As the seasons shift, fall offers a perfect opportunity to reassess our habits and embrace actions that reduce emissions, minimize waste, and contribute to a cleaner, greener world. Here are three simple yet impactful tips that can help you save resources, reduce waste, and cut back on unnecessary energy usage this autumn.
1. Be Mindful of Transportation Choices
As gas prices often peak during fall, reducing individual car trips can ease the strain on your wallet while helping the environment. Whether you’re heading to a holiday family gathering, a school event, or an office party, consider coordinating transportation. Carpooling with friends or family to a shared destination is a great way to cut down on fuel consumption, reduce air pollution, and make trips more enjoyable.
If you’re driving an electric vehicle (EV), consider coordinating charging plans with others at your destination. Take turns charging using at-home infrastructure like Level 1 or Level 2 chargers, or plan to efficiently use public charging stations, reducing the need for frequent stops. Small changes like these make a big impact by helping to reduce emissions while also building a sense of community.
2. Get Creative with Food Waste Reduction During Big Meals
Fall is the season of harvest, gatherings, and, of course, big meals like Thanksgiving! Unfortunately, large meals often lead to substantial amounts of leftover food, some of which can end up in landfills, contributing to methane emissions and food waste. Reducing this waste can be easy with a few mindful steps:
Repurpose Scraps: Leftover ingredients and food scraps can serve new purposes. Banana peels can nourish plants, eggshells enrich garden soil, and lemon skins act as natural disinfectants for your home.
Bring Containers: When attending a potluck or Thanksgiving feast, bring reusable containers so you can take home leftovers instead of letting extra food go to waste. This small step not only reduces waste but also supports hosts, who often find themselves with more food than they can eat on their own.
By finding new uses for food scraps and rethinking leftovers, you can reduce waste and keep food out of landfills, creating a positive ripple effect for the environment.
3. Reduce Power Use When You’re Away
Heading out of town for a fall trip? Take a few minutes to unplug appliances and electronics before you leave. Even when turned off, items like TVs, computers, and kitchen appliances continue to draw "standby" power, which adds up over time, increasing your energy bill and adding unnecessary strain on the power grid.
By unplugging these devices, you’re conserving power during peak hours and cutting back on energy consumption. This mindfulness around energy usage helps cultivate a mindset that supports an electrified world, where coordinated power habits improve efficiency and make better use of resources for everyone. Adopting this mindset now contributes to the transition to a more sustainable, electrified future, with benefits that reach well beyond a single household.
Let’s make this fall a season of joy too!
