of citizens.

The 15 Actions training was taken by Adwitiya Naskar, who was interested in knowing about HOME EQUALS PLANET and sustainability. He shares his experience with the training as:

Adwitiya Naskar: “HOME EQUALS PLANET is a great initiative as people learn to live a sustainable lifestyle, which will eventually bring a big change in the world.

It taught me about the importance of living a simple and sustainable life.

I was shocked to know about the huge impact created on the environment with one’s smallest lifestyle choices.

Therefore, I have started reusing plastic bottles and buckets for tree plantation, I am trying to conserve energy as much as I can and in the future plan to incorporate all of the 15 actions in my life.”

Using reused plastic buckets utensils to plant trees and various food bearing plants

The 15 actions not only benefit the environment but also the individual who implements them. Listed below are HOME EQUALS PLANET’s 15 Actions and their benefits:

1. EAT MORE HOME COOKED MEALS

  • We end up feeling more energetic and the overall physical and mental health improves
  • Reduces expenses
  • Purchasing of less packaged food avoids plastic, thus benefiting the environment

2. BE MORE PHYSICALLY ACTIVE

  • Reduces health risk
  • Improves one’s ability to perform daily activities
  • Improves quality of life with the kick of freshness and boost of energy

3. SPEND TIME IN NATURE

  • Makes one feel relaxed, focussed and improves concentration
  • Connects one with nature
  • Observing the processes of nature makes us implement the same into our life.

4. CHOOSE GREEN COMMUTE

  • We know that sitting in cars is least healthy, where using green commute is good for our health as it involves physical activity
  • Reduces pollution and one’s Carbon Footprint.
  • Reduces expenses like fuel and maintenance of a vehicle

5. CONSERVE ENERGY

  • Saving energy reduces air & water pollution & conserves natural resources as it lowers the amount of pollutants released
  • Reduces electricity expenses
  • Conservation of energy means an adequate supply, so lesser power plants will be there. Thus, making us healthier as the emissions from power plants will reduce with the reduction in energy generation.

6. EAT LESS MEAT

  • Makes us less prone to health problems like obesity, heart diseases & diabetes.
  • Saves wildlife
  • Saves the land which is used for raising animals, known as livestock as it becomes barren after a while

7. LEARN TO GROW YOUR OWN FOOD

  • Reduces the amount of harmful chemicals polluting the soil & water
  • Nourishes the soil as natural fertilizers can be used
  • Good for Health as one can control the chemicals that go into the food
  • Reduces expenses, growing your own food is much cheaper than purchasing from the market 

8. BUY LESS AND SAVE WATER

  • Saves financial and physical resources
  • Reduce the water footprint and carbon footprint

9. AVOID SINGLE USE PLASTIC

  • Single-use plastics are disposable plastics that are commonly used for plastic packaging and include items intended to be used only once before they are thrown away or recycled.
  • Avoiding these saves the environment as less single-use plastic prevents accumulation of waste, saves water bodies, and reduces landfill waste. 
  • Plastic takes a very time to degrade, which makes it ideal to look for other alternatives. 
  • Less consumption of plastic also means less production, thus saving raw materials

10. SEGREGATE YOUR WASTE AND RECYCLE

(Unsplash.com)

  • Waste segregation makes recycling way easier and less waste ends up in landfills. 
  • It leads to a healthier environment, thus improving our health.

11. COMPOSTING

  • We get compost that is rich in nutrients, good for the soil and plants, resulting in no use of chemical fertilisers.
  • It reduces landfill waste as it recycles kitchen waste.

12. REUSE, UPCYCLE, REPAIR

  • This will reduce landfill waste, conserve natural resources and energy as reusing requires less resources than producing new products.
  • It also generates employment and helps in creating a circular economy.

13. BUY LOCAL – Local businesses over chain stores

  • It leads to conservation of resources and energy in the form of less fuel, transportation and packaging. 

14. VOLUNTEER FOR A CAUSE

(Unsplash.com)

  • It makes one happy, confident and improves mental health. 
  • Makes us realise our responsibility towards the community.

15. INVEST RESPONSIBLY

  • A responsible investment makes one a responsible citizen
  • A sustainable investment offers higher profits and less risks. This is so because, if a business is truly sustainable, it offers low operating cost, hence better share price and profitability.

The 15 actions of HOME EQUALS PLANET teaches citizens to live a simple and sustainable life that brings a huge change in society.

The Earth5R team would like to appeal to all the citizens to join this movement and bring a change in their lifestyle whilst benefiting the environment. To know more about Earth5R, visit their website at https://earth5r.org/ .

ABOUT EARTH5R

Earth5R is an environmental organization from India with its head office at Mumbai. It works with the NGO sector, Companies and helps them conduct environmental Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs across India.

Earth5R specializes in circular economy based projects. Earth5R also offers short term and long term environmental courses and fellowships.

– Community training and reporting by Aniket Naskar, editing by Aishani Raghav

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