Lifestyle

273.6 Pounds

of plastic waste per person, per year in America. 

360,000 Gallons of Water

To grow the yearly beef consumption of the average American

4.6 Metric Tons

Carbon emissions of a typical passenger vehicle per year. 

Do You Ever Stop to Think about the Impact of Our Decisions on Our Environment?

Living sustainably goes beyond just living in an energy efficient home and driving an electric car — it is a mindset! As Americans, we have inherited hundreds of years of cultural norms and societal instructions, but the more we learn about climate change the more important this mindset shift becomes.

E3 INNOVATE employees are conscious about our consumerism and we continue to find ways to reduce our environmental impact. We believe sustainable lifestyles can be inspired by high performance green homes, but we also believe that there are environmentally conscious opportunities all around us, 24 hours a day. Use the following list as a guide, to help gear your thinking towards finding sustainable solutions for living healthy through many of your daily needs and activities. 

How Can You Be More Conscious of Your Daily Habits?

1. Set up a four-can trash: one can for landfill, one for recycling, one for glass, and one for compost.

Are you still hanging on to the myth that recycling doesn’t actually help the environment? Being mindful of your trash can have an immediate impact on your local landfill. Did you know that the energy saved by recycling one glass bottle can power a 100-watt lightbulb for four hours? That may put a whole new spin on how you look at a full pack of recycled bottles.

2. Canvas Bag Challenge

Did you know back in 2018, a pilot whale was found dead with 17 pounds of plastic bags in its stomach?

Pledge to avoid single-use plastic bags for an entire year and start a new habit of using canvas bags. The more uses you get out of your canvas bags, the more plastic you’ll have saved from finding its way to the streets and sewers of Nashville.

3. Avoid buying bottled water by using a whole-home water filtration system to improve water quality.

For every ton of plastic that is recycled, 7.4 cubic yards of landfill space is saved. Invest in reusable water bottles for the whole family, and get into the habit of using your filtered water throughout the day!

4. Use a rain-water capture system to water gardens and house plants

The shift to the sustainable lifestyle mindset can also include utilizing the earth’s available resources. Did you know Nashville gets more rain than our music-city rival of Seattle? With 47 inches of rain per year, you can collect the water from each downpour using a rainwater collection system to cut down on your water bill and make use of that organic resource called the sky!

5. Opt for electric landscaping equipment, like electric mowers and weed eaters

Speaking of gardening, there are ways to reduce your environmental impact when it comes to landscaping, too. Battery-powered, all electric mowers and weed eaters cut down on your need for fossil fuels, and will reduce your carbon footprint.

6. Choose green dry cleaning 

The traditional process of dry cleaning requires detergents and cleaning agents that are harmful to the environment. Choose a local green dry cleaning service that removes the petrol-based chemicals from their dry cleaning process, like Oakwood Cleaners or Pure Green!

7. Consolidate cleaning chemicals and personal care products to preserve indoor air quality and reduce toxic exposure

Keep bleach out of your home! Not only can bleach be a dangerous chemical to keep in the house for your children and animals, but the harmful chemicals in bleach can linger for years to come. Here is a great resource for using vinegar instead of bleach as a household cleaner and laundry detergent aid.

Does your family take the a la carte approach to personal care products like shampoo and lotions? Take the environmentally friendly initiative, and consolidate these products to cut down on plastic packaging as well as the harmful chemicals included in many body washes, shampoos, conditioners, lotions, perfumes, etc.

8. Replace disposable microfiber wipes with washable and reusable towels 

Disposable wipes may be convenient, but over time they will cost you more money and are not a sustainable cleaning solution. Invest in reusable towels, and remove your disposable wipes from your Amazon shopping cart and weekly grocery list!

9. Keep batteries out of the trash

Because of the hazardous materials that are found in many batteries (even though battery manufacturers aren’t supposed to be using them), you should never throw away your old Duracell, Energizer, and Kroger batteries into the trash. Save your batteries in a “dead” box, and take them to a local battery recycling center. 

Find a battery recycling center near you

10. Replace carpets with solid surface floors

There are harmful chemicals all around us — and your carpets want to hang on to them! Traditional carpeting traps allergens, chemicals, volatile organic compounds, dust, dirt, and much more. This greatly reduces your indoor air quality, and can cause a myriad of health issues for you and your family. 

According to the EPA, over four billion pounds of carpet enter the solid waste stream in the United States every year. Choose solid floors like hardwood or tile, or find a carpet supplier that has implemented a safe manufacturing process and an end-of-life takeback program for recycling. 

Looking for some help bringing your sustainable lifestyle full circle? E3 INNOVATE is here to help. Call us at 615-876-5479 or get in touch with any and all of your green lifestyle questions!