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As millennials, unfortunately the earth we inherited hasn’t been left to us in the best shape. A hole in the ozone layer, deforestation, acid rain, hundreds of thousands of animal species extinct and entire ‘islands’ of plastic washing up in the ocean highlight just some of the issues. While much of this was down to greed and irresponsibility, a lot of it also came about due to lack of understanding and education- now we know more it’s up to us to put this into practice. It really is our responsibility as millennials- now we know what the issues are (and how to halt/ reverse them) to do what we can to help the planet. Thankfully, there are lots of things that each of us can do that take very little effort but add up in a big way. Here are some ideas.

Use less water

Water is one of our most valuable resources. Diamonds and precious metals like gold are worthless in comparison, we absolutely need water to be able to survive as a species. The problem is that most of us waste too much of it, and the cleaning process is damaging as it uses fossil fuels. Start getting showers instead of baths, turn off the tap when you’re brushing your teeth and stop using tap water on your garden! Get yourself a rainwater tank from a company like National Poly Industries, let it fill and use this on your lawn and plants during dry spells.

Reduce your plastic waste

Plastic is causing massive, massive damage to the environment. It’s reached the stage now where it’s entering the human food chain, having devastating impacts that we can’t even truly predict right now. It’s difficult to be perfect when it comes to plastic as so many of the products we need are packaged in the wasteful, single use stuff but do what you can. Switch to a milk delivery service that uses (and reuses) glass bottles. Stop buying single use products like pens, razors and ink cartridges. Make sure any plastic you do use is being recycled correctly, recycling isn’t the answer unfortunately although it’s definitely better than nothing. As time goes on, we can expect companies to be producing less single use plastic and more eco friendly options which does make our lives easier as consumers.

Keep food waste down

Most of us as kids probably heard ‘eat your dinner, there are children in the world starving’ at one time or another. While the sentiment might be there (and reducing food waste is crucial) we all know the thinking behind this isn’t quite right. The reason we need to reduce food waste is twofold. First, the resources use to create food damage the environment. Plants and animals need water, and animals also need food which takes time and space to grow. Farm machinery such as ploughs and other harvesting devices all produce their own emissions and pollution. Disposing of food waste is also damaging, and filling up landfill and incinerators to get rid of it also has detrimental effects on the environment. Get organized so you’re only buying what you need. Get into the habit of freezing or preserving food before it goes off, and anything that does spoil, put into your own personal compost heap in your garden.