10 Weird Ways To Save The Planet
I think it's really important that all of us make small changes in our lives to help the planet out. We've all read about how we should eat less meat, buy a reusable coffee cup and use metal straws. These are great ways to start, but I feel there are other things that will have an even bigger impact. We should all use less water, less power and less fuel. We can also learn to garden grow food, purchase less plastic-packaged foods and compost food scraps. But I feel that there are some ridiculous and somewhat bizarre things too which is why I wrote this list of 10 weird ways to save the planet. I'm not necessarily saying you should or have to do to any of them but if you implement even just one thing it will actually make a surprisingly decent impact.
1. Skip the shower for a few days
In Australia, the average 3-star showerhead uses about 9 litres of water per minute. So therefore a 10-minute shower uses a whopping 99 litres. One 10 minute shower every day for an entire year uses 36,135 litres. That's a lot of water! Of course, you could just half your time in the shower but why not take it a step further and just shower less. Do you really need to shower daily, or can you space it out to every second or third day, or even longer? If you leave it any longer than three or four days it's probably best you don't venture outside of your home or go near anyone because you probably reek by then. So what are you waiting for, stop showering so often, start to live a little bit smellier and feel good about your contribution to the planet because of the copious litres of water you're saving.
2. Shower with someone
While we're talking about saving water in the shower why not save water by showering with your partner. Rather than two people at two different times using up to 99 litres each just shower together. Showering together may not just be a romantic and sexy thing to do together but it is an excellent way to save on water and contribute to the planet. You can feel good about it because you're doing something positive for the planet together.
3. Flush the toilet less
Another ridiculous way to save water in the bathroom is to flush your toilet less. Hear me out before you judge. When we press the half flush button on a dual flush toilet after we have peed we use about 3 litres of water. I have never counted how many times I go to the toilet each day but let's say I was to pee eight times. That's 24 litres of water a day or 8,760 litres a year. Not as much water as the shower but still a large amount of water. I wouldn't recommend leaving your shit sitting in the toilet bowl, please flush that, that's disgusting. But leaving piss in the loo and flushing less, especially if you're keeping hydrated and it comes out clear, is a great way to save more water.
4. Pee in the shower
I don't know why the shower keeps popping up in this post but here's another way to save that water from being flushed away. In 2014 two university students in the UK urged their fellow students to pee while taking their morning shower in a campaign called Go With The Flow. According to them the amount of water saved from the 15,000 students urinating in the shower instead of flushing could be as much as 15 Olympic sized swimming pools. If everyone in the UK took part, about 720 million litres of water could be saved each year (source). As you can see, peeing in the shower instead of flushing has the potential to save a lot of water per annum.
5. Sleep naked in summer
I think we have all experienced the discomfort of trying to sleep during those hot sweaty nights in the middle of summer. As a result of those nights, we have all opted for the pedestal fan, or turned the aircon on, both of which chew up the electricity. But we could choose to refuse the use of power, instead opting for opening the window for a cool breeze, or even just sleeping naked, or at least partly nude. Just make sure you have curtains and close your doors, preferably with a lock so your neighbours, housemates or children don't cop an unwanted view.
5. Eat raw food
Moving on from the bathroom finally and on to something maybe not as weird. but to stop or probably more realistically reduce the amount of cooking you do. Using an electric or gas top oven as well as a toaster, kettle, electric mixers, grinders, slow cooker, air fryer and all these and other power fuelled cooking appliances. By not using any of these things and eating raw uncooked foods you could save hundreds of dollars each year and also save power.
Alternatively, cook your foods over a fire or in hot coals. Cooking this way means you're not using gas or electricity. The remaining charcoal and wood ash can be used in your compost heaps
6. Dumpster diving
Unfortunately, about 25% of all food produced in Australia goes to waste and much of that is perfectly good and edible food. If you're willing to scrounge around for food in bins you might be surprised at what you can find, especially large skip bins behind large supermarkets. Food waste sent to landfills does not break down correctly and actually rots and produces methane more potent than fumes emitted by cars. By pulling food out of these waste bins you're reducing a significant problem facing the planet and also saving money. I've personally never done this but people all over the world do this. Sadly, homeless people often have to resort to this because of desperation but even well-known environmentalists such as Rob Greenfield have done this.
