Thanks to the Vocal Challenge

I wasn’t totally unaware of the importance of reducing my carbon footprint but the Wave Makers Vocal Challenge made me more aware of its importance. I have been doing my research to learn why it is so important and what I need to do to reduce my carbon footprint. As it turns out, I have been doing some things right but there is definitely room for improvement.

I am doing the following things right even though I can't say that I knew it before doing my research for this challenge:

1. I do not drive a car much at all. I really have no choice as far as this first one goes. I was in a car accident and now I have bad eye sight. I cannot drive at nighttime and during the day I can only drive around the small town where I live (and believe me, it is small!). Before my car accident, I did carpool to work so I was also doing that correctly. I also get my car serviced regularly, which is another action that is recommended to reduce your carbon footprint.
2. I do not eat meat. In order to reduce your carbon footprint this is something else you should limit. Well, I have not eaten meat since 1984 so I am good with this one too!
3. I no longer subscribe to magazines. I have to admit that at one time in my life I subscribed to many but now that I have trouble seeing I have canceled all my subscriptions. When I did subscribe to the magazines I did not throw them away when I was finished with them, I either passed them along to other family members or I recycled them. Our little town does have a place for recycling so that is a great advantage.
4. I wash my clothing in cold water approximately 90% of the time. I only wash my clothes in warm or hot water if absolutely necessary.
5. I do not keep my house very warm and every year the amount of oil I purchase has decreased. Just recently I started weatherproofing my house by doing research so that I could do simple weatherproofing jobs myself.
6. I never fly on an airplane. I did fly at one point in my life, not all that much, maybe two or three times a year. But now I am claustrophobic so I don't expect to be flying ever again!
7. I do not like clutter so I always organize my house and either sell or donate the items I no longer use. This is something I started doing because it is much easier to keep an uncluttered house clean. Not to mention, it is a way of helping people who may need the items I am no longer using.
8. I unplug appliances that I do not use on a daily basis. For example, I do not use the coffee pot or the toaster that often so I only plug them in when I am using them. There are other things around the house that I use often that I unplug if I am going somewhere throughout the day. I never keep my phone charger plugged in during the day, I only plug it in when I am charging something.
9. Just recently I started air drying my quilts and blankets. Again, I can’t take credit for making this change for environmental reasons but it just seemed to make sense. They are so big and it was taking forever to dry and really it made no difference so that is why I made the change. It has really cut down on my use of the dryer though and now I know that is a good thing at reducing my carbon footprint.

After doing my research for this challenge, I now understand that I need to take the following actions to reduce my carbon footprint:

1. Normally, I only plant flower gardens but this year one of my gardens will be for vegetables. Not only will this be good for the environment but it will also be good for my health.
2. I am going to reduce my use of plastic bottles. I think that is an important change because just thinking of those poor birds with plastic bottles stuck on their little heads makes me sick. I should have thought about this long ago because my father always reuses his plastic bottles. This is a small change to make that will make a big difference in the long run.
3. Another easy change will be for me to take my own bags to the grocery store instead of using the store‘s plastic bags. I see other people doing this but I never really thought about the damage that plastic does until I sat down and did the research for this challenge.

This is an important challenge because it will make people think about this issue. I know it has made me think about it and now I can do something about it. Although I listed above the things I have been doing that are positive, I can still improve on those points as well. I will admit, I am new to environmental issues but I want things to get better, not worse, so I pledge to do my part. Nobody loses in this challenge because we all gain information on how to make our environment better and we have Vocal to thank for this.🦆

Sources:

https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2018/12/27/35-ways-reduce-carbon-footprint/

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/7-instant-ways-to-reduce-your-carbon-footprint_b_59321992e4b00573ab57a383

https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-briefs/marine-plastics#:~:text=The%20most%20visible%20and%20disturbing,are%20filled%20with%20plastic%20debris.