Ditch Google, go veggie once a week and switch washing up for a dishwasher: These 10 simple changes will help to save the planet
It's Earth Day this Sunday and these tweaks to your lifestyle can have a massive impact on the environment
WHETHER your eco-guilt was stirred by David Attenborough’s heart-wrenching Blue Planet II or you have been working to make your life greener for a while, now's the time to start making a difference.
You might think that going all eco-warrior will take a load of effort on your part, but it really doesn't have to be that much of a hassle.
In fact, some of the smallest, simplest changes you can make - like using a different search engine or using your dishwasher more often - are the most impactful.
And with Earth Day coming up on Sunday, there's never been a better time to switch up your most damaging habits.
Liz Hutchins, of the UK charity told Sun Online: "The time for change is now – if we don’t act to save the planet, the damage may become irreversible.
"From helping to tackle dangerously polluted air by supporting diesel vehicle-free in cities, to cutting down on our plastic use to save our oceans, there are a number of simple steps we can all take towards a healthier planet."
Ten simple changes to save the planet
- Swap liquid soap for a bar
- Trade washing up for using a dishwasher
- Choose Ecosia over Google
- Switch meat for veg once a week
- Pick an eco-friendly energy provider
- Ditch plastic cups for re-usable mugs
- Unplug chargers rather than switching them off
- Go digital rather than relying on reams of paper
- Choose paper, metal or glass over plastic straws
- Turn your weekly shop into an online delivery
Swap liquid soap for a bar
Whether you're shopping for hand or body wash, opt for a soap bar over liquid lather.
That change alone will likely save a large box worth of plastic packaging (including the pump, which cannot be recycled) each time you buy soap.
Keep it out of your shower head’s line of fire and store it in a tray with proper drainage to cut down on soapy residue.
It should last over a month.
Swap washing up for using a dishwasher
It might seem counter-intuitive but traditional washing up methods are worse for the environment than your dishwasher.
The average machine cycle uses half the energy, one sixth of the water and far less soap than washing up.
But make sure you are running your dishwasher full, or select the half-load option to save even more water.
Looks like you might be getting a break from your Marigolds.
Swap Google for Ecosia
Change your default home search engine to , which funds a reforestation project with every search query and hopes to facilitate the planting of 1billion trees by 2020.
Just one search with Ecosia helps take about 1kg of CO2 out of the atmosphere.
It takes 40 searches to finance the planting of a new tree.
Depending on if you click on ads and how lucrative these ads are, you may be able to finance dozens of trees with the tap of a mouse.
The average web user could facilitate the planting of one real tree per day (that's about five per week - and hundreds per year).
It’s also 100 percent CO2 neutral and powered by 100 percent renewable energy. Google? Never heard of it.
Swap meat for veg once a week
It's easier than ever to go vegetarian once a week, if not for life.
World Meat Free Day claims that if 10million people (the combined population of Scotland and Ireland) swapped meat for plant-based proteins once a week, it would reduce water usage by 13million tonnes (5,000 Olympic swimming pools) and save 5,700 acres of land (89,000 tennis courts).
Livestock production causes nearly 15 percent of all climate-changing gases, so doing your bit to eat meat-free would drastically reduce CO2 emissions.
And it costs far less too.
What's Earth Day all about?
Falling on Sunday April 22 this year, Earth Day marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.
It celebrates support for protection of the environment around the world and involves more and more people each year.
The last few years have shown the fight against plastic pollution is gaining momentum.
First came the 5p plastic bag levy and then the ban on microbeads, but this is just a drop in a huge ocean of issues.
claims that some 12million tonnes of plastic ends up in the world’s oceans each year, which not only causes damage to wildlife and their habitats, but damage to human beings too, as chemicals from polymers seep into our water system.
Switch to an eco-friendly energy provider
There’s a wide choice of green energy providers.
Friends of the Earth recommend and, who will ensure your home is supplied with renewable energy and could even save you money on your annual bills.
Swap plastic cups for travel mugs
We chuck away 2.5billion single-use plastic cups per year, but only one in 400 ever makes it to a recycling plant.
Getting one takeaway drink a day equates to the creation of 10kg of plastic waste per year.
Before the government brings in a "latte levy", why not get used to carrying a keep cup with you?
They come in a range of sizes and materials and will get you a discount on your drink purchases at most cafes and coffee shops.
If you forget your keep cup, opt out of a plastic fitted lid.
Swap ‘energy vampire’ charging for unplugging
We use phone and laptop chargers regularly, if not every day, but there are small changes you can make to your charging habits to save the planet.
They are the most prominent “energy vampires” in your home, wasting precious energy even when you've flipped off the switch.
Always unplug them once your gadget is charged and never leave them attached to an appliance overnight.
A two-hour boost is often all that is needed for full charge.
The typical home has 50 appliances like this and each one is wasting £3 of power a year.
So by switching them all off and unplugging them when they are not in use will save £150 a year - the equivalent of an 18-month Netflix subscription.
Swap reams of junk for paperless
There are endless opportunities to go paperless in 2018: from Kindles to electronic bank statements, it's not hard to cut down on your usage.
Printing double-sided in the office and at home will help, as will saving a box of draft paper to avoid buying more notebooks.
The Imagine All the Water campaign claims that reducing paper waste by just one sheet can save a staggering 350ml of water.
Swap plastic straws for paper, metal or glass
Only a tiny fraction of plastic straws given out with soft drinks, cocktails and cups of coffee are recycled due their small size.
The rest end up in landfill, or in rivers and ultimately the sea, where they are the fifth most common item of rubbish and are capable of harming marine life.
We use them for only 20 minutes on average, but they take up to 500 years to break down.
Opt out of straws at bars and cafes, and invest in paper, metal or glass ones for home use.
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Swap your weekly supermarket shop for an online delivery
Save yourself the faff of driving to the supermarket by drawing up a shopping list and ordering an online delivery.
This is essentially car-pooling for your groceries (slashing CO2 emissions by 50 percent) and will help you avoid food waste as well.
The UK’s annual cost of food waste is £13billion – £470 per household – with staple essentials such as bread, fruit and vegetables most likely to go in the bin.
Another great way to tackle food waste is to treat expiration dates as guidelines (rather than instructions) and use apps like and .