Synclair Richards

Marketing Intern

Synclair is a second year HR student at Georgian college with a passion for sustainability, and an undying love for dogs (especially her puppy, Thor). She is outgoing, upbeat, and bursting with personality. Her current journey at Busch Systems has provided her the opportunity to learn new ways to help the environment. Within this Eco-Friendly Lifestyle blog series, Synclair is sharing her findings, thoughts, and ideas with the world on how to achieve sustainability in everyday activities!

Welcome to my brand-new series called Eco-Friendly Lifestyle! In this series, you will learn how to continue doing your favorite activities, all while being a friend to our environment. There are simple switches that can make a space or an activity eco-friendlier; my mission is to find these suggestions and share them with all of you! Every simple change makes a difference and will help us leave a positive impact on our environment.

Why be Eco-Friendly?

Well, who doesn't like friends? Why not be best friends with our environment? Being mindful of your actions and treating the environment with respect will increase the longevity of our environment and allow us to enjoy all it has to offer. Doing good for the environment will make you feel good! Let’s start taking the necessary steps to have a positive environmental impact.

Tips and Tricks

Here are a few simple ways you can adjust your everyday lifestyle to help the environment:

1. Let's start with something we know best... recycling! It's important to educate yourself on best recycling practices! By having the knowledge on how to properly recycle, we can work together to reduce the number of materials going to the landfill.
2. Use Less Paper. When going to a store, ask for your receipt emailed, or consider enrolling in online mail instead of receiving physical letters!
3. Reusable products. Avoid plastic water bottles and plastic bags and try using a refillable water bottle and cloth bags!
4. Cloth over paper. Avoid using paper towel when possible, and replace it with a cloth towel instead
5. Reduce energy in your home or building. Utilize windows when you can, if it is cold open blinds and let the sun heat your house. When it's hot, open windows if there is a breeze. Taking shorter showers can also reduce the amount of energy needed to heat the water, and the colder the shower, the less energy required!
6. Practice green procurement. Buy products that are less harmful to the earth when possible, like eco-friendly cleaners, or bars of shampoo and conditioner to avoid the extra packaging.
7. Reduce water waste. Turn off the tap when you aren't using it to reduce excess water usage.
8. Grow a garden. Plants produce oxygen and create clean air flow. You could also grow your own vegetables and fruit! Eating food from your own backyard saves excess trips to the grocery store and reduces the emissions needed to transport food across the world. When shopping for food, try to source as local as possible! Whether that be at your local farm or at the nearest market.
9. Cut out single-use and avoidable plastics. Ditch the excess packaging destined for landfill. Avoid plastic water bottles, they take 450 years to decompose! Straws are also a common issue, that can easily be replaced with a reusable option.
10. Eco-friendly transportation. Carpool if possible, or even ride your bike or walk!

Interested in learning more? Stay tuned for my upcoming blogs where I'll be diving into all your favorite activities, and how you can make them as eco-friendly as possible!