Is Green Living the antidote to Climate Change?

This post is in response of Blog Action Day - a call for all bloggers to unite in blogging about climate change.

I do believe Green Living is an antidote to Climate change. I'm not perfect by any means. I'm just a regular person trying to live as clean a life as possible on this earth, not to 'save the world' as the world will still be here regardless, but to leave a better world for my descendants and the other living organisms that God/Mother Nature put on this earth. The deeper I get into the greener lifestyle, the more aparent it is that man is the enemy. Our unsustainable habits are not only killing us, they are killing nature as a whole, and all that depend on it. We take, take, take and forget to give back. Yet we have the higher intelligence.... A little action by all of us can make a big difference.

Anyway, how can Green Living help tackle climate change? Here's a reflection of what I try to do:

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle: I try to keep waste to a minimum. Keep stuff that is still usable going for as long as possible. If I get bored, I give away what I have and get used stuff that's new to me. This way, there's less need for manufucturing new things, thus reducing the strain on the raw material. Freecycle and freegle are great for ridding yourself of things that may be useful to others and gaining new stuff. There are more alternatives to reusing, reducing and recycling... sure to be a preferred method for all out there. I love all as ultimately, it's all keeping waste to a minimum.

Growing my own and shopping smart, locally: I try to grow as much as time and organisation allows me to. I call myself a natural gardener, as I'm very wary of freely using pesticides, herbicides and fertilisers based on petrochemicals, though I couldn't swear to not using a bit of glyphosphate (roundup) and tomatorite. Having said that, these are products I acquired at the beginning of my gardening experience - inherited the glyphosphate with the plot when I took it on and bought the tomatorite in my first year only. I'd love to be able to use only organic compost and manure too, but the expense makes it out of my reach at the moment, though I do try!!! The plan is to get myself organised so I'm eating 50-70% of my own homegrown produce all year round... I believe it is doable! My local Farmers' Market and farms in the UK take care of most of my diet. And ofcourse, I have to mention my aspirations for a beehive, and some livestock.......

Unit Watching: Keeping an eye out on our electricity and gas use. We're on green energy but that's not enough. Using as little of that as possible is our my aim and this also helps with the bills, hence the heating is on for 6 hours a day MAXIMUM even in mid winter. On warmer days, 2 hours are enough for heating water - an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. To keep warm, we wear warm clothes and have a toasty duvet on the sofa for lounging underneath.

Using Earth Friendly products around the home, and on skin and hair: Soapnuts, natural soaps (I love African Black Soap, AKA Shea Soap) etc... I know these can be expensive, however, they are worth it. And they get you using stuff wonderfully frugally as waste is more painful, lol. I love Miessence for my skin and hair amongst others, but going into it all is a whole of another blog post.

More will sure follow these. Till later, Happy BAD09!