These 10 Commandments are tips to save you money, as
well as to help protect the environment. Each Cypriot, man, woman and child,
produces on an average over 10 tonnes of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels
each year. This is the main greenhouse gas, responsible for climate change
or global warming. This is about 40 to 50 per cent more than many western
European countries and is a blot on our nation’s escutcheon. By following
these ten simple commandments, we can make a significant dent in this hefty
amount of pollution. At the same time, our air would be healthier to breathe
and, above all, we can save a lot of money, both individually and
collectively.
1.
Change all your ordinary light bulbs for the economical type. If
100,000 Cypriots each changed five 60 W light bulbs for 17 W ones,
giving the same light, each used for 30 minutes per day, they would
consume nearly 40 kWh less each per year. This means the EAC would emit
1,000,000 kg less carbon dioxide (the main greenhouse gas responsible
for climate change) each year.
2.
Switch off all lights and other electric appliances when not required
for more than a couple of minutes. That TV blaring out with no
one in the room is causing more global warming. And switch it, and other
appliances – especially computers, off at the wall plug when not in use;
they still consume electricity.
3.
Change your car for a modern economical type. 5,000 Cypriots who
change their SUV/pickup/4-WD or saloon car with more than a 2 litre
engine for a Toyota Prius or a Honda Civic Hybrid or a small, modern
diesel and runs 15,000 km/year will cut their fuel consumption by half
and emit a total of about 7,000,000 kg less carbon dioxide each year.
Think: do you really need that gas guzzler?
4.
Don’t use your car for short trips, unless necessary. Walking the
kids to and from school will save you money and will help combat that
modern disease, juvenile obesity. Cycling to the supermarket for a loaf
of bread or a litre of milk is healthier and less polluting. Remember
that a car pollutes most on short trips when the engine is cold.
5.
If you can, use public transport. Yes, I know that Cypriot buses
are almost an oxymoron but, still, they can be used on some occasions. A
bus with half-a-dozen passengers will produce much less pollution than
six cars. Each of those cars will cost you 40 cents/km, while a bus
ticket should be about half that. Use shared taxis between the cities.
Above all, try car-sharing with work colleagues; the good employer
should do everything to encourage this, such as reserved parking slots
close to the door for car sharers.
6.
Stop using your supermarket’s plastic bags, where possible. Each
bag weighs about 5 g. If 100,000 Cypriots each reduced their bag
consumption by 11 per week, that is 2,000 tonnes less plastic used per
year, saving 4,500 tonnes of oil needed to make them. It is also 2,000
tonnes less rubbish to go into the landfill – or to disfigure the
landscape. At the check-out, put your goodies straight back into the
trolley and have some reusable old cartons or boxes in the back of the
car to put them into in the car park. There also collapsible plastic
boxes that fit into the supermarket cart; at checkout, load these boxes
and then lift them into the car. What a time saver! Use the bags you do take instead
of bin liners or, if they are clean, take them back with you to the
supermarket and reuse them. And don’t accept it if the cashier says you
must put your purchases in bags; it isn’t true.
7.
If you have a garden, compost your waste. All your grass
clippings, leaves, salad waste and other food preparation rubbish and
left-overs, tea bags and leaves, coffee grounds etc. can be composted.
The following year, you will have a rich compost, as good as manure, to
feed your plants. You will not need to buy chemical fertilisers which
require much carbon dioxide-emitting energy to make.
No tree branches or plastic should go into your compost heap,
though, as they won’t rot down.
8.
Sort and recycle. Before throwing anything away, think! Can it be
recycled? Glass, paper, cardboard, aluminium, tin cans, used batteries,
plastics, electrical/electronic goods etc. can all be recycled. Let’s
look at aluminium, for example. We all know the
Cans for Kids campaign, which
is our success story in recycling, but did you know this is not confined
to cans? Aluminium foil, food trays, cooking utensils, anything in
aluminium can also be recycled and it does not even have to be clean.
The only problem is that you
have to separate the different kind of waste and take it to a collection
point (often in supermarket car parks). If you do this, there will be
fewer unsightly and smelly waste tips and your bin men will use less
fuel as the garbage truck will need emptying less frequently. And
remember that electrical waste, including TVs, computers, mobile phones,
down to a wristwatch, often contain toxic materials. Ask your Mukhtar
what to do with it, as he has the legal responsibility to tell you where
to take it.
9.
Never, ever, throw rubbish
away in the forest or elsewhere. It is not only an eyesore, but
it is illegal and subject to hefty punishments. It is bad enough when
it’s things like a broken brass bedstead but, when it is old paint,
chemicals or sump oil which can filter into a drinking water table, then
it becomes really criminal. A litre of a solvent can make more than
50,000 tonnes of water unfit for consumption. However, start by thinking
small: that cigarette end thrown out the car window can start a forest
fire as well as being a pollutant and that gob of chewing gum on the
pavement (or, worse, under the coffee shop table) is horrible for all to
behold.
10.
Noise pollution is anathema. We may have to put up with noise at
work and, if it’s bad, your boss may need to supply you with protectors,
but unnecessary noise is bad pollution. Whether it be running a car
engine unnecessarily, playing music too loudly, especially late at
night, using a lawn mower or other tools when others may be sleeping,
allowing dogs to bark or cats to caterwaul or anything else that may
disrupt your neighbour’s harmony, then you are a bad neighbour. This
applies especially to youngsters on scooters with illegally damaged
exhaust systems.