Green Living - A Sustainable Lifestyle

Making your home green is an excellent idea and in many ways, green homes appear to be a step individuals can take to help fight global warming or climate change in general. Many people feel helpless, even hopeless, as they doubt there is anything they can do to help remedy the situation. The best way is to change the way we live on this planet, and Indalo Yethu is available to assists individuals, companies and organisation on Green Living options.
This Green Living handbook provides options that may address some of your doubts in responding and taking actions to the challenges we are facing in addressing climate change. This information might inspire and motivate you towards the green sustainable future that we all deserve. Acting together in responding to these climate change challenges will ensure that we have a healthy, inhabitable planet to leave behind for our future children. Hopefully, this will also ensure that we balance our socio-economic responsibilities with those of the environment.
Indalo Yethu believes that the way we live and the choices we make in providing for our needs will have an enormous influence on the quality of life of those who will follow us. The products we buy, the cars we drive, the houses we build and the type of energy we use are the most significant ways that we can affect our future. If we don’t change the rate at which we consume natural resources, we risk causing irreparable harm to the environment with serious consequences such as increased frequency of severe weather systems, loss of natural beauty, ecosystems and basic resources associated with the extraction of fossil fuels and building materials.
We need to live more lightly and greener on the earth, because the degradation of our environment is compromising not only our survival, but the survival of most other living beings on the planet. We can no longer ignore the impact we have on the earth's ecosystems.
The time has now arrived to take responsibility for the consequences of our life styles. By conserving water and energy, buying natural products, walking or riding a bicycle instead of driving, reducing waste, reusing what you can and recycling wherever possible can make a very huge impact in saving our environment and creating a sustainable lifestyle.

Save Tomorrow, Today

GREEN TIPS

Indalo Yethu Simple Steps to Create a Greener World - Save Tomorrow, Today

Reduce, Re-use and Recycle. Indalo Yethu empowers individuals and organisations with information, motivation and support to improve the way they live.

Reduce. Be more responsible about how you use resources. Look at how you can use less water, less fuel and opt for products that use less packaging, they would probably be fresher and healthier anyway.
Re-use. Products often have more than one life, ice cream containers become lunchboxes and shoe boxes become material for school projects. Save money and time by finding new uses for used items you are have.
Recycle. Recycle your waste. Paper, plastics, cans and even glass can also be recycled. Use recycled paper and other products as much as possible at home and at work.

Starting at Home

  
 
1.



 Turn off lights in unused rooms. Unplug idle appliances. Replace traditional incandescent light bulbs with more energy efficient compact fluorescent lamps. Switching out conventional hot water heaters in favor of solar hot water heaters. Use less hot water. It takes a lot of energy to heat water. Don’t fill the kettle to make one cup. Lower your geysers heating temperature.
2.


 Conserve water: Choose a shower instead of a bath. Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth. Repair leaks and dripping taps. Replace traditional showerheads and toilets with pressurized low-flow alternatives. Capture rainwater to irrigate the garden.
3.

 Insulate your home. Over 30% of your home’s heat escape through the roof. Install a layer of insulation and you can save on heating and cooling costs.
4. Use a clothesline instead of a dryer whenever possible.
5. Put a lid on saucepans and pots. This will reduce the amount of energy needed to cook your food.
6.

 Maximise natural lighting. During the day, let the natural light in by opening curtains and blinds and closing them at dust to keep in heat.
7. Only run your dishwasher when there is a full load and use the energy-saving setting.
8.

 Plant a tree. A single tree will absorb one tonne of carbon dioxide over its lifetime. Shade provided by trees can also reduce your air conditioning bill by 10 to 15%.
9. Buy fresh foods instead of frozen ones. Frozen food uses 10 times more energy to produce.
10. Buy locally grown and produce foods. Buying locally will save fuel and reduce related emissions.
11. Buy eco-friendly products.
12. Walk or Cycle to the corner store and back.



Be more responsible at Work.

1. Choose laptops over desktops. Laptops consume five times less electricity.
2.


 Support the implementation of your organization Environmental Policy. Ensure that every aspect of your business operations has the least harmful effect on the environment. Recycle and use recycled paper. Turn off air-conditioners, computer and lights when you leave office.
3. Maximise natural lighting. During the day, let the natural light in by opening your office blinds.
4. Use Tele-conferencing facilities. By utilizing technology you can reduce your need to travel to meetings especially flying.
5. Educate others and keep them aware about the environmental impact of their business operations.


Getting greener when travelling

1. Reduce your car use. Use your car emissions by using public transport or car-pooling.
2.

 Change your driving habits. You can save a lot of money and fuel by avoiding harsh braking and accelerating. Check your tyre pressure regularly and cut down on air-conditioning, open a window instead and get some fresh air.
3. Park in shady areas when possible. This will minimize the los of fuel due to evaporation.
4. Service your vehicle regularly. This will save you fuel cost and reduce emissions.
5. Make sue that your tyres are properly inflated. Under-inflated tyres can cause fuel consumption to increase.