While denied by many of these industries for a long time, the ugly side of energy consumption has been exposed for the whole world to see. It has increased the awareness about the need to embrace alternative energy and waste solutions that are renewable and cleaner to avoid contamination and slow down the degradation of our many natural ecosystems.

Many of the initiatives to use clean energies are embraced in multiple countries. Some of them are backed by governments and private industries looking to preserve our planet and fix some of the damage caused by our constant demands of resources. Many people believe that individual efforts don’t count. The fact is that every single bit of help they can get adds up a lot. If you are a student looking to make a difference in this world, check out green MBA programs.

Here are 5 actionable tips you can follow to make proper use of renewable energy on your premises:

1. Embrace Solar-Powered Technologies

If you haven’t realized it yet the sun is the most powerful energy source in the world and no one can charge to use it. This is why many developers focused on creating technology that makes the best use of the power delivered by the light and radiation offered by the main star in our solar system.

Nowadays, you can get solar-powered vehicles, and solar panels to distribute energy at your home. Such solar technologies can be a bit expensive but is durable as nothing else in the market, plus it is a one-time investment at best!

2. Crowdfund Clean Energy Projects

Many communities are willing to go green and use green energy sources when they are presented the right project. Most of the times the neighbors’ just need to see a well-laid plan explaining why using renewable energy sources will be more affordable for them in the long run.

The environmental angle can also be helpful, especially for those homeowners that live close to natural reservoirs and wish to keep the value of their properties by safekeeping the environment.

3. Support the Society of Concerned Scientist

This is an amazing initiative to get businesses and the world to become more educated and use more renewable energy.  I am not affiliated with the society at all, but it may be one of the most actionable ways to help the environment because they have built up a lot of support and assets.

Check out what they are doing here.

4. Use Water-processing Technology

Many households and modern housing projects can make use of this technology to recycle the water sources they use and avoid the unnecessary waste of such vital liquid.

The basic principles of this initiative require investment in processing plants and large tanks that can either be installed on the foundations of your home or at the side of it. Your house will always have clean running water, and you won’t take much from the natural sources near your place.

5. Wind Power for Home or Business

Many locations around the world are using wind-powered turbines to generate electricity, and it has become a business opportunity for many entrepreneurs around the world. The plants are easy to install, and the energy is very cheap to produce.

Wind-powered energy has generated an excess of power in certain locations such as China, Germany, Australia and some regions on the USA with these plants selling they’re overproduced to regular energy plants. The power provided by these alternatives is cleaner than most and very easy on a family budget.

The post 5 Actionable Tips to Use More Renewable Energy first appeared on BioEnergy Consult.

What are Green SMEs

Green SMEs adopt green processes and/or those producing green goods using green production inputs. A judicious exploitation of techno-commercial opportunities and redevelopment of business models, often neglected by established companies, have been the major hallmarks of green SMEs.

For example, SMEs operating in eco-design, green architecture, renewable energy, energy efficiency and sustainability are spearheading the transition to green economy across a wide range of industries. The path to green economy is achieved by making use of production, technology and management practices of green SMEs. Impact investment platforms allows individuals to invest in environmentally sustainable companies.

Categories of Green Industries

Key Drivers

The key motivations for a green entrepreneur are to exploit the market opportunity and to promote environmental sustainability. A green business help in the implementation of innovative solutions, competes with established markets and creates new market niches. Green entrepreneurs are a role model for one and all as they combine environmental performance with market targets and profit outcomes, thus contributing to the expansion of green markets.

Some of the popular areas in which small green businesses have been historically successful are renewable energy production (solar, wind and biomass), smart metering, building retrofitting, hybrid cars and waste recycling.

As far as established green industries (such as waste management and wastewater treatment) are concerned, large companies tend to dominate, however SMEs and start-ups can make a mark if they can introduce innovative processes and systems. Eco-friendly transformation of existing practices is another attractive pathway for SMEs to participate in the green economy.

The Way Forward

Policy interventions for supporting green SMEs, especially in developing nations, are urgently required to overcome major barriers, including knowledge-sharing, raising environmental awareness, enhancing financial support, supporting skill development and skill formation, improving market access and implementing green taxation.

In recent decades, entrepreneurship in developing world has been increasing at a rapid pace which should be channeled towards addressing water, energy, environment and waste management challenges, thereby converting environmental constraints into business opportunities.

