From Sofa Spud to a Lockdown Hero in just 10 steps!

If you are feeling the effects of Climate change and are wondering how to choose sustainability with these multiple lockdowns, here is a list of things that you can do right now, from your home, that too without spending another rupee. So, Stay home, Stay Safe and do not let these lockdowns stop you from choosing a more sustainable lifestyle.

1. Turn off the tap – We are strong believers of “Small changes lead to a huge impact”. Turning off the tap while you brush your teeth morning and evening alone saves up to 750 liters of water a month. To this you can add the water we waste while waiting for tap water to get cold from hot or hot from cold and it easily crosses a 1000 liters a month! More water is wasted when we carelessly let the taps run while washing our hands, vegetables, utensils, clothes and through garden sprinklers. Clean water is a scarce natural resource and must be valued and saved as much as possible. Educate your house help and children and set boundaries on water wastage.
2. Switch off the light – Make a habit of switching off all lights, fans and other electronic items when you leave a room. During the summer months, we use coolers and air conditioner almost all day and night. If we can offset this spike in the energy consumption by even 1% by switching off the lights and fans, it’s still worth the effort.
3. Reduce food wastage– With multiple lockdowns happening in the country, one hand where we are losing out on perfectly good crop due to lack of buyers and on the other hand there are people do not have enough food to sustain themselves. In this scenario, if there is one thing you can do is NOT waste food. Buy, make and serve only how much food you need. Do not hoard and do not waste food.
4. Pay bills electronically – A great way to pay your bills on time and while staying safe is to pay bills electronically. Inform all your service providers to stop sending you paper bills. Just use wallets, cards or net banking services to pay your bills. Not only do you save paper, you also avoid long queues at the payment desk. With most apps offering cash back or coupons on bill payments, it’s a great way to get some of your hard earned money back.
5. Reuse paper, finish that notebook – Paper is one the most abused resources in our lives. Whether it is taking out too many print outs or never finishing that fancy notebook we impulsively bought on our last online shopping spree, we waste paper like it is no one’s business! Our homes and offices have a ton of old planners, diaries, notebooks and notepads that are lying around unused. This lockdown one sustainable thing to do is fish out those half finished notebooks and use them till they are used up.
6. Reuse Packaging: The covid situation has led to an upsurge in online shopping and more online shopping means more packaging that ends up in our homes. Now, more than ever we need to start finding ways to reuse the packaging. Save all the packaging material like bubble wraps, paper cuttings, envelopes and carton boxes to upcycle and reuse them. If you have kids at home, you can do a ton of craft activities with old cartons and bubble wrap. No matter what you do, do not throw away the packaging. Even the plastic that comes with these packages should be up-cycled instead of being trashed.
7. Take shorter showers: Just by reducing your showering time, you can save up to 5 liters of water per minute! If you feel that switching to your humble bucket and mug will help you save more water, make that switch.
8. Cancel your newspaper subscription: Manufacturing newspaper is a very water and power intensive process, not to mention that it turns into waste the very same day.
9. Solution: Cancel your newspaper subscription today and start reading the news online.
10. Close the curtains by noon: Most Indian states get extremely hot between the months of March and June. Closing your window curtains and doors around noon everyday will help you save a lot of energy that is otherwise used in cooling a very hot room. Close the curtains before it gets too hot and save up on your electricity bill.
11. Share: People tend to spend more time on their mobile devices during a lockdown, so don’t forget to share useful information with your friends and family. Share with them the impact of climate change and articles that can enlighten them on how to participate in saving the planet without spending a single rupee.