7. Compost your clothes
If your clothes are made from 100% natural fibres then it is perfectly safe to compost your clothes. Garments made from cotton, silk, wool, bamboo and hemp are all compostable and can even be placed in a worm farm or compost pile. We have all been told to donate our clothes but unfortunately, many of our items aren't good enough to be resold and are disposed of in a landfill. There is also another problem, many of these charities receive so much unwanted clothing that they can't sort through it all. If your clothes are in great shape then you should still consider donating them to those less fortunate, but many of our clothes are not in a good enough condition for resale and could be composted at home instead. Composting your clothes is good for the environment and helps to add extremely important nutrients to your soil.
8. Create a forest
If you have the space and the land to do so why not start a forest? Whether it is a food forest or a native forest, or a mix of both creating a diverse environment is one of the best ways you can save the planet. A forest could help to bring native animals ranging from bugs all the way to possibly large marsupials like kangaroos and everything in between. Forests pull carbon out of the environment, they create shade, they create habitat for wildlife, they produce high yields of food for you and for animals. They are also self-sufficient once established, they don't need our help with weeding, mowing, or pest control, they don't need to be maintained in the same way a veggie garden does. This is how nature intended the world to be, nature thrived without our intervention for a couple of hundred million years. of course, creating a forest can and will take many years to create as larger trees grow to maturity but starting today means you're one day closer.
I personally don't have the space to do this but this is something that I would genuinely do if I did have enough space.
9. Lose the lawn
Why are lawns so precious to people? They are often just a waste of space at home. Yeah, they are great for playing cricket on or for a place for your dog to do it's business but apart from that they are kind of pointless. Lawns were invented by rich aristocrats who wanted to show off their wealth. Poorer people would grow food crops and sell the produce, while the wealthy could afford to have empty swathes of land for absolutely no purpose whatsoever. It's time we lose our love affair with lawns and grow food and plants instead. #growfoodnotlawns
Lawns are high maintenance and can be extremely damaging to the environment. They need regular watering, consistent mowing and they are often fertilised heavily, which pollutes our waterways and damages soil and kills the micro-organisms that live in the soil. Many people are so obsessed with their lawns looking perfect they can't stand the sight of a single weed, they are out there constantly weeding them in a futile attempt to completely eradicate them, often opting for harsh synthetic, toxic chemicals. This has a knock-on effect because they also kill the beneficial bugs we want and need in our gardens like bees. Our lawns could instead be used to grow a veggie garden or that food forest I mentioned above.
If you really can't part with your lawn then at least turn it into a polyculture lawn. A polyculture lawn is made up of multiple plants and flowers that serve a purpose. Let those common so-called 'weeds' like Clover, onion grass (romulea rosea) and dandelions grow because they actually benefit your surrounding garden .Trying to completely rid your lawn of these guys is also actually very difficult and often pointless. You could also try an alternative to the grass too, things like native violets (viola hederecea) and dichondra repens are great substitutes.
10. Eat bugs
Lastly, why not introduce edible bugs into your diet. Bugs like crickets are an extremely sustainable alternative to eating meat products. Crickets contain about 60% protein, require exponentially less land than cattle and do not consume large amounts of foods or water. Crickets are not the only bugs, other options include scorpions, mealworms. Bugs are a common food ingredient in many countries around the world and I think it is time that is here in the western world accept it. Eating bugs is much more sustainable and less intensive on our world than not just beef and chicken but all food products in the industrial food system including vegetables, fruits. We can create mini cricket farms at home and harvest them for food. Dutch-Australian designer Joost Bakker has done exactly this with great success in his future food system home in Melbourne.
