Plastic bags consumed this year:

(courtesy from reusablebags.com)

This figure goes like a bomb. We must make every effort to slow it down before it’s too late!

With many media publications, most of us are very well aware of the seriousness of environmental crisis including global warming and pollutions. We, being the most brilliant creature in the world, had caused our lovely planet falling “sick” so badly. Now, It’s even directly affecting our health and also the safety of our future generations. Have you stopped acting harmfully to the earth? Do you really do your part to save the environment that concerns every living features? What actions have you consistently taken to curb global warming? Many people around us just don’t bother or they don’t realized that their actions can really make a difference to our world.

Its a duty of us all to save the earth. The actions of saving the world is a greatest gift for ourselves, so that we can live healthier and maintain a safer environment for our children. The simple decisions we decide, the choices we make, and the products we buy test our commitment to maintain a healthy planet.

In fact, each and every individual plays a very important role in saving the environment. Let us start with a housewife or anyone who performs the main grocery shopping for the family. By making small changes in our daily habits, can have a positive impact on the natural world. Myself, as a housewife, always try to “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle” all the household’s consumables whenever it’s possible. There are many ways of doing it:-

• I insist all my family members to segregate the trash. To make it simple, I place three Recycling Rubbish Bins at home. First rubbish bin is for non-recycling trash. The second one is specifically for recycling paper products only including cards, boards, boxes and etc.. The third one is for all other recycling items, like glass and plastic bottles/containers, drinks and food cans, batteries and etc.. Since there’s a recycling center in my son’s school, I can conveniently dispose of the recycling items while sending him to school in the morning. (Tips: It’s important to make sure recycling items are clean before putting them into the bins.)

• I use Reusable Shopping Bags. This can cut down a lot of the consumption of plastic bags. Plastic never actually dissolves completely and it only breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces, contaminating soil and much of it ends up in our oceans that killing our marine life and birds. Plastic bags are polluting our environment and we must minimize its usage in our daily life. (Tips: I always keep reusable shopping bags in my hand bag and also in my car so that I could use them whenever I shop.)

• For elderly who still actively shop at wet market, I would recommend them to use Folding Shopping Trolley instead of shopping bags so that they can just buy without any heavy burden on their shoulders while walking on slippery floor.

• It’s very common here using plastic bags for carrying hot food from restaurants and food stores. This increases our exposure to potentially harmful chemicals that may jeopardize our health. Alternatively, I’d rather use my own Layered Stainless Steel Food Containers (3 tier and 4 tier) for carrying hot food. (Tips: I always spare a set of clean and empty food containers in my car just in case I buy food from outside.)

• I bought Reusable Bottles and Lunch Boxes for my son and husband to bring drinking water or food to school and to work. This is not only save our money but also saving the natural resources by cutting down on the usage of “use once & toss” cans, containers and bottles.

• I re-use plastic bags as trash bags. I don’t simply throw away plastic bags as they can be re-used and some are just perfect to line household waste baskets. There are many ideas on how to re-use plastic bags, just check it out here!

Actions speak louder than words. I don’t want to list out more than ten or fifty ways of saving the environment while they’re impractical to be implemented in our daily life. Lets start contributing from the basic ideas above. Alert and encourage our family members, relatives, friends, neighbors, colleagues and etc. to act accordingly. Consider to give earth friendly gifts that can help people to consume less. If you choose to contribute, you can make a difference.