Kirsten Bolinger
Public relations editorial assistant

You don’t have to drive a hybrid car, chain yourself to a tree or attend protests to be “green.”

According to the Australian Conservation Foundation, Australia has the fourth highest eco-footprint in the world. An eco-footprint is a measure of the land required to supply all the resources a person’s lifestyle demands.

Reducing our eco-footprint is simple. Here are five tips:

1. Use less standby power. Standby power is the electricity used by an appliance when it is not performing its primary function. More than 10 per cent of residential electricity used in Australia is attributable to standby power. So, turn off your appliances at the switch or unplug them when they are not in use.
2. Become a vegetarian. Eating meat is hard on our natural resources. Growing grains, vegetables and fruits uses only five per cent as many raw materials as producing meat. You can produce enough food to feed 20 vegetarians on the same amount of land needed to produce food for one meat eater. If you are a meat eater, try reducing your meat intake.
3. Recycle plastic. Plastics pollute in all stages of their production and use. Some forms of plastics, such as styrofoam and vinyl, constantly give off harmful gases. Remember to recycle plastics whenever possible and bring your own bags when you go shopping so you do not have to use the plastic ones.
4. Turn off the lights. Lighting represents about 10 per cent of Australia’s domestic greenhouse gas emissions. Use compact fluorescent light globes. They reduce energy use by about 25 per cent and last longer than incandescent globes.
5. Use less paper. Use double-sided printing and copying whenever possible. Print documents for review on recycled paper or, better still, review documents electronically. And take notes in meetings using your laptop computer instead of a paper and pen or pencil.

If you want to find out what your eco-footprint is, visit www.acfonline.org.au and search for “eco-calculator.”

References:
www.earthhour.org.au
www.greenpeace.org/australia
www.acfonline.org.au