Eco-Tips To Practice In Everyday Life

Save those precious drops

Only when the taps go dry or the water cooler is not filled do we feel the importance of every precious drop. But let it not be that only when the world begins to face a scarcity of water, a mere 25 years away, that you realize the importance of it in the natural scheme of things. For then, it might be too late.

Water is essential for life, in fact life forms would not have been possible without it. Take for instance our own body, (which incidentally is 70 per cent water); we can go without food for about three weeks, but if you are deprived of water-intake you could drop dead within three days.

A report says that we are using 70 per cent more water than we did 40 years ago. And more than 90 per cent than what our ancestors used.

If these seem merely facts and reports to you, think again or rather, look closer home. A toilet flush can use as much as 10 liters of water every flush! Imagine an office of an average of 60 people going to the bathroom thrice a day that is already 1,800 liters a day. If you don't have the option of full flush and part flush or 'save-a-flush' option, get it installed.

A dripping tap can waste up to 4 liters of water a day! A running tap left open absentmindedly while brushing your teeth can waste up to 5 liters! And a shower can consume as much as 90 liters of water a day!

And yet you might be thinking, "What difference can it make if you save a few drops of water?" But imagine if everyone thinks alike, how much of those precious drops could be wasted. The matter of the fact is 'YES' it does matter. So start right now.

Here's what you can do to save those precious drops:

• Turn off the tap while brushing your teeth or teaching your kid to brush his/her teeth
• Turn off the tap while shaving; rinse your razor in a bowl of water instead of opening the tap every time
• Use the part flush option in your flush
• Rinse vegetables in a bowl of water, rather than in running water; you could then use this water to water your plants
• Turn off the tap while soaping the vessels
• All maids have a habit of leaving the bucket overflowing while washing clothes, make sure you tell them time and again to close the tap, however irritating that might be
• Repair any leaking tap promptly
• Take shorter showers!!!
• Place a bucket while showering or washing hands, you could use the collected water to water your plants
• If you are up to date with water issues, see if you can install a rain-water harvest method in your home or apartment or read up on it to see how you could go about it. Many states have already devised ways for rain-harvesting.

Checking the air you breathe

A startling fact reveals that in 20 largest cities in India, citizens breath air that is considered "dangerous". The rapid economic growth and industrialization causes India $9.7 billion a year in environmental damages.

Pollution comes from different sources, vehicles, factories, power plants, smelters and natural upheavals like volcanoes and windblown dust. While for the latter, nothing much can be done, we can do a lot to reduce man-made pollution.

Air pollution is hazardous to health as well as to the earth. WHO estimates that about 700,000 deaths could be prevented every year in the cities of developing countries if just three major atmospheric pollutants - carbon monoxide, suspended particulate matter and lead - could be brought down to safe levels. For instance, breathing Mexico City's contaminated air is as damaging as smoking two packs of cigarettes every day!

An estimated 3 million people die every year, directly or indirectly, from the effects of air pollution. Nine in every 10 such deaths occur in the developing world.

Vehicular pollution is one area, where each and every individual can contribute towards reducing pollution. Every year some 50million cars are added to the world's roads. In India the number of motorized vehicles have increased from 0.2 million in 1947 to 36.3 million in 1997.

Well, here's what you can do to make the air cleaner, for your children.

• Switch off your vehicle at the signal
• Walk or cycle when you are covering shorter distances. It's good exercise too!
• Car-pool when possible
• Buy vehicles that are eco-friendly like electric cars, bikes.
• Don't delay your vehicle-emission test
• Use the office transport rather than your own car, it will save you money and fuel
• Restrict smoking
• Throw the waste in dustbins
• Don't throw rubbish out of your car windows, use the dustbins
• Avoid the use of plastic bags, instead carry cloth bags when you go shopping for vegetables
• Avoid throwing disposables in drains

Save on those precious sheets

Can you get past a day without using paper in one form or another? Face it, you can't. Paper has become an integral part of our lives in its various forms - as books, newspapers, magazines, containers and cartons, tissues, pressboards, insulators and the list could actually go on.

Papermaking dates way back to China in around 105 AD and has since galloped to be a thriving industry. The pulp and paper industry is the fifth largest consumer of energy, accounting for 4 per cent of all the world's energy use; it uses more water to produce a ton of paper than any other industry!

America is the largest consumer of paper; an American consumes an average of 749 pounds (337 kg) of paper products per year. In the last 20 years, the combined usage of today's top ten paper users has increased from 92 million tons to 208 million, which is a growth of 126%. So the use of computers is not yet slowing the amount paper we use. In fact, 40 per cent of office paper is not used efficiently.

But how much wood does it really take? A study states that "it takes 75,000 trees to print a Sunday Edition of the New York Times"! A single tree can yield about 80,500 sheets of paper or about 800 pounds of paper; on the other hand, one singly tree can filter up to 60 pounds of pollutants from the air every year. The average family uses equivalent to six trees in paper each year. Another startling fact reveals that every Sunday, the United States wastes nearly 90 per cent of the recyclable newspapers. This wastes about 500,000 trees!

