What can businesses and communities do to help the environment?
Steps for Businesses
- Optimize/reduce product packaging where possible
- Reduce waste/wasted space
- Use less packaging, smaller packages
- Replace styrofoam, plastic with recyclable paper, cardboard
- Biodegradable, recycled material
- Reusable packages, packages that can serve a purpose related to the product, packaging that is part of the product
- Offer more extensive, enticing repair services to customers for products in place of buying new so as to reduce waste
- Take advantage of natural lighting, windows, geographic features to serve a function within the factory
- Give special consideration to resource extraction processes and procurement, suppliers
- Do business with sustainable producers and other local suppliers
- Engage in more sustainable production processes and shipping methods
- Give waste byproducts a second life as a new product or resource input
- Conduct research to determine how to reuse inputs that otherwise might go to a landfill
- Find ways to use heat, gas generated by manufacturing processes/convert it to energy
- Develop, invest in more energy efficient, time efficient machinery
- Take advantage of green technology grants to perform sustainable development R&D
Steps for Communities
- Turn off lights when you leave the room
- Don’t forget to recycle!
- Repurpose old towels and t-shirts and cut them into small cleaning cloths
- Reuse scrap paper; print on two sides
- Instead of using disposable bags opt for reusable bags
- Buy an inexpensive reusable water bottle, instead of using plastic disposable bottles
- Pay your bills online instead of via mail to save paper
- Avoid fast fashion as much as you can
- Use public transportation
- Read books like Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Food Rules, and The Backyard Homestead and be inspired
- Plant a simple backyard garden. It’s good to remember where our food originates, and it doesn’t have to be huge or complicated
- Drive the speed limit, and combine as many errands as you can in one trip
- Support your local economy and shop at your farmer’s market
Shifting our lifestyle and consumer choices is one way we can help address particular problems; getting politically active with our voices and votes can also help push for more systemic, widespread change. And one of the most effective ways to help realize a more sustainable future is to also support environmental nonprofits.