The best morning rituals to help save the planet

A few simple but smart changes to your morning routine can help the planet on a daily basis

Even for the most bright-eyed and bushy-tailed morning people, the climate crisis is not likely to be the first thing that comes to mind when they spring out of bed.

Yet a few simple but smart changes to your morning routine can help the planet on a daily basis.

“I like this focus on the morning, because it really set up your whole day,” Emily Schosid, sustainability coordinator at the University of Denver, told The Independent. “And when you make some good decisions first thing in your day, then it sets you up to make good decisions for the rest of the day.”

She offered the following tips for “greening” your morning routine.

Take a shower challenge

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, the average American family uses more than 300 gallons of water per day at home, with roughly 70 per cent occurring indoors.

With 11 states in the US West currently experiencing a megadrought, conserving water is more important than ever.

Making tweaks to morning bathroom habits can significantly reduce that usage, said Schosid.

“Challenge yourself to make your shower five minutes or shorter,” she said. “A lot of people like to take their shower time to think ... and they’ll be in there for a half an hour or 45 minutes. Don’t do that. Just get in there, soap up and rinse off.

“Also, if you turn the water off while you’re washing your hair or your body and turn the water back on when you’re ready to rinse, that can also save a lot of water – same thing if you turn the water off when you’re scrubbing your face, scrubbing your teeth.”

Those little conscious efforts, she said, “may not seem like a lot of water, but it adds up if you’re doing this two or three times a day”.

The best choice would be to invest in a low-flow shower head, which can nearly halve the amount of water usage and have improved in quality in recent years, she said.

Turn out the lights and unplug

It seems simple but remembering to turn off the lights when you leave a room, and especially when you leave the house, conserves massive amounts of energy.

According to the EPA, lighting accounts for 12 per cent of residential energy usage. Appliances and electronics comprise 29 per cent, and there’s a simple fix for that – just remember to unplug them when leaving.

People often don’t realize just how much devices suck up energy, Schosid said.

“You know how a laptop has that brick on the charger, or your phone has the brick at the end? Anything like that, that thing is drawing electricity regardless of [whether it] is plugged into the other side of it,” she said.

“Just remembering to unplug those things, if you’re not actively charging, will save a lot of energy over time ... If you have a desktop or laptop you’re using at home, turn it all the way off – don’t just put it on sleep. It’s better for your computer battery life, but it also uses a lot less electricity. If it’s on sleep mode, it’s still using electricity.”

Don’t absent-mindedly watch TV

Many people mindlessly switch on a morning show while preparing for the day – but unless you’re engaged, don’t do it.

“If you’re the kind of person who likes background noise, try putting on some headphones and playing that off your phone rather than turning on the TV just to have the noise in the background,” Schosid said.

“Especially now, TVs tend to be super large and super high definition, and they use a ton of energy.” They’re getting better but phones, even when they’re charging, do “not take as much energy by a long shot,” she said.

Turn off the heat and air conditioning when possible

HVAC systems account for 26 per cent of American electricity consumption. This is harder to practice if you live in a particularly hot or cold climate - particularly in many parts of the country that are being currently blasted by dangerous heatwaves - but householders should lower or shut off systems when they’re not home.

“If the house is going to be completely empty, you can definitely turn any kind of air conditioning off” rather than let it blow through a deserted house all day, Schosid said.

“Another thing that can be really helpful is being really conscious about opening windows in the evening, when it’s cool, and closing those early in the morning, before it gets hot,” she added.

Choose sustainable breakfast options and reusable packaging

Shopping locally for breakfast foods – and packed lunches for later in the day – is another eco-friendly trick, said Schosid. Not only is it healthy, can save money and support the local community, it also reduces energy consumption.

“Shopping at the local farmers market, purchasing the food directly from the person who grew it, is always a good idea,” she said.

“It reduces what’s called the embodied energy in a product – so that’s basically the energy that it took to make and get the product to you. It’s not the type of energy that you’re using right now, but to get this bagel in front of you, there was a certain amount of water that had to go into growing the wheat and a certain amount of water that went into processing that wheat in to flour.”

Once you’ve made responsible food choices, be sure to choose sustainable containers as well.

“Lunch or snacks that I’m bringing to work with me that day, I pack them in Tupperware that I can reuse, rather than a plastic bag or foil or something like that,” said Schosid.

She’s also sure to bring reusable water bottles and mugs, and something as trivial as choosing a color you like will actually prompt more frequent utilization, she added.

“Get one that is a color that you love or a design that you love; what we’ve noticed is, if you really, really find the thing itself attractive or beautiful or you just really like it and how it looks, you’re much more likely to remember to bring it with you,” she said. “It sounds kind of dumb, but my coffee mug is this bright yellow color and I love it.”

Walk, cycle, use public transportation

According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the transport sector accounts for about 30 per cent of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in developed countries, and about 23 per cent total worldwide.

One person and one transport decision at a time, we can all try to reduce unnecessary emissions from driving – particularly as options diversify.

“This often takes a little bit of planning ahead of time, but thinking about, ‘How can I get to work in a way that isn’t driving? Can I carpool with other people that live nearby? Can I find a safe bicycle route? Can I find a bus line or light rail or subway line that takes me close enough to walk?’” is a simple and important step for the average person, said Schosid, who bikes to work every day.

“A lot of major cities now have the scooters or bicycles to rent that are great for what we call last-mile connections,” she said.

“So oftentimes, the bus or a light rail or the train gets you within a mile of where you want to go; sometimes a mile feels like a very long walk – so there are other options ... that you get you that last mile and make you feel that it’s not such a hassle.”