Turn Off The Light

When we are asked what we, ourselves, do to protect the environment, it is easy to become embarrassed under questioning and feel that what we are actually doing is nothing much.

Compared to the size of the problems we can come to the conclusion that our contribution is either to small to really be worthwhile and quit altogether, or potentially that we are being lazy and should be ashamed of our pitiful contribution.

It is usually not true that either of these is the case, but we can often find more to do.

Something simple, which is often forgotten by people who are conditioned to feel that green living is all about recycling and leaving the car at home, is the important issue of saving energy.

When you have lights or extraneous appliances running all day, the effect is a greater demand on the nearest energy supply. This in turn causes a greater demand on the resources which go into providing this energy, and leaves us with a deficit of natural resources.

So you can help by doing something as simple as turning off the TV rather than leaving it on standby.

Something else we can all do is avoid turning the heating on when it does not need to be. If the weather outside is freezing, or close to being so, then of course we need to heat our homes.

But if it is slightly chilly, wearing a sweater will be enough to keep most of us warm without needing to place a further demand on the energy supply, and as a nice side benefit it saves us money on our bills.