Faced with these startling facts, many countries are of course adopting recycling measures and measures of planting more trees and minimizing wastage. Recycling one ton of paper saves about 17 trees and 24 gallons of water. It also uses 64% less energy, 50% less water, 74% less air pollution and creates 5 times more jobs than one ton of paper products from virgin wood pulp.

Well, now you will have to agree that recycling paper or using it more intelligently is of paramount importance and you too can do your bit. Here's how you could save paper in the office and at home:

• Take printouts back to back, even though it means standing at the printer for a longer time
• If you have to take printouts on one side, use the other as a scribbling pad
• Use any scrap paper to make your memos and pads
• Send e-mails rather than fax
• Take photocopies on both sides of the paper
• Though proofing is easier on hard copy learn how to proof matter on your computer
• Set the fax machine so that it doesn't print out a confirmation after each fax, unless necessary
• Route items around the office, or post them in a central location, rather than making copies for everyone
• Re-use envelops whenever possible
• Carry a hanky in your pocket instead of using paper napkins after lunch
• Use office cups instead of paper cups and Styrofoam
• Avoid taking pamphlets distributed by people on the streets
• Give your newspapers, old magazines and notebooks to the raddi-wala

Conserving energy

When you switch on your computer, back track the energy process and you will see it actually depends on the whimsical rain gods. The electricity that feeds you computer, comes from power plants or dams. Power plants burn fossil fuels, which in turn pump out gases into the atmosphere, which causes the earth to heat up like a 'greenhouse'; referred to as global warming, it is having a worrying impact on society.

At present, fossil fuels account for some 80 per cent of the world's primary energy consumption and 90 per cent of the world's commercial energy.

Global energy use has risen nearly 70 per cent since 1971. Energy demand has risen at just over 2 per cent per year for the past 25 years (more than the rate of human population growth) and will continue to climb at the same rate over the next 15 years if current use patterns persist, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

But with world fossil fuel resources dwindling, while playing havoc on the environment, alternative and renewable sources of energy like hydroelectric, solar, nuclear reactors, biomass, wind and water are fast being considered more economical and are environmentally sustainable in the future. However, these energy sources currently contribute some 2 percent of the world's energy consumption. And although they are the fastest growing energy source, will probably still only provide 3 per cent of all energy by 2020.

Hydroelectric power currently generates approximately 22 -24 percent of the world's electricity and supplies more than 1 billion people with power. The world's hydropower plants output a combined total of 675,000 megawatts, the energy equivalent of 3.6 billion barrels of oil, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. But in several cases, dams have displaced millions of villagers and homes, leaving them with nothing, but promises of land by the government. They have also altered the courses of river, tampering with nature also causing animals and birds to move away from its home. Besides dams are always dependent on natural rainfall; hence the lower the rainfall, the lower the electricity.

Another major source of power generation is nuclear reactions. Nuclear power plants generate about 10-15 per cent of the world's electricity; but there are other environmental hazards that accompany this, which we know only too well.

Solar energy is an environmental friendly way of producing electricity with the sun's heat, but the process of producing the energy many a times outweighs the energy it actually produces, so as yet it is commercially less viable. But several big companies have entered into the fray producing electricity in villages for basic things like cooking and heating water.

Likewise, biological matter too can produce electricity known as biomass energy. This is fast becoming a major source of power generation throughout the world, supplying as much as 15% of the world's energy and up to 35% of the energy in developing countries. Unfortunately the major use of biomass today involves the burning of plants for cooking and heating, which is an environmental hazard in itself as it releases noxious fumes such as carbon into the atmosphere.

Oceans and waves too have a tremendous potential to produce electricity, but as yet there have been very few intelligent ways to tap them.

Sadly, our increased lifestyle has pampered us so much, that we can barely do without a fan in summer or hot water in winter. We always need the AC, we need the fan, we need hot water for our bath, and we cannot walk a little distance, but use the car or bike instead. Homes and offices are filled with electrical appliances that we cannot do without. The least we can do is use it intelligently, without wasting. Saving a few minutes of electricity can go a long way here's how you can help

• Turn off your lights when you leave the office (lighting accounts for approximately 24 per cent of total end-use consumption of electricity in commercial offices--the largest piece of the energy consumption pie.)
• Turn off your monitor or shutdown you PC when you take breaks either for coffee or for lunch
• When you see a colleague's monitor on when he/she is not there, switch it off
• Curtains, blinds, and tinted glass will save energy by reducing air conditioning costs
• Use the stairs instead of the elevator-it's good exercise, too!
• Keep lights in copier rooms, conference rooms, and storage areas off until needed
• Buy products that are energy-saving
• Keep switches off, when you are not using the appliance whether at home or in the office
• Turn off lights at home, when you are not in the room
• Turn off the TV when you are not watching it.

"We all participate in weaving the social fabric: we should therefore all participate in patching the fabric when it developes holes"

-Anonymous