The environmental challenges of today can sometimes seem overwhelming—too big for any one person to make a difference. While that perspective is perfectly understandable, there are a number of things individuals can do to create a cleaner planet and feel good about doing their part. So, to celebrate Earth Day, make a commitment to small changes that can have meaningful, positive impact.

Five Ways to Lessen Your Environmental Footprint

While all these actions can be taken on an individual basis, you may want to consider encouraging family, friends and neighbors to join you to make for an even greater impact.

1. Reduce your food waste. The relatively inexpensive cost of food has led to extraordinary levels of waste; by one calculation, Americans waste up to 40 percent of the food we buy. Since food production accounts for 37 percent of global greenhouse emissions, reducing food waste has immediate and positive impact on our climate.¹ Moreover, this reduction of food waste can also reduce pressure on landfills.
2. Save energy at home. Simple steps like turning off the lights when you leave a room to using less hot water (that means shorter showers and not running the water while washing dishes) not only reduces carbon emissions, but it can save you money. Other ideas include installing a smart thermostat, replacing traditional bulbs with LEDs and undertaking an energy audit to identify areas of heat loss or high electricity consumption.
3. Participate in a local clean-up. Join a local organization that may perform periodic clean-ups of local lakes, rivers or hiking trails. Alternatively, enlist family and friends and head out for a clean-up where the need is greatest (e.g., a roadside, a favorite city park). Celebrate your productive day with a backyard barbeque!
4. Cut down on plastic use. As plastic trash on land or in our oceans grows increasingly worse, the harm to animal and fish life becomes more acute. The use of plastic in our lives is so pervasive that it often goes unrealized how much plastic waste we generate. So, cut out single-use plastic, such as single-serve water bottles and utensils.
5. Reduce reliance on chemicals. From the fertilizer used to keep lawns green and weed-free to the cleaners used at home or in the office, these toxic chemicals eventually find their way into our waterways and oceans. Become conscious about choosing non-toxic chemical alternatives when buying household and garden products.

Bonus Idea—Consider planting trees to offset your carbon footprint. Better yet, become the financial services practice that’s committed to offsetting the carbon footprint of every client. Calculate your carbon footprint and the number of trees it takes to offset it; it could be as inexpensive as $60 per year!

Lastly, remember to post your commitment on your website and show your clients you care!

Source:

1. https://www.impactree.com/earth/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwmcWDBhCOARIsALgJ2QeBfgLxaVnoG3Bje7Q2OcA1oFiQKu_CoV8t4Ik4Xd7DA64YdNSBN1YaAiEYEALw_wcB

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