Save The World By Staying Home
The following is a guest article written by Jennifer Gorton from Forex Traders
If we think about why being a locavore (one whose diet consists only of food that is grown in the local area) is such an effective approach to reducing our impact to the environment, it only makes sense. By eating locally produced foods, local businesses get economic support. Theoretically, if everyone did so, big business would transport less produce long distances, as the demand for these items would significantly decrease. If we all acted collectively on this initiative, the community would benefit, our food would be fresher, chemical preservatives would not be necessary for long trips and so we’d be healthier, and there would be a significant reduction in the fuel costs required to transport the food. Since the local farmers are able to sell their entire inventory instead of watching half of it rot away because of big business competition, and since the local farmers can now save money because they are not transporting their produce longer distances (since they have more local customers), prices in general would drop.
But why stop there? Is there another way that we can implement the locavore concept in our lives?
American Idle
Observe any major metropolitan highway in America during rush hour. I’ve always wondered why they call it “rush hour”, when it appears that no one is moving. A significant increase of fuel consumption results from your car sitting at idle or moving very slowly on the road. Only ten minutes in idle costs you about 0.026 gallons of gasoline, which adds up to 9.5 ounces of carbon dioxide (and about 5 to 10 cents in fuel). A five-mile drive results in more gas usage if it takes a half hour during rush hour, versus if you are able to shorten your commute by always avoiding rush hour. Even if you drive only ten miles round-trip to work every day, that’s still a lot of exhaust for our earth to continue to choke on. 9.5 ounces of carbon dioxide might not sound like much, but if you’re doing it every day, year after year and the average person only idles for 20 minutes a day (10 minutes each way) and there are, say 100,000 cars on the road in your local city during rush hour, it all adds up.
If you live within five miles of where you work, consider yourself fortunate, since many drive up to an hour or more. But even if you did work that close to work, think about the impact this has to the environment. Multiply this by the millions of people who commute every day, and the number is very staggering.
So, what if we eliminated that work commute completely?
Work From Home
There are many benefits with working from home. Not only will you save money on fuel consumption (burning a gallon of gasoline produces about 11kg of carbon dioxide), thus helping the earth to breathe a little easier, you also can save on other work-related expenses as well: professional attire, day care and pet sitting costs, lunch money, and so on. Let’s not forget how much less stress and how much more personal time you will recover from your life that would have been wasted on the road. Imagine what you could do with an extra hour a day.
Granted, you may need to jump through some hoops or put a little effort into it or learn a new skill, in order to get to the point where you are working from home… but it can be done. And when you can finally arrange it, your life will change.
The World-Friendly Wide Web
With the internet at our disposal, we can learn to sell downloadable products (read: no shipping costs or impact to the earth) online, create websites or blogs that enable us to make our income on advertising, sell stuff on eBay, or start some sort of full-fledged online business (such as the next Google). Another option is day trading.
A Greener Wall St.
Why not try your hand at day trading? You can trade like the big dogs on Wall St. while sitting at home in your underwear. Get the proper education and trading stocks or on the foreign exchange (get started with this Forex broker comparison) can be a very lucrative business. In fact, if you get into trading the Forex, your schedule opens up even more, since you can choose to work (or not) just about anytime, since the market is open 24 hours a day, almost six solid days a week.
The advent of the internet opens up incredible possibilities to someone willing to make sacrifices for the environment. Of course, get to the point where you’re working from home, and it really won’t feel like much of a sacrifice at all!
Some great advice here. I personally know that one of the reasons why I started working from home was the annoyance of rush hour. Drove me crazy!
You got a very nice point of view there. But I think this is for the community not for Individual. But it catches my attention on ways you can do by staying home. If you happened to be aware of your surroundings then this is good for you. And anyway I like and consider the word locavore concept as a nice way of saving the world or your world. Thanks for the post.
Yes, I can agree that working from home is much more profitable than from the office, but I still see one minus in this situation – when you work from home you lack communication with people because home you are along very often for the whole day and can’t say a word to anybody!
I agree with working at home saves the environment from daily air pollution from cars and also from everyday trash we sometimes throw anywhere. Another reason why I choose to work on my couch is the comfort I get and security of working within your premises.
Thanks for sharing the post, go green!
It’s a really nice thought…it really is :)
But is it realistic, to get people turned on to the “locavore” thing?
To me it seems like the most realistic goal is to have people reduce their impact on the environment in other, less drastic, ways… Going “locavore” then i the proverbial “next step” somewhere further down the line.
But none the less: Excellent article! And there’s a lot of good advice people can use TODAY :)
I still see one minus in this situation – when you work from home you lack communication with people because home you are along very often for the whole day.
Yes, you have a nice point of view about saving the earth by staying at home. It can be a great help in saving our mother earth, however it is not really that advisable to each individual’ for they may not be that interactive in the outside world which may result bad to the health. Sitting for about 8 hours may harm our health.
But nonetheless it is a wonderful article and you come up with a really great topic. keep it up:-)
As I see it, all you’ve said could be done if we have the proper education and if we change our habits. It’s pointless to say that these are the two hardest things to change in a person, and it may take some years until we can become the persons we want and should become.
I find it a very good idea of saving the earth further. We have so much broke now we should repair it again.
excuse for my english
Great post. Staying at home will help but it wuld be great to have more options for clean living out and about too :)
Lazy people everywhere unite! :) I think we all wish we could work from home, its turning this dream into reality that is the hard part.
I currently develop websites from home. It is definitely not just a dream for me anymore. It has it’s ups and downs, but overall, I am a much happier person and feel as though I am helping to save the environment by not driving my car as much. I haven’t filled up my gas tank in about a month, and the last time I filled it up I put $5 in the tank.
I think this is why you are seeing more Virtual Offices popping up. The cost of renting and leasing, and the spin of making it “green”.
Your idea is good. I think i must learn how to be a locavore too.
Another good thing about being a locavore is that some local products i.e. honey are said to possibly be beneficial for allergy sufferers, because they are made with local pollen. I don’t know how much truth there is in this, just something I read.
It’s weird to think that if the “peak oil” theories are actually true, and energy becomes more scarce and expensive, the current age of jetting around everywhere might become a thing of the past.
It’s very important info for me.. Thanks for sharing :D
I’m so glad you’ve written this post! I live in the UK and it’s incredible how many people talk about carbon foot print yet they all live in nearby villages commuting dozens of miles back and forth every day! Working from home, living close to your work and walking, walking, walking are my favourites. People are just so unaware how much you can actually accomplish by working at home. After all we do live in the digital age, right… Fantastic post, thank you!
You are making an important point here. I am sure majority of us who goes to office everyday will agree with you – if not for a greener planet, at least for selfish reasons :)
We very much torment yourself with preservative, and our body is not eternal! I just this idea!
That is exactly how I am saving the world today. Its my day off and staying home. However, I think i shouldn’t have come on here though because i am finding your articles very interesting and entertaining. I hope i dont end up sepending entire day on here. Thanks for the thought provoking articles.
I think that working from home can be harmful for our health because when you go to work to the next room, your body will lack physical activity and you can suffer from this.
I agree with eating food grown in the local areas. It’s pointless vegetables to be import from other country when the same vegetable grows here.
it’s really difficult to save our earth from pollution if many people use green plants and or hydroponic round their home.
Staying at home definitely saves you from a commute!
I find it a very good idea of saving the earth further. We have so much broke now we should repair it again.
excuse for my english
I loved the headline “American Idle” – very clever. I think stillness can be good. We’re always go-go-go.