World Environment Day (WED)

Today, 5th of June, is World Environment Day and the slogan for this year celebration is Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy. For more information about WED 2008, visit http://www.unep.org/wed/2008/english/About_WED_2008/index.asp

What have I been doing to take an active part to celebrate WED?

1. Recycling: I've done this for nearly 6 years now. I separate my household waste into recyclable materials (such as cloths, paper, glass, plastic, and other things that I can send to recycle center) and non-recyclable materials. Some of the recyclable materials I recycle at home by turning them into beautiful decorative items and re-use them. I like to use old printed papers for my origami projects. I diligently send the old newspaper & magazines to the recycle center for some pocket money.. :) Sometimes I can even use the money to pay for the newspaper monthly subscription. So, it's really a recycle thing.. :D
   
2. No Air Conditioner (A/C) when it's not an emergency: Since I don't come from a rich family, I'm used to live without A/C. My skin can cope with the hot and humid weather very well as long as it is not a direct heat from the sun. I can see a huge drop in my electricity bill when A/C is not in use.
   
3. Switch off electrical power when not in use: Every night before I sleep, I'll make sure I only use the least amount of power at home. I unplug all the electricity plugs that I don't use at night. It helps me to reduce my electricity bill and also reduce the risk of fire (from short-circuit). I'm so particular about this until I know exactly which main switch controls parts of my house switches so I can isolate them.
   
4. Switch off the lights when not in use: not only this will reduce my electricity bill, switching off the light when not in use will also help to prolong the life of the bulb.
5. Close the water taps tightly: I get irritated when I hear water drips so I always make sure all water taps are closed tightly and fix all the leak pipes around the house. It saves my water bill.. :)
   
6. No driving when it's not necessary: I prefer to walk then to drive. Driving is a stressful thing to do for me and it can burn a hole in my pocket because of the expensive petrol. Walk is a lot better. It's environmentally friendly and good for my health.
   
7. Sign up for electronic bills/statement as much as I can.
   

So far those are major things I've been doing to support the Green day every day move. Some people very close to me says I am very frugal because they get annoyed when I ask their help to do all the above. they said it's a waste of time. One person even gets very angry with me every time I ask him to reduce the use of paper. I'm just playing my part to save this earth. But unfortunately, these people think that what I've done will not give effect at all so why waste time to save the earth when the rest don't even care.
Hmmmm... I never even think like that. In my opinion, I should start every thing (especially good thing) from my part and spread the good things to others.

There is still 1 important thing that I promise my self to do: stop using plastic bag.
I've been trying to reduce the use of plastic bag as much as I can but I still need to use plastic bag to throw the rubbish. I plan to make a carton box from recycled papers (something like the egg carton) to throw rubbish so that I can stop using plastic bags to throw rubbish.

So, what have you done and will do to support World Environment Day?