Consume less.  If we consume less material goods, we’ll have less trash which ends up in landfills.  Ever think of how much garbage you create in a day’s time?  The average person creates about 4.3 pounds of garbage per day.  That’s over 1,500 pounds per person per year.  This ends up in landfills which results in methane gas emissions and pollutants in the groundwater.  Cut down on your consumption, and you cut down on your impact on the environment.

Think about how much packaging is thrown out each day.  I bought a razor the other day and it was in this heavy duty plastic packaging that I threw out.  Could it have been in a smaller more efficient packaging?  Yes.  Businesses could help by packaging products in more efficient packaging.  It may not look the prettiest, but I would still have bout the razor if it had been in a smaller packaging.

But cutting consumption like this is only part of the battle.  We need to cut our energy consumption at all levels.  How many of you forget and leave a light on or leave the TV on or leave the heat on?  Guess what.  It costs you money and has an impact on the environment.  The energy being used is derived from a power plant that is having an impact on the environment.  How many of you drive a lot or take a bunch of quick trips to the grocery store every week?  Well, you’re having a tremendous impact on the environment each and every time you start up your car.  Consider cutting back on the discretionary trips and you’ll help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

We can also be better stewards of the environment by taking the initiative to plant more trees which help clean our air and have other environmental benefits.  I have a pretty simple philosophy with this one.  If I cut down a tree, I replace that tree with at least one new tree.  If we all did this and if real estate developers would commit to doing this, we’d make great strides in being better stewards of the environment.

Read more here at Thinking Outside The Boxe