13 Easy Ways to Have a More Environmentally Friendly Life in Los Angeles

Climate change is a threat to us all. Even though it can be easy to feel powerless and like you are unable to make a significant change to the continuous damage that we have done to the planet, it is important that you try to live as environmentally friendly as possible. While there is no single solution or individual’s actions that will fix the current state of the planet and the harm that human life has caused it, it is important that we all do our bit in our lives to collectively make a difference. Contrary to many beliefs, living a greener and more environmentally friendly life doesn’t have to be as difficult or inconvenient as you might assume, and you can continue enjoying all the things you love with just a few slight changes.

Continuous Effort

In recent years, the Californian city of Los Angeles has dedicated much of its time and resources to ensuring that the city is a more environmentally friendly community, harnessing natural resources and promoting a greener way of life. Los Angeles has already made huge changes to the way it functions to ensure that it is following a more environmentally conscious system. It was one of the first cities to introduce curbside recycling in 1980. It now prides itself on having the highest recycling rate of solid waste than of any other American city of a similar size.

Around 14 percent of the energy used in Los Angeles comes from renewable resources, and the LA Solar plan aims to increase this by the year 2020. Due to the combination of the threat of climate change and the initiatives already in place across the city, it is easier to live more environmentally friendly in Los Angeles than ever before. Adding on, from solar installation in Los Angeles, to changing how you commute to work, you can significantly decrease your carbon footprint. To make this easier for you, here are 13 easy ways you can live a greener life!

Cut Out Single Use Plastic

Around the world, around 500 billion single use plastic carrier bags are used every year. They usually end up in landfills or damaging our oceans. It is predicted that around 100,000 marine animals are killed every year due to getting stuck in the single use bags.

There have already been plastic bans put in place in California. Plastic straws are no longer given out in sit down eating places across the state as of 2019. Cutting down or completely removing your use of single use plastic is a great way to live a greener lifestyle. This is one of the easiest ways to have a more environmentally friendly life, and just by adding some reusable shopping bags to the trunk of your car and swapping plastic single use water bottles for a reusable water bottle, you can prevent yourself from adding to the huge amounts of plastic we waste every year.

Learn to Compost

Composting your food scraps from home is a great way to eliminate the food wastage that we all generate every single day. Statistics tell us that the household food wastage that the US generates every year is around 30 to 40 percent of the food supply, which adds up to around $161 billion worth of food. Composting is an environmentally friendly and inexpensive way to safely dispose of food waste instead of it being sent to landfill, where it creates harmful greenhouse gas. Furthermore, LA city sanitation department has free workshops that you can attend to help you with your backyard composting to make leading a greener lifestyle even easier.  

Commute Using Public Transport

If your place of work is within walking distance, you should try to walk to work as often as you can, both to improve your health and well-being and to save the emissions that come from driving to work. However, even if you can’t walk to work, there are still more environmentally friendly alternatives that you can switch to. You should try to arrange a carpool system with your work colleagues if you live nearby or on the same route to work. However, the city of Los Angeles has many transportation options available so that you can leave your car at home and make your contribution towards decreasing the fastest-growing creator of greenhouse gases that have been linked to climate change. You can use the Los Angeles Metro network to plan your journey in advance.

Find a Bike Share Near You

If public transport isn’t for you and you enjoy being active, buying your own bike or using a bike share scheme could a great way for you to get around. LA is now home to many different bike share schemes that offer both manual and electric bikes to help you get where you want to go.

From just $5 a day, you will get to ride around on your bike for a 30 minute journey as many times as you want, which makes them a perfect option to get to work in the morning and to pop into the grocery store without using the car or a cab. You can download the Metro Bike app that tells you where in the city you can find a bike share scheme and informs you of where the nearest availability is to you. Keeping fit and leading a more environmentally friendly life at the same time – what more could you ask for?

Get Solar Panels

There has been an increase in solar panel installation in LA in recent years, and more people are turning to renewable energy sources such as solar energy for their energy needs. Solar panels are fast becoming one of the most used renewable energy sources around the world and are a great place for you to start if you want to make your home energy efficient. LA is a great place to purchase solar panels, and the best solar company in Los Angeles, Semper Solaris, is well-known for offering affordable and reputable solar panel installation in Los Angeles for all types of properties.

