Earth Hour comes around every year. It is a reminder of our commitment to our planet, where we all join together and turn off our electricity for an hour.
This year we are asked to take #timeoutfornature and appreciate the beauty of our environment and all it does for us.
Nature provides us with so many incredible benefits and every ecosystem plays an essential role in maintaining balance on our planet. Climate change and human impact are degrading our environment at a startling pace. If we want to secure a healthy future for our world, we need to reflect on what we have lost and take action to restore nature.
Here are five smaller changes you can make for the environment not just for an hour, but for good.
- Say goodbye to disposable | Invest in a reusable water bottle and coffee cup, and say goodbye to plastic waste. We know it’s easy to forget, but next time you’re heading out, make sure you chuck some reusable shopping bags in your boot or bag.
- Get your green thumb on | Growing your own herbs, fruits or veggies at home is more sustainable than buying them at the supermarket. It is not only convenient, but it means less waste, zero packaging and no transport emissions.
- Reduce your meat consumption | Okay, don’t come at us! But reducing your meat consumption by just one day per week can have some interesting results on our health, and the planet. Cutting down your meat consumption significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation and soil degradation.
- Wash your clothes on a cold wash cycle | About 90% of the electricity used by the washing machine is used to heat the water. So, when you use cold water to wash your clothes you use less electricity.
- Turn on your appliances between 10am and 3pm | That’s the best time to use up all that clean solar energy generated by customers with solar panels.
Register your commitment – www.earthhour.org.au