COP26 in Scotland in 2021 made it clear that is now an urgency to the climate challenges we face. Due to this fact, make your home more sustainable is now a commonly searched for phrase on Google. Our planet is under threat from human behaviours. Many organisations took the opportunity of this conference to warn of the emergency we face. It was also clear that governments were struggling to get past vested interests to put forward policies that would make a significant difference.
What does all this mean?
It means we are all responsible, as individuals, to step up and help the planet. While we might feel powerless, we are the only solution to the issues we face as a collective. If we all behave sustainably, then the change can be revolutionary.
With this powerful impact in mind, here are the sustainable choices you can make that add to the collective effort.
Use your garden imaginatively.
If you are lucky enough to have a garden, you have much you can do to live sustainably. Many of the world’s issues come from a growing population’s food demand. Forest is clear to graze cattle, intensive farming methods degrade soil and intensive fishing strips the oceans. Then, there are the movements of planes, trains, ships, and trucks around the planet. These can all add to the carbon emissions.
If only we grew our food.
Growing fruit and vegetables in our garden and maybe even keeping chickens could help the planet. And it would also mean your food intake is healthier and tastier into the bargain. Setting up some raised beds is a great way to start, and you can soon promote yourself to an allotment.
Install a smart tech in your home
To make your home more sustainable, a smart meter and a smart thermostat could be the answer to saving energy in your home and reducing the demands on the energy grid.
A smart meter will tell you what items in your home are sucking energy and costing you money. It gives you control over what you keep switched on and for how long. While it doesn’t make energy production smarter – which also needs to happen – it does make you smarter in how you can play your part.
A smart thermostat allows you to control the heating around your home better. A standard thermostat switches the heating on for the whole house when you might only use one or two rooms. The temperature you can set is also generally quite imprecise. A smart thermostat can heat only the rooms you are using and moderate your temperatures by a degree or two. You would be surprised at the impact of a 1-degree change on your utility bills – it is well worth trying this out and seeing the difference.
Repair and maintain your home
A lot of money leaves your home through the windows and doors, poor insulation also costs you money, and a leak from a pipe wastes valuable freshwater. Something as simple as an annual service on a boiler can make a big difference to the sustainability of your home.
Making sure your energy footprint is low is a massive contribution to a sustainable planet. If we are only using the very minimum that we need, energy companies will be forced to reduce production and lean less into fossil fuels.
Reduce, reuse, recycle
We could do more to prevent items from ending up in landfills in our homes and gardens. Production of supplies we buy new is a drain on the planet, so any thrift we can show with what we already own is vital.
We can all do a simple task to create a compost heap in our gardens. Using our waste food and the brown matter from our garden, we can create everything our soil needs to flourish. We do not have to buy plastic bagged filled compost from the garden centre, instead of using our waste to fuel the next growth of our food.
In the house, it is about challenging yourself hard on whether you need that new product or whether you buy second hand or from a reclamation yard. Is the item you are about to dispose of perfect for reuse in another form, or can you take it down to recycling? If we all work to extend the life of our possessions, whether it be food waste, clothing, plastics, or more, we can help create a culture of sustainability that could save our planet.
You do have power!
You should realise now that you have more power than your government representative to make meaningful change for the planet. You can make your home more sustainable. If we all acted, then the collective power would change the fate of the climate and our limited resources.