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 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 30 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.
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.
Discuss this page on the Cyprus: the Environment Forum, open to all! 