Happy Earth Day! 8 Tips To Lead A Greener Lifestyle
With Earth Day this Saturday 22nd April we thought it would be prudent to write about how you can make some small changes and lead a greener lifestyle, not only to improve the world we live in now, but to give the coming generations a brighter future. We’re also offering a 20% OFF discount code to all our Petits Rituels customers – read on to find out more.
What Is Earth Day?
If you’re unfamiliar with Earth Day it’s a global celebration with over 193 countries of the world taking part and 1 billion people getting actively involved in tackling environmental issues. The intention of Earth Day is to make people more aware of their natural environment and appreciate the world’s beauty. It’s important to capitalise on the opportunity of improving what we have by encouraging green living.
Lots of different activities take place worldwide to celebrate the initiative, especially educating people on how to protect the planet, look after our animals particularly endangered species, instigate more plant growth and of course respect the humans that inhabit it. The main focus of Earth Day is to spur people on to buy green products, recycle, use environmentally friendly items, reduce the use of harmful chemicals and join in the fight against global warming.
During Earth Day celebrations, people are actively encouraged to plant young trees, get rid of rubbish and clean up the environment around them. This could be collecting rubbish, planting trees, doing things to actively reduce emissions such as walking to work and saving on fuel – anything to make the world we live in a better place. Earth Day is a marvellous date which helps people to understand what they can do on a daily basis to ensure a cleaner, healthier environment.
Here are some of Petits Rituels’ Top Tips For Earth Day:
1. Energy Conservation
This is a very easy Earth Day tip to adopt. Just little actions such as making sure you switch off lights when you’re not in a room can make all the difference and save energy. Switch over your lightbulbs to energy saving bulbs, an energy saving light bulb uses 1/10 of electricity in comparison to a regular bulb. They also last much longer, often years and they offer a cost-saving over time. Lighting controls such as dimmers also help to save energy and are easy to install. Reduce your central heating to low or switch it off if you don’t need it on, usually a cardigan will suffice if you’re feeling a little chilly especially at this time of year!
2. Reduce Emissions
If you are thinking about buying a new car, consider an electric vehicle especially if you don’t drive regularly. They are cleaner and healthier than petrol or diesel cars and reduce the carbon footprint as they don’t have zero emissions. Of course, changing your car isn’t always a viable option but you can do little things to reduce emissions such as car-pooling, organising rotas for your children or reducing the number of car journeys you make to only necessary ones.
3. Start Walking Or Cycling
Instead of taking a lift or an escalator why not walk up the stairs? It’s better for your health too Or get off the train a little earlier and walk to work – better still, ditch cars, buses, tubes and trains for a bicycle!
4. Detox Your Air
The air is full of chemicals, whether it’s from environmental pollutants such as cigarette smoking, industrial fumes, petrol fumes or even everyday chemicals that we all spray in our houses. Unfortunately, we don’t breathe clean air but we can go a long way to protect our planet from the harmful toxins that live in our air. Go greener by only purchasing environmentally friendly cleaning products, check the contents of your bathroom cabinet and throw out any toiletries with phthalates, sulphates and parabens and only light good quality natural aromatherapy candles such as the Petits Rituels range. It’s really important to think about what you put in the atmosphere. Cheap candles use cheap, nasty ingredients such as paraffin wax with many manmade fragrances, packed full of dangers. Some even contain chemicals which create carcinogenic formaldehyde when released into the air. The Petits Rituels candles are organic and all-natural, using soya wax and the purest high-grade essential oils, completely safe to inhale and won’t harm the environment.
5. Start A Vegetable Patch
Why not grow your own vegetables? Even if you don’t have a garden you can grow some veg or herbs on your windowsill. Not only is it cheaper to grow your own but it’s better for the environment and you won’t be eating any veg which has been drenched in pesticide. It’s so easy to get started, visit your local garden centre, pick up some seed packets, get some soil , suitable pots and start cultivating.
6. Recycle Your Bags
How many times have you popped out only to be tempted to buy something from a pretty boutique or remembered you needed to pick up something from the supermarket then you realise you’ve left your bags at home? Always keep a stash in your handbag or if you do use your car a lot, keep some in the boot so they’re to hand when you need them.
7. Save Water
Little things such as only boiling up the water you need when making tea go a long way! Keep an eye on your wash-loads and only put the washing machine and dishwasher on when they’re full. Shower rather than bath – baths take up a lot of water. Also, lower your thermostat on your hot water tank to 120 Deg F; you won’t even notice the difference! Fix that dripping tap too because just a small drip could cost you £90 a year not to mention the waste of water.
8. Fix Those Cracks
If you have lots of cracks around your home or you notice draughty areas, get them dealt with. A handyman around the house for a few hours will save you money on your heating and electricity bills in the long run because you won’t have to cranking up your radiators when cold air creeps inside. Simple insulation and caulk will help to fix those cracks.
Hopefully our tips will encourage you to lead a greener lifestyle and to help you get started we have an Earth Day Celebratory Offer for new customers of Petits Rituels. We’re offering 20% off any of our 100% natural aromatherapy candles, use EARTH20 at checkout - Hurry this offer expires on Monday 24th April at midnight! Let’s all get together and make the most of the world we live in!
Nathalie Allard
Author
Nathalie Allard is an Artisan Perfumer and the founder of Petits Rituels. She’s known for creating beautiful room-transforming 100% natural fragrances with real therapeutic benefits.