‘ According to environmental Web site Sustainlane.com, Houston needs to step up its efforts to become a greener city.
Ranked 36th out of 50 of the largest cities in the U.S., Houston ranks lower than cities such as Chicago (four), New York (fifth), Philadelphia (eighth), Austin (14th), Dallas (24th), Detroit (31st) and San Antonio (33rd) when it comes to sustainability. ‘
Of the 16 categories taken into account, Houston ranks in the 40s in three categories – air quality, natural disaster risk and metro street congestion. To anyone who lives in Houston these problems are all fairly obvious, but what can we do about it? ‘
To be fair, natural disasters are probably out of our control in terms of specific events, but we can do a lot to help in other areas.’ There are of course the stereotypical answers of taking the bus or riding your bike, but people have been talking about that for as long as I can remember, and nothing has really happened.
‘ If we are all too spoiled to give up the luxury of our cars, then is there something else we can do to help save our city? There are numerous ways the city can overcome this poor rating – some are easier than others. ‘
There are very few supporters of such radical movements as going without your refrigerator, but there are many simple ways to ‘greening your fridge.”
Simple ways to reduce waste include allowing each roommate to have a personal shelf or bin to keep all their food in. This way you spend less time searching through a cavernous fridge looking for the cheese. ‘
Also before you allow something to go bad, just stick it in the freezer.’ Not only will this save you the cost of a meal, but also means we can save the time, energy and waste associated with growing and transportation of food. ‘
Several buildings downtown have already began to install light switches with motion detectors, which automatically shut off if no movement is detected in the room for an extended period of time.’
It is not enough, however, to simply allow the ‘big boys’ to do all of the work.’ Each person can go to Home Depot and find a motion detecting switch for as little as $15, which is $2 more than a standard switch.’ This seems so simple, but so many people are unaware of the tremendous impact that people could have if we simply chose to be more active. Not to mention, it is pretty cool to walk into a room and have the lights turn on automatically. ‘
The next time you have a project around the house, take a couple of seconds to see if there is a green way to get it done.
Joseph Tennant is a communication senior and may be reached at [email protected].
