As scientists have informed us of their fears over global warming, concerns for the environment has become more widespread in our society. Most people are worried about the environment but don’t think they can make a difference. We seem to feel overwhelmed by the immensity of the environmental problems and can’t do anything to help because after all, “you are only one person.” Sure, most of us do our part by recycling to lower our waste but does it ever feel like that’s just not enough?
You might not know this, but it’s doing the little things every day in your home that makes a huge impact on the environment. Think of it this way, imagine if everyone did one little thing in their home to conserve energy. The cumulative effect would have a huge reduction in energy usage globally. It’s by doing these simple, easy to do daily things that contributes to the big picture of saving energy and you can make a big difference even though you are only “one person.” This is a perfect example of the popular phrase: think globally, act locally.
Many people believe in the myth that turning off lights in your home when no one is occupying it wouldn’t make a big difference. This is just not true. If every single household made an effort to turn their lights off in rooms not being used the results would be dramatic. If everyone, in every home in america, turned their lights off when not actively using them we would have a reduction of up to twenty five percent in the amount of electricity used everyday, which would put less stress on our energy grids.
The higher the consumption the more demand there is for energy, which is a vicious cycle. By reducing our energy consumption by simply cutting back on our energy use with the things we don’t need, we would save money that could be better used elsewhere in our lives.
Just think of it, one quarter of the energy that is being used right now could be eliminated if people and businesses worked together to turn off the lights when they weren’t being used. In comparison, if you were able to cut your monthly bills by one fourth you would see a major reduction of your household finances. This is the same standard by which we can measure the difference it would make to make a difference for our environmental concerns over the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, by the reduction in the amount of total energy we use across the board.