In 1980s, scientists concluded that climate change was on its way (Starke, 2009).

Since then, environmental pollution has become one of the most controversial global issues in the modern world. It has been proved that natural factors are not the only causes of pollution, and human activities also play a major role. Therefore, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (1995) stated that the balance of evidence now suggests that there is a discernable human influence on the global climate. It is crucial for humans to take actions to reduce the heavy pressure placed on planet Earth for the long-term benefit of the future generations. Citizens can efficiently contribute to pollution reduction attempt just by making simple changes in their daily life. This essay will discuss three main ways by which a person can change his/her lifestyles to help reduce environmental pollution. These are changing commuting habits and consuming behaviors, recycling and reusing. First of all, changing to a more environmental-friendly commuting habit can help to reduce pollution. In most part of the world today, a majority of people use cars to travel to work. There were about 625 million cars globally in 2009 (Morgan, 2009). Traveling by car every day is undeniably convenient, but the rate of pollution caused by cars is alarming. Cars and other types of motor vehicles account for three-fourths of transport related carbon dioxide emissions (Myers and Kent, 2004). In many places, cars lead to urban smog, acid rain, air pollution, and affect humans health severely. To help solve this problem, governments and environmentalists have encouraged people to switch to using more ecofriendly means of transport, such as traveling by public transportation instead of private vehicles, and this has proved to be efficient. For example, in Curitiba city in southern Brazil, two-thirds of all trips in the city are made by buses. This has successfully made this city the one with cleanest urban air in the whole country (ibid., 2004). In addition, for short distance traveling, it is more environmental-friendly and economical to ride a bike or walk than to drive a car. Moreover, people can invest in clean vehicles such as hybrid, twin-fuel, and fuel cell cars. These types of cars use alternative source of energy to substitute gasoline and diesel or at least reduce their consumption. With these changes, traveling will emit less greenhouse gases and this will lessen the exploitation of fossil fuel.

Secondly, altering our consuming behaviors, which are shopping and the use of energy and water, will be effective in reducing environmental pollution. There are several possible alternations for our shopping routine, including reducing the use of plastic bags, and buying environmentally friendly products. The number of plastic bags used worldwide is estimated to be between 500 billion to 1 trillion each year (Lowy, 2004). Yet there has been great concern about the harmful effect of the exceed use of these bags on the environment and many countries are encouraging people to refrain from consuming plastic bags. By simply forming a habit of not using free plastic bags offered by stores and bringing canvas ones for shopping, every shopper can help to cut down the number of plastic bags used each year significantly. In addition, buying environmental friendly goods such as organic products can be contributive to the effort of saving the environment. This is because the manufacture of these products uses around 30% less energy and reduces the amount of carbon dioxide discharged per acre of agriculture by about 3,667 pounds compared to non-organic ones (Bates and Hemenway, 2010), which will be helpful in confronting with global warming.

On

the

other

hand,

it

is

calculated

that

residential

energy

consumption accounts for 20% of carbon emissions and energy use (Morgan, 2009). Meanwhile, as the worlds population grew by three times in the twentieth century, the use of water has become six fold (World Water Council, 2010). With the current rate of population expansion, the rising demand for energy and water can cause serious effects on the environment. Therefore, using electricity, heating and water economically will not only decrease household bills but also efficiently help save the worlds resources. Several simple methods include using fluorescent light bulbs instead of incandescent ones, turning down home thermostats, fixing water leakage in the house, and investing in alternative power (e.g. applying solar panels on house roofs for energy). One successful story of this effort in the UK is the Beddington Zero Energy Development (BedZED) in London. This is the largest sustainable housing development especially designed to help residents acquire their fair share of the worlds resources, for example, using only renewable sources of energy or

collecting and reusing rainwater. BedZED has been able to reduce water, space heating needs and electricity consumption compared to UKs average by 33%, 90% and 33% respectively (BioRegional.com). The use of such sustainable structures as BedZED and the effort to cut down energy and water consumption will result in the reduction of fossil fuels burning, help save natural resources and lessen environmental pollution effectively. Finally, recycling and reusing have also become common in the society as a method of reducing environment pollution. Plastic items, paper, glasses, aluminum, etc are objects with recyclable materials and are usually collected and sent to recycling factories. For instance, in OECD (Organization for Economics Cooperation and Development) nations in the 1980s, there were about 22% to 32% of waste glasses recycled (Middleton, 1995). Curbside collection of household waste paper, plastic containers, cans, etc has also become popular in many countries. In 1994, this type of collection approached approximately 40% of U.S population. Furthermore, newspaper, office paper, plastic bottles, glasses, tires, etc can sometimes be reused effectively for various home purposes. The recycling and reusing of household materials will help diminish resources consumption as well as put less strain on waste management. Moreover, people can save a fraction of money for buying new items. In conclusion, by changing our daily life to a more sustainable style, citizens can contribute positively to the effort of reducing environmental pollution. Such easy changes are acquiring more environmental-friendly commuting and consuming habits, recycling and reusing. In the Worldwatch Institutes 2010 environmental report, it is asserted that human activity is putting such strain on the natural functions of the Earth that the ability of the Planets ecosystems to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted (Assadourian, 2010:4). This statement again emphasizes the emergent need for human action. By making these changes, humans are consuming less of the Earths resources, leaving less ecological footprint and protecting the planet more actively.