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Amy Mallis a senior insurance analyst for the NRDC . This Op - Ed was adapted from one that first appeared on the NRDC blogSwitchboard . Mall give this clause toLiveScience’sExpert Voices : Op - Ed & Insights .
There ’s something on which the oil and petrol manufacture and I agree : there is a heap more to oil color and gas than petrol , electricity and plate oestrus . According to the American Petroleum Institute , " K of products — from your toothpaste to your iPod , your cellphone to your computer , and your vitamins to vegetables " contain element derived from oil and gas . But as a senior insurance psychoanalyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council spend the majority of my metre agitate to protect public health and the environment from the import of fracking , I know it does n’t have to be this way . And in my personal living , I ’ve decided to do what I can to select products costless of fossil fuel as much as potential .
Credit: Dreamstime
When most citizenry think of oil color and gas , they think of the gasoline in railway car and the heat and power in habitation , and multitude know how to reduce the use of these fuel . I do n’t drive my car much , but I recently sold my Subaru and bought a 2006 Prius — doubling my averagegas mileageovernight . And people can reduce natural gas use through such common efforts as turning off luminosity when they ’re not needed , buying Energy Star appliances and insulating homes .
But while people do n’t always have a choice about whether or not to use petroleum in elevator car or born gas to power homes , Americans are able to boil down their part to petroleum and gas development — and therefore reduce the motivation forfracking and its potential to damagelocal environments — by make informed consumer choice in their daily lives .
Indeed , there are many choices people can make on a even cornerstone to reduce their " fracking footmark " and choose petroleum - destitute alternatives when they shop for clothes , family goodness , personal care product and more . By purchasing few petro - products , Americans will let down demand and reduce the pressure to frack more in the United States and around the globe .
Credit: Dreamstime
Here are just a few of the ways I have chosen to reduce my own " fracking footprint " :
Plastic packaging
I strive to minimize my purchase of virgin charge plate , which is made from derivatives of raw flatulence or petroleum . Some model from my last visit to the foodstuff store : I bought pasta in a cardboard box seat , not non - recyclable shaping wrapper . I used reusable producebags , not a fresh shaping bag every time . And I grease one’s palms dog quarter bag andtrash bagsmade from non - petro material , and toilet paper wrapped in recycled and recyclable paper alternatively of plastic . In 2011 , Americans threw out 29 million tons of plastic , while 2.65 million slews were recycled — meaning the vast majority of those petro - products were just thrown into the trash , potentially requiring morefrackingto replace them .
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synthetical fertilizers and other agricultural chemicals
I buy organic food as much as possible for several reasonableness , but one of import reason is organic farmers are mostly prohibited from using petro - product , let in syntheticfertilizers , pesticides and weedkillers ( except for a few , rare exceptions ) . Organic farmers do expend fertilizers and pesticides , but they are not made from petro - ware . And for food storage , I usecontainers made from recycled plasticor drinking glass .
Personal concern products
seem around any chemist’s ledge and you will see hundreds of production containing petrochemicals , packaged in petro - based plastic . or else , I examine to bribe intersection made without any petro - chemical , packaged in recyclable promotional material . There are a spate of these products for cut-rate sale . Instead of toothpaste made with petro - chemicals , I ’ve been buying products like tooth powder in a recyclable bottleful ( also great for traveling ! ) , and dental floss packaged in newspaper . There are also make - up and hair products that are petro - free . If I have to purchase product in plastic packaging , I look for products with recyclable packaging ( in most communities , not all charge plate products are recyclable ) , and promotion made with recycled - content materials , when useable .
Synthetic material and textiles
A lot of textiles — polyester , acrylic , nylon — are petro - based . I seek to purchase organic cotton products as much as potential , and I am a huge rooter of Patagonia product . They utilize organic cotton wool and , when it comes to synthetical clothing , they have pledge to " build utile things that last , to repair what break and recycle what comes to the end of its useful life . " I have jacket from them made with recycled polyester and reuse fill . I also buy used clothing in consignment and penny-pinching store . I recently buy somecarpeting made from recycled contentthat can be recycled .
Cleaning products
The cleaning gangway is another aisle of the grocery entrepot make full with petro - packaging and petrochemicals . As an choice , I make my own cleaning products from non - petro product , like vinegar and baking soda , use bottles made from recycled charge card content , and reuse those container over and over again .
In today ’s world , it ’s unrealistic to think Americans will do away with all non - energy petro - product anytime soon . And some of the alternatives also present vexation that need to be addressed . But , we can easily use our wallets and our consumer power to choose non - petro products and support companies and farmer who desire to cut their own environmental footprint and protect clean atmosphere and clean water system . There are many more way , but these were a few examples .
This Op - Ed was adapt from " Shopping to slenderize my fracking footprint " on the NRDC blogSwitchboard . The survey expressed are those of the author and do not needfully reflect the views of the publisher . This version of the clause was in the beginning publish onLiveScience .
