Green Lifestyle at Your House
Our houses are places for us to come home and rest after working or doing our daily activities. A comfortable and peaceful house may be dream for everyone to have as most people spend approximately 8 hours a day for working.
As a resting place, a house can reflect the owner's character. The furniture, colour of the wall, interior designs and accessories the house's owner chooses can show his 'tastes' or style whether he is modern, classical, dynamic, artistic, or futuristic. For a person who cares for nature, can he show it through his house? Sure, a house which is built from eco-friendly substances and equipments whose owner has green lifestyles can show his cares for nature.
Let us see what can be done in our houses in the following "green" tips for the environment and nature:
Kitchen and Dining Room
Cut the food ingredients in small pieces.
Food ingredients cut in small pieces can be done quicker as well as saving the fuel.
Use coconut oil instead of palm oil.
Some legal palm oil plantations have operated for many years in Indonesia. Unfortunately, for the past 20 years, more plantations have been emerging in large numbers and more forests have been converted for that. Over reforestation for palm oil plantations can threat the extinction of wildlife and plant species. Nothing is wrong with palm oil plantation. But the incorrect is to cut down the forest for new more palm oil plantations. In Indonesia, there is no labeling system for palm oil product which plantations do not destroy the forests. If you are not sure that the palm oil products destroy the forests, and you don't want to cause deforestation indirectly, choose coconut oil
Save water while washing cooking ingredients.
Vegetables and fruits for food ingredients should be washed first before being cooked or eaten. Washing them for sometime to make sure that the pesticides gone is not wise. Choose organic ingredients because they are healthier and you don't have to wash with more water because they are free from chemical substances.
Buy locally produced goods.
Consuming the cooking ingredients or food that are produced by the local farmers or traders are better than buying the import products as they consumed a lot more fuel, energy, and resources to transport them which can pollute the environment.
Be aware before meal time.
Pay attention to the food ingredients and make sure that they don't contain any protected wildlife, body parts or the by products. We surely don't want to break any law for a bowl of soup, do we?
Composting.
Leftover should not be thrown into the trash bin right away as they keep some useful energy. Make a composting place in our backyard to recycle the rubbish and produce natural fertilizer. For those who do not have enough space can also use a basket which can be designed as composting place put in a kitchen.
Washing or Bath rooms
Non phosphate detergent.
Too much phosphate in the river will cause overpopulation of algae and other unwanted plants in the water which reduce the oxygen in the river and block the sun penetration. This disturbs the living organism in the river water. Since Indonesian people dump the domestic liquid waste, including the laundry water consisting of detergent, it is advisable to use non phosphate detergent if you live in Indonesia whose liquid waste is still dumped into the river.
Save water.
Save water is not only about using water wisely but also running good water management: repair immediately leakage pipes, dripping taps, etc.
Use antiseptic soaps only when it is needed.
Antiseptic soap is useful to kill the unwanted diseases on our body. But, too much using antiseptic can harm other useful living organism in the environment.
Garage
Regular maintenance
We should have automotive maintenance regularly. If the cars or vehicles are in good condition, we will save fuel. Go to auto service immediately to repair our automotive vehicles.
Have "Garage Sale" for your unused automotive spare parts.
In Indonesia, it is very common to sell spare parts, especially in a flea market, because other automotive users may need and reuse them.
Living, Bed, and Family Rooms
Save Electricity
Electricity is one of the main causes of global warming. Saving electricity can help reduce global warming by:
- Control the Air conditioning wisely or turn it off when not needed.
- Turn off the light if it is not needed.
Unplug the electronic devices after using or during traveling as they still consume 40% when they are turned off but still plugged.
Non CFC
The ozone layer can be depleted by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), so free our house from CFC refrigerant.
No Aerosol
Replace the spray air freshener containing aerosol with scented candle and insecticide spray with electric one.
Use "save energy" electronic devices.
Consult with the salespeople of the electronic products we want to buy. How much electrical energy is absorbed? Is the energy comparable to the features provided? Is there a similar product that saves energy more? It isn't how much money we spend, but how much we care for the environment.
Optimize sunlight as a light house
If you do not want to use too much light in the daytime, redesign the roof and wall of the house to get the warmth of the sun.
Make-up Table
Non animal testing products.
Make sure that the beauty products we use are not tested to animals or animal body parts. Check the product label or consult with salespersons before buying. We surely do not want to have beautiful face by causing suffering to a monkey for the cosmetic test.
Garden
- Grow the local plants. Exotic plants (plants not native to the local area), threaten native plants.
- Energy saving lamp garden. Not only energy saving lamps are used indoors, "green" our garden by using energy saving lamps.
- Water the garden wisely. Use the rice water to water our favorite orchids, or the laundry liquid waste for watering the mango in the yard. You can also choose plants that do not require too much water.
Compiled by:
Petungsewu Widllife Education Center (P-WEC) www.p-wec.org