Five Ways to Show Earth Love from the Kitchen

By: Jessica Robertson

For many of us, our kitchen is the centre of our home life. Food makes fellowship, and fellowship makes happiness. With all that good stuff flowing out of the kitchen, let’s be conscious of the impact we’re making on the earth to keep the good coming.

Be kind to the earth from your very own kitchen with these five simple tips.

1.      Big Money

Obviously, the big energy saver would be to switch out those old, energy-guzzling appliances for their newer green counterparts. If that’s an option for you, go for it! The environment will thank you. If that’s a little too pricey of a change for your taste, keep reading.

2.      Be Smart

Save energy the old fashioned way, by making wise choices. Covering a pot makes water boil twice as fast, using half the energy. Use the toaster oven for one-portion cooking. Turn the stove off a few minutes before you’re done cooking, and let the lingering heat do the remaining work. It’s the small things that add up to big changes!

3.      Eat Raw

Not only are raw foods like fruits and veggies and nuts great for your health, they’re great choices for the planet! They don’t require cooking, so they save tons of energy, and they also require less packaging, so you contribute less waste to the landfill. It’s a win-win-win.

4.      Less Plastic

Speaking of landfills, they’re full of our food containers, grocery bags, plastic packaging, and the list goes on. Reducing our use of these readily disposable – but hardly biodegradable – objects is surprisingly easy. A few small changes include storing leftovers in glass rather than plastic (which is also an infinitely wiser choice for your health, by the way), buying food in bulk and dividing it into glass containers at home to reduce wasted packaging, and bringing your own totes to the grocery store.

5.      Wash Nice

Be careful what you wash with. Many popular kitchen soaps and cleaning products are petroleum-based or brimming with other harmful chemicals. We may forget about the soap once it’s down the drain, but it doesn't bio degrade. It’s harmful to our animals, the earth, and us, so choose better cleaners that are plant-based instead. A few earth-friendly brands are likely available in your neighbourhood grocery store.

Keep the love flowing from your kitchen to your friends, family, and the earth!