Samantha Nurse, Web and Social Media Coordinator

The planet will thank you all year long! The new year is an ideal time to introduce simple, easy changes to your lifestyle that can have a major impact for the health of our planet. Whether you’re on the road or at home, there are plenty of ways to tread more lightly on this Earth – here are just a few.

Five Resolutions for the Road

1. Get your vehicle’s body into shape
   Most people resolve to get their body into better shape in the New Year. Why not make the same resolution for your vehicle? Basic vehicle maintenance, including measuring your tire pressure, checking for leaks once a month, and regular tune-ups, will help keep your vehicle in top working order. You save money, fuel, and the environment.
2. Be a fuel-efficient driver
   Slow and steady wins the race – and the environment wins too. Aggressive driving and speeding can increase your fuel consumption by as much as 35 percent. You can save money and fuel, and reduce your vehicle’s emissions by slowing down, giving yourself more time and planning your routes ahead of time.
3. Stop idling your vehicle
   Idling is bad for your wallet, your vehicle, the environment, and it even hurts the people around you. Besides, it isn’t even necessary! The best way to warm up your car is to drive it at a moderate speed.Idling for 10 minutes a day produces almost a quarter-tonne of carbon dioxide emissions and costs you more than $80 every year! Even on the coldest winter days you can drive away after letting the engine run for only 30 seconds.
4. Think twice about air travel
   Cheap flights abroad carry a heavy cost for the planet. Why not take a break nearer home? You can undo all your eco-friendly efforts with one long haul flight. The world’s 16,000 commercial jet aircrafts produce more than 600 million tonnes of CO2 every year, nearly as much as all the countries of Africa put together.
5. Give Your Car a Rest
   Resolve to leave the wheels at home and opt for walking, biking or public transit at least one day a week. About 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from the transporataion sector.

Six Resolutions For Your Home

1. On the menu: healthy, organic and local
   Out with the old — fast food and supermarkets – and in with the new – organic and local produce.
   The production of organic food causes much less environmental damage than conventional agriculture. It’s pesticide-free, and with demand growing every year it’s becoming easier to find in communities almost everywhere. Buying locally grown food is even better; it helps reduce aviation pollution, which is a big contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.
2. Compost your organic kitchen waste
   You can compost fruits, vegetables, tea bags and coffee grounds, as well as leaf and yard waste. Compost makes valuable fertilizer and reduces the amount of waste in landfills. By composting, a family of three can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than one-eighth of a tonne each year.
3. Take up gardening
   A green thumb leads to a healthy planet, and it’s a great way to relieve stress. Growing your own fruit, vegetables and plants in the garden can beautify your property and is great exercise. If you don’t have a backyard, seek out community gardens in your area, and make gardening a social activity!
4. Hit the off switch
   Small lifestyle changes can have a big impact on the planet – and your bank account. Energy saving measures at home can cut bills for a typical family by hundreds of dollars a year. Simply turning your room thermostat down by one degree could cut up to 10% off your heating bill. Programmable thermostats are now readily available to make this even easier. Other measures include insulating your home, using energy efficient light bulbs, switching to renewable energy, turning off lights and unplugging appliances when you’re not using them.
5. Stay true to an old standby: recycle
   Everything old can be new again. Recycle and reuse.
   The average person throws out their body weight in garbage every 3 months. Get familiar with your community’s recycling program. They may have added new products to the list of recyclables. Half of electrical goods left at dumps work, or require only very basic repairs, so think before discarding them.
6. Connect with nature
   It’s a fact; the more emotionally and physically attached we are to the natural world, the more likely we’ll act to conserve the planet’s nature. So find time to connect with nature, and remind yourself of nature’s wonders. There are many ways to do this; here are seven:

•     Visit a national park that you’ve never been to before.
•     Relive a piece of Canadian history at a national historic site or park.
•     Participate in a local environmental cleanup or restoration project.
•     Make your voice heard on at least one environmental issue this year.
•     Share a picnic lunch with your family at a provincial park.
•     Camp for One Weekend under the stars.
•     Teach a child to swim, or climb a tree

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