The post Green SMEs: Catalyst for Green Economy first appeared on BioEnergy Consult.

But to enter into the logic of responsibility implies for those of us who are culturally conditioned to advance towards a cultural change.

In today’s entry, we will carefully analyze our responsibilities towards our environment and nature itself. To do so, we will analyze the different aspects of environmental law and our responsibilities to respect it. Here are the four most vital components of that law.

Credits: Photo by Sarah Dorweiler, Aesence

Human Responsibility in the Natural Environment

An ecological cultural change is nourished by our modern-day behaviors. Like in many cultures, welcoming the gift of creation invites us to continue to show the love that orients and promotes all lives. However, this gift allows and also demands respect for the equilibrium of the environment itself.

This balance is not only the fruit of a simple random and fortuitous evolutionary course but must be recognized as a gift that makes human life as a whole possible. A rupture of this dynamic is what scientists are warning about, the abuse of the environment. Introducing changes that break its balance, such as the current climate change process resulting from human activity and a cultural model that allows the abuse of resources. Thus, disrupting the natural balance.

Responding to this imbalance implies recognizing and practicing some duties that are marginalized in the present culture.

Our Responsibility of Conservation

The first responsibility is the conservation of creation. Today, witnessing the signs of the globalized ecological crisis throughout the planet, it is clear that the appropriate framework for “cultivation” is guardianship or conservation.

Without conservation, there can be no responsible and fair human cultivation. From this understanding, nature’s cultivation cannot lead to its “exploitation” because it cannot be abused, breaking its balance. A current concretization of this responsibility implies fighting against climate change and the various ecological disorders.

The signs of a development that has not always known how to protect nature’s delicate balances are evident when talking about air pollution. Before it is too late, severe measures must be taken, not only when writing an air pollution essay or article, but in real-life, to re-establish a strong alliance between man and the earth.

Therefore, we need a decisive “yes” to the protection of creation and a strong commitment to reverse the trends that could lead to situations of irreversible degradation.

The Responsibility not to Alienate Nature

The second responsibility that lies in our hands is to “respect the grammar of nature”. Nature is not an “untouchable taboo.” The natural environment is not only matter subjectively available to human beings, but an admirable work of nature itself that carries within itself a “grammar” that indicates purpose and criteria for intelligent, non-instrumental, and arbitrary use.

Today, many harms to development come from these distorted ways of thinking. Completely reducing nature to a set of simple factual data ends up being a source of violence towards the environment, provoking behaviors that do not respect the nature of man himself.

The latter, insofar as it is composed not only of matter but also of the spirit, and therefore rich in meanings and transcendent ends, has a normative character even for our culture.

Integration of Justice

Third, the need to integrate ecological justice and social justice. This need implies using resources that are respectful of nature and equitable with present and future human rights. Thus, the responsibilities we have towards the environment are related to those we have towards the person and his relationship with others. We cannot demand some and violate others. This is a severe antinomy of today’s mentality and praxis, which debases the person, disrupts the environment, and damages society.

For example, the desertification and productive impoverishment of some agricultural areas is also the fruit of the impoverishment of their inhabitants who suffer resource consumption damages. These have been crucial topics that show up regularly in a water pollution essay by environmental protection advocates due to the impact it causes in our occidental society. This impoverishment includes energy, air, and water pollution, which damage their natural environment (the effects of climate change on their lands, for example) and the inequitable consumption in its enjoyment and hoarding by influential minorities of humanity. The fruit of social justice must be held at peace among our societies and also with nature.

Social injustice is the occasion for social war and natural destruction. Many natural resources are devastated by wars. Peace among peoples and between peoples would also make it possible to safeguard nature more effectively. The hoarding of resources, especially water, can lead to serious conflicts between the populations concerned. Thus, a peaceful agreement on the use of resources can safeguard nature and, at the same time, the well-being of the societies concerned.

Pursuing Sustainability

The fourth responsibility is to improve efficiency and sustainability when dealing with nature. Responsible governance of creation implies, among other things, improving energy efficiency and the search for alternative energies to reduce their harmfulness to the environment and the harm to humanity itself. But it has to be framed in a global project of relationship with nature in the key of “alliance between human being and a healthy environment,” which adequately weighs the path to the future. That considers the approach to be followed in each aspect.

