Go green this independence

Happy Independence Nigeria! We are celebrating 56 amazing years and there is no better time to see how we can find more creative ways to go green, conserve and protect our environment as well as our country.

Many of us want to go green, we know the importance, but due to one reason or the other, we find ourselves postponing this decision. Not to worry, this article would motivate you and show you simple ways you can help protect our environment by cutting out certain things and replacing others.

Switch To Energy Saving Bulbs
If you have never heard it before, it is time to trade in those incandescent bulbs a.k.a yellow bulbs for compact fluorescents (CFL). The yellow bulbs consume a lot of energy and emit a lot of gases and if that doesn’t convince you yet, the CFLs give better lighting in a room. When you are not in a room, switch off lights that you are not using to save energy.

Recycle
Recycling is a foreign term for many of us sadly as we hardly recycle anything in this part of the world. However, I believe the Lagos State government is making some efforts in this direction, providing recycling bins in some spots around the state. Taken seriously, this would have been a great way to re-use a lot of things we simply throw away, increasing the volume of refuse unnecessarily.

Cut Down on Bottled and Sachet Water
This is another difficult one, considering the kind of society we find ourselves in. a lot of us spend a lot of time in traffic and consume bottled drinks and water by the dozen. We organize parties and events and more bottled drinks are consumed to our detriment. Pure water and bottled water is consumed in most homes daily and nylon is sadly non degradable, which poses a huge problem. It is time to reduce our use of these sachets and bottles, especially in the home.

Ditch Those Paper Cups
Millions of paper cups are used in homes yearly and they can neither be recycled nor composted, so they add to the volume of refuse. As much as possible, use cups you can wash and reuse.

Shopping Nylons
This falls into the sachet water category as well. We use up so much nylon daily here; it has almost become a problem. Nylon cannot decompose, so it just adds up to waste and most find their way to gutters and canals. When shopping, take a bag from home to prevent getting those nylons, which you promptly throw away most times.