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Thursday, December 1, 2011

Small Changes Add Up to Big Differences When Talking About Emissions

After reading many articles on the subject of emissions I noticed a common trend. The issue that was mentioned in all the sources was that anyone can make a difference. Small, simple changes such as unplugging electronics when they are not in use decreases emissions. If you multiply that by how many years you will stick with that habit and you come up with a huge number. Multiply that number by the number of people who also decide to unplug their electronics and that initial number gets astronomically bigger.  If you choose to walk to the store which is only a mile away, instead of driving a car to get there, you will be reducing the carbon footprint.  That is not including the details such as what kind of a car are you driving or whether the tire pressure is correct. This small change of choosing to walk to that store starts a domino effect of good things happening. It has been reported by many sources that U.S. has a huge obesity rate. Walking that one mile will have an effect on your health as well as the environment. If you keep with these changes your mentality might also change, because most people do get a little happier knowing that they are doing something good for the planet that they live in. Small changes add up to bigger differences. Let’s say, you start walking to that store, maybe next time your family will also join in, maybe it will be the neighbors.
           
Walking to the places that are within a few miles is just one of the many examples of small changes that we all can make as human beings. Small changes do not need huge sacrifices. Walking can be a quality time for you and your kids. You could also unplug all the electronics that are not in use. You can take the public transportation or carpool a few times a week or as much as you can. You can change the light bulbs in your house to the light bulbs that are less damaging to the planet. You can choose paper over plastic at a grocery store.
         
Many people cringe when they hear the phrase “lessen your carbon footprint” or any sentence that has the word ‘emissions’ in it. A huge chunk of society seems to think that in order to make a change in the world, they need to become a famous person or a politician. That is not the truth. If one person changes their habits, even if it is one habit at a time or one habit overall it does make a difference. When you choose to change one of your habits you never know who you might be influencing. It could be a friend who is impressed by all these changes that you are making. Maybe it is a family member who is amazed that such small changes can make such a huge difference in the world.

Here are some links to the websites that can help you make easy small changes in your daily life to reduce emissions:

Save Energy, Reduce Emissions

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