How You Can Personally Make a Positive Difference to the Environment & the Natural World 

A compulsion to do everything you personally can to help protect endangered animals, take care of the natural environment, and preserve the world as a whole, is certainly to be commended.

To help you become more sustainable and live an environmentally friendlier and more ethical daily life, this article will show you how you can make a positive difference with far-reaching impacts. 

Conserve Water

In your effort to be a more conscientious resident of the planet, it is important to make yourself aware of the volume of natural resources necessary to supplement your daily life, with no greater example of this being how much water you use.

Now, nobody would expect you to never take a bath again, but if you usually prefer a daily bath over a shower, reduce the frequency of the former and instead take more showers, which will obviously use much less water.

Other ways to conserve the volume of water you go through include:

> Switching the faucet off when brushing your teeth 

> Filling your washing-up bowl with water and use this to wash pots and pans

> Have a plumber assess the efficiency of your water system at home

> Installing low-flow aerators on the shower head and faucets

> Only filling the kettle with enough water to make the drink

> Stopping using sprinklers to water your lawn 

Plant Trees in Your Backyard

Without trees and other large shrubs and bushes, human beings would be unable to live, as the oxygen provided by trees is vital.

Due to increasing populations and higher levels of human consumption, rainforests worldwide are being destroyed phenomenally fast, with a staggering 50% of rainforests having been entirely destroyed in the last ten years alone.

Now, even though you may at first feel as if planting a couple of tree saplings in your backyard could never possibly counteract deforestation, every little action does help. There is a wide range of reasons why planting trees, both in a residential sense and in a reforestation context, is absolutely necessary.

Just one mature tree will produce enough oxygen to enable two human beings to breathe, which proves just how much of a difference you can personally make. 

Not only do trees produce oxygen, but they serve to clean and purify the air, help to protect the land from flooding and also provide a home and constant food source for a huge array of different wildlife. 

Recycle, Recycle, Recycle!

The sheer volume of waste products, not to mention perfectly good food and other consumables, items of clothing, electronics, and basically, everything human beings discard, is somewhat disturbing. 

Recycling, both in the context of a single person in a small apartment in the city as well as relating to a huge, multi-national corporation with many offices, lies at the heart of sustainability. 

Not only should you be focusing on making recycling part and parcel of your daily routine at home, but when on vacation, it is just as important to stick to your new eco-friendly mindset, so make sure you familiarize yourself with the meaning of UK recycling symbols, too. 

Rethink Your Travel Arrangements 

Next, you will probably already be aware of the air pollution and general destruction caused by the number of cars and other motor vehicles on the road at any given time, and if every single US citizen decided to seek alternative transport even once in a while, the planet would thank them. 

When driving your car, make sure you never sit in traffic or in a car park with your engine running, and always ensure that your engine is in good working order.

Where possible, start car-sharing with a colleague who works in the same office as you do and lives on the way to work, which will reduce the number of cars on the road and save you money on gas and automobile maintenance.

Public transport links are being improved and streamlined across the country all the time, so it is definitely worth checking out your local bus and train schedule to see if this is a viable way for you to commute to work. 

Make Your Home More Energy Efficient 

Turning your attention to your house and backyard, there are several ways in which you can reduce your carbon footprint and directly and wholly positively impact the environment. 

Some such changes are relatively simple and affordable, such as ensuring that every single light bulb throughout your home is of the energy-saving variety (a move that will also help to reduce your monthly household energy bills). 

Other productive ways of making your home more energy-efficient include the following:

> Only use your central heating system when absolutely necessary

> Generate household energy from alternative sources

> Have your windows triple-glazed

> Ensure your property’s insulation is thick and without gaps

> Upgrade to an energy-efficient boiler 

Install Solar Panels on the Roof

For a slightly more expensive, but infinitely beneficial change to your household, which will see reduced energy bills and a much-reduced personal carbon footprint, you could also consider the installation of solar panels.

Solar panels work by absorbing the energy from the sun into carefully positioned PV cells on the surface of each panel, made from silicon or another semi-conducting material. These PV cells produce electricity using the sun’s energy, with the electrical current moving through an inverter to power your home. 

There is a huge range of advantages to upgrading to solar energy, including the simple fact that, during a power cut or natural disaster in your area, while everyone else’s homes are without power, yours will continue as normal. 

Solar panels are also a huge contributor to a heightened overall property value, as they are viewed by realtors and homebuyers as an upgrade in the same way that a renovated basement or a brand-new kitchen already is.

Solar panels, contrary to popular belief, will work in any climate and do not need the warmth from the sun to work, only the light.