What can we do as individuals?

Sustainability is something anybody and everybody can be involved with. But do people really live sustainable lives? And if not, what can they do to improve this?

Being sustainable can be simple. For example, just by turning off a light as you walk out of the room is being sustainable. What else could people do? Things such as switching the TV off at the wall rather than leaving it on standby, turning the washing machine temperature down by a few degrees, and re-using bags when you go shopping rather than using new ones. These simple acts of sustainability will only make a difference if lots of people.

Recycling is being increasingly advertised in todays social circles, and is becoming a part of everyday life for people. This is a good thing as recycled material can be used more and more instead of producing and using new materials. Local councils are making it easier and easier to recycle, providing bins which are collected fortnightly.

As already stated, people are also being told to re-use as well as recycle, such as re-using a plastic back at the supermarket.

Another slightly more effective way of being sustainable is your choice of transport. Owning a car is almost the normal for people now, but owning a large un-economical 4x4 in the middle of a large town or city is not a good idea. Owning a smaller car will not only help with saving money (obviously but not using as much fuel) but will help the environment as they produce less CO2 emissions.

Another way for people to lead a sustainable life is to research their energy provider to find the most sustainable one. Eon for example use wind as an energy source, so the user will have much less CO2 emmisions. Alternativly homes can be fitted with their own wind turbine.

So, as shown, there are a lot of ways for people to become sustainable, i have named but a few. The main point here though is the fact that no one individual can only help the environment, but if hundreds of thousands of people start and continue, we will start to see a change.