Here’s a list of some of our favorite easy and rewarding ways to take action at home!
Choose to do one, choose to do them all, or choose to do something else that works for you! As enthusiastic as we are, the most important thing is to choose changes we can make in our daily lives that we’re going to stick with. Rather than changing everything at once, it may be helpful to choose a few, take some time to incorporate
Compost at Home
Composting is an excellent way to divert food scraps out of the waste stream. Rather than throwing organic material away, it can be composted to create a product to fertilize and improve your soil.
In 2021, food waste made up about 22% of the material being incinerating in Saugus
Plant a Pollinator Garden
By starting a pollinator garden, you help provide the pollen and nectar pollinator species rely on. Due to urbanization (the process of things becoming more developed) and increased pesticide usage, the pollinators like bees, butterflies, and beetles who support more than 1/3 of our food supply are facing many challenges. Planting a garden will help support them, and give you something to enjoy!
Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle
Refuse: Don’t buy or take things you don’t need in the first place, so that they don’t get wasted
Reduce: Be mindful of how much you do take and use, and don’t take more than you will realistically use
Reuse: Get multiple uses out of items before throwing them away, if able
Repair: If something is broken, see if you can get it fixed before throwing it away and getting a new one
Recycle: Sending materials to a recycling facility once you can no longer use them, so that they can be made into new items.
Small Ways to Make A Difference
These actions may seem small, but when repeated many times by each of us, and incorporated into our daily routines by all of us, really do add up!
- Replace single use items with reusable ones (water bottles, silverware, straws…)
- Shop local
- Buy from sustainably minded businesses
- Turn your thermostat up in the summer, and down in the winter
- Turn off the lights when you leave the room
- Donate or repurpose usable items instead of throwing them away
Remove Invasive Plant Species
Invasive species (a species that’s been brought to the area from somewhere else, and causes harm to natives species) can easily overrun our local ecosystems because of the fact that they have no natural predators. Not every foreign species is invasive— only the ones who cause some kind of danger to native species, whether by directly harming them or competing with them for resources. By removing invasive, we can make room for more native species to grow, preserving biodiversity.
Talk to Your Family and Friends
We all make a difference through our own actions, but it’s when we make progress collectively that real change starts to happen. Let those around you know what you’re doing to help the environment, and maybe even challenge them to make a change with you! As with many things, protecting the planet is a lot more fun when we get to do it with others.
Saugus Action Volunteers for the Environment 