sustainable living

Sustainable living

Sustainable living is trying to live in a way that reduces, or lessens, our use of the Earth's natural resources.

This means using less water, electricity, fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum, and timber products.

Using renewable forms of energy is part of sustainable living.

Sustainable living means recycling materials such as paper, glass, aluminium, metal, plastic and stone.

Sustainable living means using recycled materials whenever we can.

Sustainable living means buying food that is seasonal and produced locally, therefore reducing the need for products to be transported long distances.

Sustainable living means eating less meat. Meat production uses lots of water and food (feed for animals) and causes soil erosion and other damage to the land.

Growing some of your own food is a way to live sustainably. Start a vegetable or herb garden, and plant a fruit tree or even two. This will save tonnes of transport greenhouse gases because the food will be right outside your door. Did you know that preserving food by pickling, drying or bottling is better than freezing in a refrigerator Why? Because it uses less energy than the refrigerator.

Sustainable living means reducing waste. Gases such as carbon dioxide and methane are released into the atmosphere from waste disposal sites. This adds to the greenhouse effect and global warming. Dangerous materials also leaking from rubbish dumps and pollute waterways and soil from rubbish dumps.

Sustainable living means having houses insulated to reduce the amount of energy needed to heat and cool the house. Trees planted around the house will shade it during hot weather.
Some people are covering roofs with living plants to stop the house warming or cooling too quickly.

To live sustainably, use public transport whenever you can to reduce the amount of gases from petrol powered cars. Ride your bike!

Other pages on kidcyber with information about alternative energy

Solar energy
Geothermal energy
Hydro-electricity
Wind energy

More sites for hints on how to live sustainably
http://tiki.oneworld.net/sustain/home.html

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/sustainable-living-ideas.html

Go here for the kidcyber pages about climate change and global warming

Acknowledge this page in your bibliography like this:
Thomas, Ron. & Sydenham, Shirley. Sustainable living [Online] www.kidcyber.com.au (2011)