Five steps to a green home

It doesn’t really take much effort to convert your home eco friendly. Neither does it cost you a huge amount. All you need is some positive thought and a little bit of motivation. Here are ten simple steps to make your home a green home

      1)   Make the most of sunlight – Sunlight is one resource that we have in abundance and that too for free. Make the most out of it. Don’t blind your windows with heavy drapes especially in the winter. Let the sunlight in. It is not only comfortable for your eyes but also helps reducing your electricity bills. Use solar water heaters instead of geysers. You will have hot water in almost any season, irrespective of the power cuts. Use other solar products like emergency lanterns, fans, lights etc. You can get them on subsidized rates through NEDCAP

2)      Consume less energy – Switch off the fans, lights and any electrical or electronic devices when not in use. Devices consume power even in stand by mode. In the summer paint your rooftops with cool cement. This reduces the room temperature by atleast 2 degrees. Cover your windows with heavy drapes to beat the heat. Use the cooling pads made of KhasKhus (vattiveru) wherever possible. They are not only environment friendly but also give nice fragrance. Pair the AC with a ceiling fan. This increases your AC’s efficiency.

3)      Conserve water – Use water judiciously. Don’t let the tap running while your brush or shave. Do not take tub baths frequently. Use shower instead. Don’t use your washing machine just for a pair of clothes. The minimum water required for 1 pair and 4 pairs would be the same. Same rule goes with your dish washer. Don’t drain the water used for cleaning vegetables. You can water your plants with that. Most importantly, you can dig a water harvesting pit close to your borewell. Divert all the rain water to this pit. These pits are a tremendous success in many areas which were once identified as drought prone. All you need is a 4 sqft land. I will talk about the construction of water harvesting pits in detail in my next post.

4)      Minimize plastic – Plastic is an inevitable part of our lives. But the damage it does to the environment is phenomenal. Try and reduce plastic usage as much as possible. Carry a cloth or jute bag for shopping instead of getting a polythene cover each time. Avoid unwanted packaging. Don’t bin the polythene covers after single use. Reuse them. And most importantly, never burn down plastic or tyres. The fumes they emit when you burn are really dangerous. Instead send them for recycling or dispose them responsibly.

5)      Recycle the waste – Nothing in this world is a waste, including the waste J. Recycle the dry and wet waste from kitchen separately. You can use the vegetable waste to make your own compost in your garden. Dispose responsibly those electronics, batteries etc that went bad. Use rechargeable batteries rather than alkaline batteries.

Do your bit to save the environment. No one needs to acknowledge your deeds. Sometime down the line when you look back at what you have done, the feeling is awesome. Don’t miss it !!

Green gifting

Off late there has been a lot of buzz on Go Green. Companies, organizations, electronic and print media has been advertising and advocating a lot on this. Individuals often blame the government or companies that they are not doing enough to be green. But how are we as individuals contributing to the green initiatives? Many of us would have felt at some point in time like ‘what can I alone do’ or ‘I don’t have that zeal in me’. I feel the approach needs to be changed to get better results for ‘Go Green’.

Most of us live in a concrete jungle. People barely have time or opportunity to bond with the nature. Bonding with nature is one of the key factors in driving you to plant trees. We seldom get a chance to observe the beauty in a germinating seed, plant flowering or bearing fruit. It is an awesome feeling to closely observe a growing plant.

I can remember the first time I have seen this happen. It was almost a magical moment. When I was very young I once buried a bunch of corn seeds in our back yard. It was a rainy season. I was eagerly waiting for them to germinate. I used to go to the place I buried the seeds and see every now and then. The first thing I used to do when I get out of the bed is to go to the back yard and see if my corn seeds germinated. Nothing happened for a few of days. I was very impatient all the time. But one fine morning when I woke up, it was slightly drizzling and it was an awesome climate. I walked to the place where my treasure was. I was amazed to see a bunch of sprouts shooting out of the ground. Green little ones. It was an amazing feeling. It seemed magical. That was the first time that I felt bonding with nature. To this day I can vividly remember the color of the sprouts and soil. I feel gifted to get that opportunity. I bet many people out there wouldn’t have had this wonderful opportunity

Gifting is a part of our lives now. We give gifts to friends, relatives and acquaintances on occasions like birthday, marriages and anniversaries. Most of the time the gifts would be some fancy article, a decorative piece or some cards. Sometimes these gifts might not be really useful for the person you give. In some cases they would already have had a similar article with them. Instead of such gifts imagine you giving a plant as a gift. And that plant bridges the gap between a person and the nature. You are bestowing a green virtue to your friend !! People might not have land to plant the trees. But any home can readily accept a bonsai plant. It hardly asks for a square foot of space in your home. And in return it gives you lot more pleasure. What say?