The First Steps towards Becoming an Eco-Warrior

In recent years it has become impossible to ignore the growing concerns about global warming and the ecological problems facing our planet. The number of everyday eco-warriors is constantly growing, as people are eager to do their bit to help reverse the damage done to our environment. But how easy is it to be eco-aware? In this day and age, it’s a significant sacrifice to give up your car, or transform your house to function on renewable energy sources. So just how do you take those first steps to becoming a modern day eco-warrior without giving up your way of life?

Problem 1: Driving. Clearly if you are driving to and from work everyday you are creating a fair amount of CO2 emissions, which are hardly helping you in your move to eco-awareness. Public transport is a great solution, as most companies are making an effort to make train or bus travel more affordable and therefore a more appealing option. It can also cut down some of the hassle in your day, for example the drive from York to London can take anything up to 4 hours and comes with the stress of traffic and other drivers, whereas the train journey takes no more than 2 hours 15 minutes, and could cost you as little as £10 one way. If, however, you simply cannot give up driving (which many people can’t) then there are other options. If you have the money, why not try investing in a hybrid car? The Toyota Prius is available from £17,932 and has both a low carbon footprint and low servicing costs. Alternatively, try going for something like The Co-Operative Insurance’s eco-insurance when you are looking for a new car insurance quote: they offer to offset 20% of your car's CO2 emissions by investing in projects like rainforest reforestation, energy efficiency and renewable energy resources.

Problem 2: Running your home. Using excessive amounts of gas and electricity provides ecological problems on two fronts – high CO2 emissions and the running down of a non-renewable resource. One option to really increase your eco-warrior credibility is to install solar panels on the roof of your home, but this can be expensive and is not always the most feasible plan. To make a smaller, yet no less significant change, try finding an eco-friendly power supplier like e-on, whose “go green” plan provides 100% renewable electricity & carbon offset gas.

Though it can be difficult to adjust your life to become more eco-aware, if you are able to take even the smallest steps towards helping the environment then you can claim your status as an eco-warrior. No one is expected to change their way of life completely, but if everyone were to take a few little steps then our ecological problems would be significantly reduced.

Prices and products are correct at the time of writing (17.08.08) and may be changed at the discretion of the provider.

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