Sizing up the (Worthwhile) Challenge of Green Living

Green living entails more than just lifestyle adjustment; it is a mindset, and until you believe in what you are doing, you’ll never be able to fully follow through. Many decry the sacrifices or inconveniences associated with green living, but if you genuinely believe the lifestyle is the correct one for you, these sacrifices will not feel like sacrifices, and these inconveniences likewise.

Cultivating a green home is not easy, but once you have committed, you will reap many rewards—including significant financial savings as well as the hard-won feeling that you are doing your part to secure a sustainable future for your family and your planet.

Selecting a Site for Your Green Home

When deciding on a site for a green home, you will need to put in some research. If possible, choosing a home in close communion with the natural world can be a great first step. Properties with ample shade trees can make cutting back on heating and cooling costs easy, and properties with gardening space offer many exciting opportunities.

Keeping your roof out of the shade, however, will enable you to implement solar panels and pivot away from electricity from the power company. And if you’re interested in any form of wind power, make sure you select an area with favorable geography and frequently high wind velocity.

To cultivate your own fruits and veggies, you’ll need fertile ground. Determining the suitability of any given property to long-term green gardening can be trickier than you might think, so bringing an expert adviser aboard is a wise move.

You’ll also need to think about where you want your water to come from. Taking advantage of natural fountains and boreholes can be a viable strategy if you put in the time to pinpoint locations with readily accessible water.

Last but not least, try not to move too far from your workplace, especially if you travel to and from work by car. The pollution that comes with lengthy auto commutes every day will run counter to all the good you’re doing at home.

Building a Strong Foundation

When deciding on the foundation for a green home, bear in mind your heat retention needs. Materials like plywood and aluminum are slightly more expensive than others, but they can pay off in the long run in terms of saving you costs on heating.

Judicious use of precast concrete can prevent rainwater from breaching the house and can help guide rainwater on the property to a central location where you can make use of it. Insulating your basement against moisture is also a key step, as the costs of dealing with mold growth can be very dear.

What Materials Should You Consider for Your Roof and Walls?

If you’re not overly worried about your home getting too cold, recycled steel is a sturdy and modern choice that will protect the structure against strong winds and other forces no problem. Plant-based polyurethane foam can be used to help insulate the structure against the chill of winter.

Precast concrete is a tried and true option that is somewhat more eco-friendly than non-precast. As with recycled steel, you’ll find yourself paying extra for the eco-friendliness, but if you can manage the costs it will pay off in the long run.

Bamboo is a natural material with extremely high tensile strength and a bold look to boot. It is well-suited to windows—key for ventilating your green home—and does not require too much maintenance (though do be sure to have any sustainable woods in your home treated regularly to avoid pest issues).

How Should You Use Your Rooftop Space?

The roof is an exciting place in a green home, offering many sustainable living options to homeowners.

If you ensure it gets regular exposure to direct sunlight, your roof can be a great place for a vegetable garden. It is also the ideal spot for solar panels, which can take in solar energy during the day that will be available to you at night.

Speaking of the sun, bear in mind that darker-colored roofs will retain much more heat than light-colored roofs. Bear the location of your home in mind when choosing a color to save on heating/cooling expenditures.

Installing a sunroof that can admit sun directly into the home when desired is another fine way to regulate the temperature in your green residence.

Living Sustainably

Getting your green home set up is only half the battle: green living is a mindset, remember, and you must hold on to this mindset once your new home is ready for action if you want the project to be a success.

If you chose the property with solar power and/or wind power in mind, be sure to follow through on implementing these technologies once you move in to capitalize fully on the advantages of the house. Raise as much of your own food as you can through gardening. You can use the leftover water from bathtubs and showers to help your plants grow, as well as collected rainwater.

If you’ve done all the hard work needed to create an eco-friendly home, you should have no problem seeking out Energy Star-certified sustainable appliances and LED lighting fixtures (where affordable). And be sure to compost and recycle what you can to cut back on waste!

Is Going Green Worth It?

The answer to this all depends on you, your beliefs, and your financial situation. If you believe passionately in sustainable living and looking out for the environment, think you can maintain this mentality moving forward, and have the money to create a green home from the ground up, why not?

It’s worth bearing in mind too that while this article details ways in which you can sculpt a green home from ground zero, the many tips and suggestions included here can also be applied in isolation if you lack the means or motivation to overhaul your current housing situation. Solar panels, rooftop gardens, rainwater management, etc. can all make for more sustainable living, regardless of whether you optimize every last thing.