Types of Solar Panels

From traditional types of solar panels, such as monocrystalline panels, to the more affordable, slim solar cells, sempersolaris.com provides great quality solar panel that can largely reduce your energy bills. Solar panels are expected to save around $100 a month on energy bills, and with the solar tax credit in Los Angeles and the solar financial options Los Angeles has to offer, it is currently the most cost-effective option for renewable energy in the state. Solar power has become a very popular home improvement amongst environmentally conscious individuals, and being amongst the best solar power companies in Los Angeles, it is a great way to decrease your carbon footprint and live a greener lifestyle.

Plant a Tree  

While this is one of the smaller changes you can make to your lifestyle when trying to be greener, you may be surprised at how much of a difference that it can make to the environment. Trees are an essential aspect of nature and contribute hugely to our environment by providing the oxygen that we all need to survive. They also help to improve the quality of the air that we breathe in everyday and support our local wildlife. Therefore, it is no surprise that the city of LA has the City Plants partnership in place, which is made up of community groups, residents, and non-profit organizations who aim to plant and provide 15,000 trees each year in the city of Los Angeles.

Buy Second Hand

We are all guilty of buying something new to replace an older item when you could simply fix what you already have. With the increase in popularity of vintage items and the recent upcycling trend, more people are starting to buy their items second hand. Los Angeles is full of unique and exceptional thrift stores, flea markets, and vintage shops that you should go and explore before you go ahead and buy something brand new. Los Angeles is the home of Hollywood, so whether you want to try out a brand-new look or bring something more glamorous to your life, there are plenty of options to choose from at the hundreds of secondhand stores dotted around the city.  

Have a Meat Free Day  

More of us are starting to realize the damage that eating meat does to the environment due to the pressures that meat production puts on the planet. From the water and crops that are required for the animals to the transportation costs that are involved in getting meat and other animal products to grocery stores, eating meat is very harmful to the planet. As a result, this is why more people are engaging in ‘meat-free Mondays’ to try and limit how much meat we consume.

Hang Dry Your Clothes

It can be tempting to put our clothes in the dryer after we have done the laundry to get them dry quicker. But, if you are environmentally conscious, you should try to leave your clothes to hang dry by airing them out. You may be surprised at how much energy this can save. Also, you might as well take advantage of the sunny weather that Los Angeles has to offer and hang your washing outside to dry whenever possible.

Take Care of the Beach

The city of Los Angeles is home to some of the most picturesque coastlines in the whole of America. However, in order to ensure the survival of these unique and typical LA treasures, you should consider taking part in the many cleanups. These are being set up all around the city. In addition, from Save Our Beach to Heal the Bay, more people are doing their bit to clean up the beautiful beaches by removing all the trash and plastic that ruins the appearance of our beaches and threatens the lives of local wildlife.

Shop Local

You should try to shop as local as you can and swap the huge grocery store for the local farmers’ market when buying your fresh fruit and veg. Doing this will not only help the individual farmer by cutting their transportation costs, but it will also cut down on the air pollution that is caused by the transportation of produce from the farm to the factory to the grocery store. Similarly, if you know any of the many local independent clothes stores dotted around Los Angeles, you should buy more clothes locally to cut down on your carbon footprint.

Walk More

It is essential that you try to walk more if you are conscious of how green your life is. Not only is walking a great way to keep fit and stay in shape, but it is a much less environmentally harming mode of transport. You should set up a 2-mile area around your home. If you want to go to anywhere within that 2-mile radius, you should walk it.

If your destination is out of that range, look into taking public transportation instead of driving. This is a great way to stay dedicated to walking as often as we can walk to our destination. Being lazy or running late often gets in the way though. In summary, transportation is one of the biggest contributors to the damage we are causing our planet. Hence it is important that we all switch to walking whenever we can to adopt a more environmentally friendly life.

Conserve Water

Half of California’s water used for residential properties. This adds up to around 3 trillion gallons of water a year. It is estimated that around 8 percent of this is wasted due to leaky pipes or faucets alone. Also, you can attend the LA city’s Save the Drop class that will teach you about LA’s water conservation efforts.

There are more ways than ever before that you can live a more environmentally friendly life. Especially with the help of LA’s environmental programs and initiative. Along with the solar power in Los Angeles that is now available, the opportunities to lower your carbon footprint are endless.