Earth Day Every Day

July 5, 2017

Preserving the environment could seem a fashion trend but it must be more than that. In this article, we present 6 tips to be eco-friendly in your everyday life. Step by step adopt them and after a while, it can become second nature. Even if this list represents a drop in the ocean, together we can make waves of change.

1.SAVE WATER

In 2017 South Africa experiences the worst drought of the century so its more important than ever to adopt a few of these simple eco-friendly habits.

Use a large shower bucket. Instead of letting the water pour down the drain, stand in a bucket and use the water for flushing the toilet or watering your plants. The average household flushes up to 70 liters of drinking water down the toilet a day.... this is totally avoidable.
Turn off the tap while brushing your teeth or washing your hands.
Limit the time of your shower Play your favorite song and challenge yourself to end your shower before the music ends!
Use less electricity. Power plants use thousands of gallons of water to cool. Do your part to conserve power, and you’re indirectly saving water, too!

2. LESS IS MORE AT THE GROCERY STORE
If we decide to consume in a more responsible way, several choices offer themselves to us: the bio, local, fair trade, seasonal produce, bulk products and so on... We choose according to our own values of the products which please us, but we must choose to not over purchase and waste unnecessarily. No matter how educated your purchase, an avoidable waste is always a shame. More importantly, we urge you, please don't support products that have been needlessly packaged as shown in the image below. You can make a stand by refusing to purchase these products or better yet, lodge a complaint to the company's helpline. Choose biodegradable packaging where you can or preferably none.

image source https://www.change.org, join their petition to stop this ridiculousness.

3. CONSIDER VEGAN, EVEN IF JUST ONCE A WEEK Not only is it healthier and better for the environment, It will force you to eat more of that produce you’re growing/buying!

4. RESPECT THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT

How to protect the wonderful animal species and plants that abound us?

By avoiding upsetting their natural environment, there is never an excuse..... if there are no trash cans then take your rubbish with you. Go further and adopt a 5-minute cleanup whenever you are out in nature. A perfect example is this lovely ladies movement @5minutebeachcleanup, where she encourages followers to do the same and to use the hashtag #5minutebeachcleanup. Just type in the hashtag on Instagram and find evidence of her amazing influence. What are 5 minutes of your day, start doing the same, or even create your own hashtag. No matter how small your effort, slowly people start to notice and eventually ripples can make waves.

Check on Instagram 5minutebeachcleanup and "be a hero for 5 minutes"!

5.EDUCATE OUR CHILDREN OR THOSE WITH LESS KNOWLEDGE
It is imperative to remember that not everyone fully understands the problem our world is facing, particularly the less fortunate to proper education. Environmental awareness is an integral part of the movement’s success. By teaching our friends and family that the physical environment is fragile and indispensable we can begin fixing the problems that threaten it.

When learning about the environment’s declining health it is easy to feel discouraged, but what keeps us fighting for a healthy world is the future of our children. They should not have to inherit our environmental problems and in order to keep their future bright, spreading awareness is imperative.

6. SUPPORT LOCAL AND ECO-FRIENDLY

Using recycled PET, a product made from recycled post-consumer plastic bottles, Spiritgirl Eco-Friendly Activewear aims to achieve what we can to minimize the impact on the environment and to benefit humanity.

Fabric processing of recycled polyester is similar to fabrics made from virgin polyester yarns. Product performance is equivalent or even superior to virgin products.

This product reduces:

•The need for landfill space
•Demand for dyes and fixing agents
•Demand on oil, every 1 ton of recycled PET yarn can save 6 tons oil

Resulting in less pollution and energy savings (more than 80% than virgin products)

Not only are we helping to keep plastic out the ocean but we also use proceeds from our I Am Water and Angel Fish products and to give towards I AM WATER Ocean Conservation.