At the end of the day, it’s up to you to decide how radical a change your looking for, and to make that change happen in the interest of the health of Mother Earth.

Images taken from Amanda Brown's original article.

Looking to take your first steps toward a more eco-friendly life? For most lifestyle changes, you really have to begin at home, and going green is no exception. Before you can become an eco-warrior in other aspects of your life, you must first gain control of your environmental footprint where you live. Here’s how to get started.

Save Water Wherever You Can

It costs you nothing to practice water conservation — in fact, it will save you money in the long run. You may not think that saving a gallon or so here and there helps, but it adds up. Take showers instead of baths (10 to 25 gallons vs. 70-plus). Save the water you use to cook pasta and potatoes and water your plants with it, and don’t leave the faucet running while you’re brushing your teeth. These are simple steps, but don’t be afraid to get creative!

Swap Out Energy-Hogging Appliances

There’s no reason that your fridge, dishwasher, washer/dryer combo, and HVAC unit should be anything less than truly energy-efficient. Not only is this better for the environment, but it will also save your family money. Replacing an old washing machine with a newer, energy-efficient model can save a family of four $100-plus a year, for example. Angie’s List also notes that your city/local government might offer rebates for buying energy-efficient appliances.

While you’re doing this, don’t forget to improve efficiency all around your home. For example, insulate your windows, replace your light bulbs with more efficient models, and seal your leaky faucets. These little fixes make a big difference.

Swap Out Your Cleaners

Most traditional household cleaning products aren’t that eco-friendly. Regular paper towels, kitchen sponges, and cleaning chemicals aren’t always biodegradable, can be toxic to wildlife/plant population, and may produce volatile organic compounds that can harm your family and the environment. Swapping these out for more environmentally sound options is an easy fix. Beware of generic “eco-friendly” labeling, however, as it might not be legitimate. Look specifically for packaging that is recyclable or biodegradable, and know what chemical compounds to avoid (check here for more on that).

Make Reusing Containers a Habit

Most of what resides in our nation’s landfills is plastic, and the average homeowner’s biggest plastic footprint comes from food, water, and personal hygiene containers. You and your family should commit to reusables. Simply purchasing reusable water bottles can save over 1,000 plastic water bottles and $2,000 per year. Save those yogurt and cottage cheese containers and repurpose them. By getting creative, you can make a big step toward meaningful change.

Leave Your Car in the Garage

When you think about it in terms of the environment, your wallet, and your waistline, your car is the worst way to travel anywhere. Any form of transportation — save a plane or boat — is better for the environment. This means you should walk as much as you can. You should bike as much as you can, and you should certainly use public transportation if possible. Not only will this help you make your family’s footprint greener, but it will also help you get more exercise and save you money in the short and long term.

The great thing about making your life at home more eco-friendly is that it’s not just great for Mother Earth — there are plenty of selfish reasons to do it too. It can improve the overall health of you and your family. It will make you feel accomplished. And, maybe above all else, it is cheaper in the long run. Do it for you. Do it for the environment. Just do it, period.

Jennifer McGregor is a pre-med student, who loves providing reliable health and medical resources for PublicHealthLibrary.org users. She knows how difficult it can be to sift through the mountains of health-related information on the web. She co-created the site with a friend as a way to push reputable information on health topics to the forefront, making them easier and quicker to find.

Plant photo by Matias Difabio on Unsplash. Banner and thumbnail courtesy of Dorcha.

X-Ray Fashion, a Connect4Climate and Vulcan Productions virtual reality experience created by Danish media collective MANND and directed by fashion photographer Francesco Carrozzini, harnesses the immersion of VR to raise vital questions about the environmental and human costs of “fast fashion,” providing participants with a firsthand look at the wastefulness and labor exploitation underpinning a massive global industry.

The mission of X-Ray Fashion to raise awareness and spark concrete change among both consumers and companies aligns perfectly with Connect4Climate’s mandate to disseminate climate knowledge and foster climate action worldwide.

X-Ray Fashion has been touring the globe in an effort to impact as many people as possible, and we are proud to announce that the VR installation has just been nominated for Webby awards in two distinct categories: Best Interaction Design and VR: Interactive, Game or Real-Time.

Follow the links above and vote for X-Ray Fashion if you’d like to see this project recognized with People’s Voice awards—and feel free to circulate these links among any acquaintances you think may also be interested in voting. You can also spread the word by sharing this Facebook video, tailor-made for the occasion. We need all the help we can get if we’re going to pull off a win!

These Webby nominations are exciting and heartening for all of us here at Connect4Climate, and we thank you for your support in this competition and otherwise.