How You Can Help

Tips on making your home greener: 

• Change to a water saving showerhead and save an average of 21,000 litres of water per year
• Plant a tree! A single tree will absorb one tonne of carbon dioxide over its lifetime
• Change to energy efficient lightbulbs and save more than a tonne of green house gases in a year
• Rent a chook! Try keeping chooks in your backyards, they eat your scraps, compost your lawn and provide you with eggs! Look at www.rentachook.com.au
• If you fancy yourself as a green thumb, plant your own veggie patch. It doesn’t get any greener than organic veggies grown in your own garden.
• Replace your electric hot water system with a solar hot water system
• Insulate your roof/ceiling
• Educate your family to:
  • Turn off lights and power points when not in use
  • Reduce dependence on air conditioning
  • Have shorter showers and turn off taps when not in use
  • Recycle
  • Compost your food scraps
• Become a vegetarian or minimise your meat consumption by eating more fresh vegetables and fruit, preferably locally grown. This will directly reduce land degradation and the use of machinery and transport will reduce carbon emissions
• Select local products rather than imported products where long travel kilometres are incurred. Ie watch out for imported beers, wines and food, and try to buy locally made where the travel kilometres are substantially less, with the bonus that you are supporting Australian growers and producers. Source local grower markets on the weekends where you can purchase locally grown fresh produce, and support the organic farms where possible
• Convert to solar power for your electricity
• Contact your local electricity supplier and convert to green power sustainable electricity
• Install a rainwater tank and use the water for your washing machine or toilet
• Install a greywater system to make the most of household wasted water
• Use an energy efficient dishwasher and a front loader washing machine, and always look for good energy ratings on new appliances
• Reduce your driving and ride a bike, car pool or catch public transport where possible, and try and purchase a low carbon emission vehicle
• Purchase green household cleaning products, recycled toilet paper and tissues and recycled paper where possible

These are just some of the things the staff at Sustainable Man try and incorporate into their daily lives. There are a million other things we could all be doing to make a difference. Check out the G Magazine for other ideas (www.gmagazine.com.au)