This is a global responsibility: The international community and each government must know how to counteract effectively those ways of using the environment that is harmful to it. And the competent authorities must also make the necessary efforts to ensure that the economic and social costs arising from the use of common environmental rights and resources are recognized transparently and borne entirely by those who benefit, not by others or by future generations.

The protection of the environment, resources, and the climate require that all international decision-makers act together and demonstrate a readiness to act in good faith, respect for the law and solidarity with the weaker regions of the planet.

Responsibilities that can help us to assume our responsibility towards ourselves. Towards the present and future of humanity, and towards the whole of creation.

The post Role of Environmental Human Rights and Our Responsibilities first appeared on BioEnergy Consult.

The good news is that every individual can play a role in helping to eliminate the damage done by the use of and production of paper products. Now, this is the point where many readers will think of themselves, “I recycle. Isn’t that enough?”

The truth is, while recycling certainly helps, it doesn’t eliminate the problems our use of paper creates. In fact, the recycling process itself has an environmental cost.  Keep recycling for sure, but also consider ways in which you can reduce the amount of paper you use. Here are a few top ways college students can save paper:

1. Make your subscriptions digital

Whether your interests are in technology, fashion, current events, music or something else, magazines are full of useful information. The problem is that once you’re done with them, your choices are to recycle them, throw them out, or let them collect dust. None of these things are good for the environment.

Instead, convert your paper subscriptions to digital. Not only will you help the environment, you’ll save space as well. Even better, digital copies of magazines are searchable. This means you can find the articles you want with ease.

2. Donate old newspapers and magazines

If you do have hard copies of newspapers and magazines at home, don’t throw them out or recycle them. There may be places that are happy to take them off your hands. Your local community center, retirement homes, hospitals and homeless shelters are often in search of reading materials for their clients.

3. Use double-sided printing

There is no way to avoid printing altogether, but you may be able to reduce the paper you use when you do print. Whenever possible use double-sided printing. You can even print more than one page per side. Also, experiment line spacing and font size. With a few adjustments, you can significantly reduce the amount of paper you print over time. Encourage your friends, even your University and College, and your community to do the same.

4. Get your statements online

If you are still receiving your bank statements and billing notices via snail mail that’s a problem. Not only are you getting your paper bills and statements, chances are you’re receiving inserts, coupons, and other junk. Convert to paperless mode and eliminate all of this.

5. Use a blackboard or whiteboard

Shopping lists, reminders, and notes to your roommates represent just a few of the things you likely jot down and have scattered about your place. You aren’t alone. Those bits and pieces of paper add up. You can replace these by simply hanging up a whiteboard or blackboard in a convenient spot.

If somebody needs to jot something down, they can use that instead of wasting paper. If you need something a bit more portable, simply snap a picture with your phone.

6. Get a digital calendar

You also don’t need paper to stay on top of your schedule or to coordinate with friends and family members. Instead, choose a digital calendar that works for you. Then arrange to share calendars with those friends and family members. With most online calendars you can create to-do lists, set alarms, and send out reminders.

7. Give old newspapers to animal shelter

Your local animal shelter or rescue might be thrilled to get your old newspapers. They use these for bedding and as cage liners.  Newspapers can also be used to help insulate winter shelters for feral cat colonies.

8. Use washcloths and hand towels

There is no doubt that paper towels and napkins are useful. Many of us use them while we’re eating, to wipe up spills, for cleaning, even for covering food in the microwave. The problem is that once we’re done all of those paper products go directly into the trash. That’s wasteful and bad for the environment. Instead, invest in cloth alternatives.

Washcloths and hand towels are exceptionally cheap. Cloth diapers last forever and are amazing for cleaning. Even old worn-out clothing can be cut up and used as dust rags.

9. Take notes digitally

At this point, there should be little or no occasions where you need to take notes on paper. There are simply too many options for taking notes digitally, not to take advantage of this. Save paper by using an app, such as Evernote, to take and organize your notes. While applying for college admission, make use of admission essay by domyessay.

Use voice to text, or simply type up your notes in your favorite word processor. Not only will your digital notes save paper, you’ll be better able to create quality essays and research papers. If you need help to turn these notes into better papers, check out essay editing reviews. Save the planet, and improve your grades.

In some cases, you don’t need to take notes at all. See if your instructors save handouts and lecture notes online. Then, simply use these as reference materials.

10. Reduce paper use at the grocery store

Hopefully, you have ditched single-use plastic and paper bags for reusable ones. If not, this is a great place to start. However, that’s just the beginning. There are other ways to reduce paper use while you shop.

