Being eco-friendly or environmentally friendly is becoming more and more importa

nt. You can see the term used in everything from job ads to dating profiles to e
ven listings houses and vacation homes. So, what is being eco-friendly?
The simplest way to define what being eco friendly means is to say that it is th
e act of living with intent. The intent is focused on not creating harm to envir
onment, and to prevent as much harm from occurring to the environment through yo
ur interactions with it. It goes beyond an idea and extends to actual practices
that influence how communities, businesses and individuals conduct themselves. B
eing eco-friendly goes far beyond just turning off lights when you leave the roo
m or separating your garbage for recycling
it is about changing the purpose of h
ow you live.
You can start to become eco-friendly by becoming aware of the how your choices e
ffect the environment. There are three basic stages to becoming eco-friendly, th
ey are
Learning to consume items that cause minimal environmental harm.
Discovering the extent of your carbon footprint and acting to lessen that footpr
int on the environment.
Striving to support others that work to live and produce eco-friendly and sustai
nable communities.
As you can see, the first step is about you immediately acting to change the way
you consume things in life. This means changing your habits about driving, what
types of packaging you use, how you dispose of waste and how you use natural re
sources.
The second step looks at the extent of your carbon imprint that you may not be a
ble to change
such as living in a house, having to drive a car or the type of em
ployment you have and acting with the responsibility to lessen that imprint to t
he best of your ability.
The last one involves actively seeking connections with other eco-friendly perso
ns, communities and businesses and choosing to network and support them to creat
e a more sustainable life. That may not be as easy as it seems, which is why it
is the third step. To live in and support a sustainable community and economy yo
u may not have many of the conveniences that you are used to by far this is the
hardest thing to adjust to.
Here are 10 Steps to Become Eco-friendly:1. 3 R s of Waste Hierarchy: The 3 R s of waste hierarchy can reduce the amount of w
aste generated and improve the waste management processes. Reducing what is prod
uced and what is consumed can reduce the amount of waste that is generated. Reus
e items for different purposes instead of disposing them off. Recycle items like
aluminum cans, plastic, paper, glass that can be shaped into a new item.
2. Conserve Water and Electricity: It takes energy to produce fresh water and el
ectricity. Few simple ways like turning off lights when not in use, fixing leaka
ges, proper insulation, using maximum daylight, installing energy efficient wind
ows, purchasing energy efficient gadgets can reduce your daily energy consumptio
n. Learn here more about 151 ways to conserve energy.
3. Plant More Trees: We all know why we need more trees on this planet. They giv
e us oxygen, fruits, timber, prevent soil erosion, control floods, provide shelt
er to wildlife. Massive scale deforestation in last couple of decades has reduce
d forest area by significant percentage. The need of hour is to work with enviro
nmental groups to educate more people and plant more trees so as to make this p
lanet clean and eco-friendly.
4. Protect Local Water Sources: Hazardous waste materials like paint, oil, ammon
ia and other strong chemical solutions should never be disposed on the ground as
they ll seep into the groundwater. Join local water conservation groups and fight
against water polluters who dump their industrial waste in rivers.
5. Drive Less, Walk More: A simple and yet more effective way to live eco-friend
ly life is to either take public transportation for your daily commuting needs o
r try pooling in with your office colleagues to save fuel and reduce your carbon
footprint. If your office is couple of miles away from home, you can either sta
rt half an hour early and walk on foot or ride a bicycle. If you re and avid trave

ler, you can follow these green travel tips.

6. Buy Energy Efficient Products: Energy efficient products with 5 start energy
rating consume less energy and prove to be eco-friendly. For instance, CFL bulbs
consume 40% less energy and last 10 times longer than traditional bulbs.
Eco-friendly house

7. Buy locally Grown Products: When you buy or produce locally grown products, y
ou are actually reducing your carbon footprint in the form of using less plastic
bags, saving fuel to get vegetables from the market, using less packaged materi
al .. . Apart from this, you can also sell surplus to your friends or relatives.
8. Prevent Littering: Litter can originate from construction and demolition site
s, households, industries, uncovered trucks, pedestrians, and moving vehicles. L
ittering can have big impact on environment, wildlife and local tourism industry
. Being a responsible citizen, it s our responsibility to make our cities clean an
d impart same education to our kids.
9. Buy Recycled Products: Always look out for recycling symbol when you visit gr
ocery shop to buy items for your home. That will make you environmentally respon
sible and eco-friendly. Also, try to carry grocery bag with you to avoid buying
items in plastic bags that will later end up in landfills.
10. Join Environmental Groups to Combat Pollution: Protecting mother Earth is ev
eryone s responsibility including you. The best you can do is to join different en
vironmental groups in your city and provide helping hand to make this planet env
ironmentally friendly.
The Eco-friendly Life
Living the eco-friendly life has some advantages and disadvantages. As mentioned
earlier, one of the disadvantages is that may have to forgo some of the more mo
dern conveniences. Not many, but the conveniences like fast foods and certain ty
pes of luxury activities do little more than create a burden on the environment.
One of the best examples is the idea of the personal car. While you may realist
ically need a personal vehicle, you do not need one that gets poor gas mileage o
r is made with luxury accessories or advanced electronics that are impractical,
and also consume vital natural resources.
That Land Rover may have a special gauge to tell you if you are right side up or
upside down in the event of a sandstorm, but chances of encountering a sandstor
m in New Jersey, much less actually doing an activity that would need a vehicle
like the Rover is so minimal that it is a luxury that is unnecessary.
The Eco-friendly Business
Creating an eco-friendly business means you are mindful of the waste products yo
ur business creates, and the way it uses resources to do business. There are ver
y many options for how you can do packaging and advertising that have a much low
er impact on the environment. As a business, you stand to make a stronger impact
in how fuel conservation is approached by working with suppliers that utilize h
ybrid technologies and making sure that a part of what you consider when buying
or selling is the cost and impact of the shipping of the product.
The Eco-friendly Community
Growing an eco-friendly community is getting easier. There are more and more com
munity gardens, swap meets and farmer s markets that make it easier for an entire
community to actively participate in eco-friendly activities. If your community
doesn t have any of these, you should consider getting them started.