8-2 Environmentally-Friendly Changes

One thing I have changed in my life is I don't use hot water anymore to do my laundry. We use so much electricity doing the laundry and using hot water is kind of a waste. You only need it to wash clothes that are really, really dirty.

It may not sound like much, but I've changed all of the lights in my house to LED, which is a cool new technology that really saves electricity. I used to have to change my lights every three or four months, but my new ones won't die for 20 years or so. My electricity bill is much cheaper these days.

I heard a long time ago that plastic is one of the worst things for the environment. So about three months ago, I bought a reusable shopping bag. Now I never need plastic bags when I buy groceries or other things.

I don't eat meat anymore. One of the reasons for becoming a vegetarian is that eating meat is actually quite bad for the environment. So for every hamburger somebody eats, it takes about 2,500 liters of water to produce that meat. I mean, isn't that crazy?

Where I live in Vancouver, there are a few car sharing clubs. I've sold my car and joined one of these clubs. When I need to use a car, I go online and reserve one. They are parked all over the city. I only pay for the time that I use it and it's super cheap.

I've been making sure to open the blinds in my apartment every day. The sunlight heats my apartment, so I don't have to use my heater very much to keep my place warm. My electricity bill is much cheaper. Someone recently told me that even if something is plugged in, it continues to use electricity, even when it's turned off. I couldn't believe it. So, to help the environment and lower my electricity bill, I've been unplugging things in my house, like my TV, when I finish using them. In fact, I think you'll find that everything in my house right now is unplugged. My wife and I watched a movie not too long ago about where our food comes from. From this movie, we learned that transportation of food from other countries to our local stores creates a lot of pollution. Because of this, we have been buying only local fruits and vegetables. You won't find food in our refrigerator from anywhere far away. Well, I love coffee. I usually drink two or three cups a day, and I always go to Starbucks. I used to have a garbage can full of paper coffee cups, but not anymore, because I've been taking a reusable coffee cup to work with me and using it when I need my caffeine. I don't know. I guess I'm not very environmentally conscious. The only thing I can think of is that I've been turning off all the lights in my house when I go out to make my bill a little less expensive. It's working.