First, hit the bulk bins for your dried goods. Instead of using the plastic or paper bags provided, bring your own reusable containers. Next, pay attention to packaging as you shop. You’ll be amazed at the amount of paper and plastic that is wasted through extra packaging. Be a conscientious shopper, and buy products that use the least amount of paper material.

11. Praise brands that use less paper

While you shop, pay attention to which brands are responsible in their use of paper and which brands are not. Then, let your thoughts be known. If a brand is behaving responsibly in this area, contact them and let you know you appreciate it and will be buying their products.

If not, contact them with your concerns. Believe it or not, companies do care what you think, and if they hear from enough people they might change their behaviors.

Final thoughts 

Paper waste is a huge problem at colleges and universities. In fact, the issue can seem overwhelming. However, if every individual would change a few of their habits with regard to paper consumption, there would be a great impact. You can get started with these steps.

The post 11 Ways College Students Can Save Paper first appeared on BioEnergy Consult.

Here are 20 of the top environmental quotes to remind you to do the right thing.

1. “The Earth is what we all have in common.” — Wendell Berry

Like Senator Bernie Sanders is fond of saying, we are all in this together.

2. “The garden suggests that there might be a place where we can meet nature halfway.” — Michael Pollan

If you got into the gardening craze during the pandemic shutdowns, you know the proven health benefits — including feeling in touch with the Earth.

3. “He that plants trees loves others besides himself.” — Thomas Fuller

Preserving the planet now is a blessing to future generations.

4. “A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt

FDR was among the most environmentally friendly presidents, creating five national parks during his time in office.

5. “What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and one another.” — Chris Maser

Perhaps we should treat the planet more kindly? We’ll learn something about how to treat each other, too.

6. “The Earth does not belong to us; we belong to the Earth.” — Chief Seattle

We owe a sacred duty to protect our ancestral home.

7. “But Man is a part of Nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself.” — Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson sounded the alarm about pesticides and chemicals in her now-classic book, “Silent Spring.”

8. “Today you can murder land for private profit. You can leave the corpse for all to see and no one calls the cops.” — Paul Brooks

The human pursuit of endless growth and progress should never come at the cost of environmental harm.

9. “Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” — Margaret Mead

If you ever feel like you can’t make a difference — you can and do.

10. “Plans to protect air and water, wilderness, and wildlife are in fact plans to protect man.” — Steward Udall

Destroying one’s home is a terrible way to ensure a future place to live.

11. “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.” — Mahatma Gandhi

Humans have the resources they need to support human and animal life. What has the relentless pursuit of profit cost in terms of ecology?

12. “A healthy ecology is the basis for a healthy economy.” — Claudine Schneider

Without a place to conduct operations, no business can thrive.

13. “It is our collective and individual responsibility to preserve and tend to the world in which we all live.” — Dalai Lama

Do you use the “other people do it” excuse when you opt for plastic instead of walking back to your car for your reusable bags? Remember that conservation takes a group effort.

14. “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.” — William Shakespeare

Nature unites human beings. This one enduring principle has withstood the test of time.

15. “It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.” — Ansel Adams

When it feels like those in power aren’t doing enough to address climate change, it’s necessary to keep calling and writing to your representatives and to find out which of them serve corporations over the public good.

16. “The environment is where we all meet; where we all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share.” — Lady Bird Johnson

One feature all humans share is that they need the planet to survive.

17. “If the Bee disappears from the surface of the Earth, Man would have no more than four years to live.” — Albert Einstein

Some species have already made the endangered species list — the time to act is now.

18. “Environment is no one’s property to destroy; it is everyone’s responsibility to protect.” — Mohith Agadi

Could humankind’s obsession with private property lurk behind the destruction of the planet?

19. “We have forgotten how to be good guests, how to walk lightly on the Earth as its other creatures do.” — Barbara Ward

Bears, deer, and rabbits do not pollute — only humans do.

20. “In nature’s economy, the currency is not money; it is life.” — Vandana Shiva

All the money in the world can’t restore the earth.

Feel Inspired by the Best Quotes on Environment Protection

When you need a bit of inspiration to do the right thing by the planet, please turn to these 20 environmental quotes for motivation for saving the planet.

The post Top 20 Environmental Quotes to Inspire and Motivate You first appeared on BioEnergy Consult.