This blog was originally based on a course ran by Professor Nick Gray of the Trinity Centre for the Environment at Trinity College Dublin who also wrote a textbook for the module Facing up to global warming: What is going on and what you can do about it. Now working as an independent consultant, Nick continues to work in the area of environmental sustainability and looking at ways of making a difference without recriminations or guilt. Saving the planet is all about living sustainably.


Thursday, March 29, 2012

Saving the World, One Light Switch at a Time

Over the course of the 10 weeks of  the “Living Sustainably” course, I have continually wondered what this concept means to me. I’m still not entirely sure but I think that it means just being sensible about the choices you make.

If the recession has taught us anything, it should be that nothing lasts forever and you should live within your means. While this is true in terms of money, the same can be said of the planet. If we’re not careful, the problem may become too big to handle.

I’m not an optimist but I do believe that sustainable living is achievable. People who gear their entire lives toward saving the planet are admirable, but most people simply can’t deal with the hassle. I feel that accepting ways that you can contribute to saving the planet and changing things in your everyday life so that you don’t even realise that you are doing it make the real difference. Like turning off appliances and light switches when they are not being used has become so habitual to me that I am compelled to do it, when other people have left them on too. I do the same with taps, but that may have more to do with a song on Barney than environmental awareness. I now feel guilty when I throw something recyclable in the regular bin.

Just making a conscious effort to make a change is the key. Eventually even little things add up and make a big difference.

Ruth Daly

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