How You Can Be Greener In Your Life

With the way the earth is going, with global warming and plastic affecting our wildlife people start needing to make a change. It can be hard to make a change in your life but even if you make one change to how you live you can help the world to become greener. You may think that you will have no effect on the planet if just you alone go green but you will have an impact and you may be able to motivate someone else to make a change too whether it is a family member or friend.

If you want to go greener and help make a change to your planet but you are unsure on what sort of changes you can make then these few tips should help to give you an understanding of what gancaged you can make and help you get started.

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Start by saving energy

Switching out the light bulbs in your home is a great first step to being greener, you can save energy and lower your bills in the long run. With LED bulbs you can get the same great quality of lighting as a normal bulb but they are more energy efficient. You can also make sure you switch off lights and plug sockets that are not being used again this will save energy and save you money.

Use sustainable energy

The best way to have an impact is to change the way you get your energy and what energy you are using. Installing in solar panels or wind turbines are the best ways to have an impact on the planet, this will give you sustainable energy to power your home and any energy you do not use can be stored in batteries or sent into the power grid which will then pay you for the energy so you will have no energy bill and may even get paid for it. You should also try and get a hybrid vehicle or electric vehicle like the Vauxhall Corsa-e this will reduce the petrol you use and reduce your carbon footprint on the planet. Electric vehicles have come on massively in recent years so you can do many miles on a single charge and there are more charging points around for you to charge up at.

Start recycling

Recycling is a simple change you can make in your home to help have a more greener lifestyle. By simply splitting your recyclables and making sure less and less recyclable material is going to landfill will really help make a change. Landfills are filling more and more of the planet’s surface so having the ability to reduce what goes there while also being able to recycle that and have more things made which in itself will reduce the amount of plastic being manufactured, this will help the wildlife and the planet to start recovering and getting back on track.

If you are looking for a way to become greener, maybe you want to make a big change or just a small one then hopefully, these few tips will help you to understand what you can do to be more eco and help you to get started on your greener journey.

This post is a collaborative effort by St. Louis Dad.

Giving Your Car a Longer Life

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When you buy a car, you are going to be making a long-term investment. After all, you don’t buy cars to change them after a few months; you are going to want them to last. The trouble is, cars can and do break down and stop working, and whilst you may not always know when this is likely to happen, the good news is that there are ways that you can try to limit it happening and to stop it having too significant an impact if it still does. 

To help to ensure that your car lasts for as long as possible, we have put together our main tips for what to do and what to avoid too.  

Look after your battery 

There are many essential things in your car, but the battery is up there near the top. This means that one of the best things that you can do to look after your car is to look after your battery. One of the simplest ways to do this is to make sure that you use your car regularly rather than sit for an extended period. If you leave your vehicle without being started, you should think about using a trickle charger to keep the power flowing and stop your battery from degrading. 

Book regular servicing 

You are not an expert in cars, which means that you will not know what to look out for when it comes to picking up signs of your car stopping working. However, there are experts out there who will be able to check your car over properly. This is why it is essential to book in regular servicing – something that can be cheaper if you go with Volvo service plans. This will pick up any current issues that can be fixed and any future problems before they get too major and can’t be fixed.  

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Drive as smoothly as you can 

Another way that you can look after your car is to make sure that you drive the best that you can. Driving with understanding for your vehicle means that you will reduce how much wear and tear you place on your car’s components and keep things such as your gearbox, wheels, and pedals in the best condition possible.  

Replace the leads and spark plugs 

They may be some of the minor parts of your car, but that doesn’t mean that you should overlook them. If you know how to replace them, then this can be an easy enough job to do regularly; however, if you don’t know, then you should definitely make sure that you take your car to be serviced and you ensure that you point out that you need this as part of the service.

At the same time, you want to check the fluids within your car, topping these up and making sure that they are at the right level is really going to help with not on longevity, but also performance too. 

Consider various extended coverage plans

When it comes to giving your car a longer life, extended warranties, service plans, and guarantees can be an effective way of ensuring that your vehicle is properly cared for. For example, you may want to consider looking into Cars Protection Plus for your vehicle. Ensuring you have all the necessary coverage means that should something go wrong, you’ll be able to rely on the warranty and service plans to get it taken care of efficiently.

If you have spent a considerable amount of money on your car, you will want to make sure that it lasts as long as possible. This means that you need to make sure that you take proper care of your car each and every day. 

This post is a collaborative effort by St. Louis Dad.

How Much Better Can Tech Really Get?

Technology is already pretty amazing. Just think about what a modern smartphone can do compared to twenty years ago. There’s just no comparison. 

But given this incredible progress, many people are asking themselves just how much better things can get. Isn’t there some sort of hard limit imposed by physics? 

Well, yes – technically speaking there is. But we have no real idea where that lies in terms of practical devices. We don’t even fully understand how the universe actually works, with major mysteries remaining at the core of science. So, as far as we can tell, the capacity for technology to progress appears almost limitless. 


Whether it will be practically useful, though, remains another question. Currently, smartphones are in a bit of a lull. For the first few years, they offered consumers tremendous improvements in features and functions. Each new model promised to revolutionize the consumer experience and people lined up outside stores in the middle of the night on launch day to get their hands on products first. 

But those days appear to be behind us. It’s not clear that this year’s iPhone offers people much more than last years. And now commentators are wondering whether progress is stalling. 

It Depends On Where You Look

In technology, nothing ever moves in a straight line for long. Benefits tend to follow an S-shaped curve through time. At the start of any project, technologies are expensive and not particularly good. Just think back to the early mobile phones. They were great hulking things that you needed a sherpa to help you carry around. Then in the early 2000s, the technology started to get good, and we’ve been riding that wave ever since.

In the last few years, however, that pace of progress has begun to taper off, just as it has done in things like washing machines and dishwashers. Like them, smartphones are bumping up against the limits of what’s possible. 

If you take a look at this site, however, you’ll find that it’s a different story in other industries. Drones, for instance, continue to improve at a rapid pace, with new innovations coming on board with each iteration. 


There are also rapid improvements in other areas of note. Machine learning is revolutionizing software in a way that nobody expected. Blockchain is changing the financial world (even though it is still only just getting started). And robots are learning how to be dexterous in a way that nobody thought was possible just ten years ago. 

Technology, therefore, tends to arrive in fits and starts. Things go well for a time, and then they taper off. Then new developments take their place, with some back-compatibility with earlier technologies. Everything builds on everything else, creating a remarkable edifice. 

But What About The Human Element?

Sure, individual technologies are progressing well. But stitching them together seems like a challenge. For instance, we’ve had the technology to do telemedicine for about fifteen years. Yet, it’s only recently that the idea has really begun to take off. 

The same goes for machine learning. We’ve known about its applications in marketing for about ten years, and yet most companies have no plans to use it. 

For consumers, some new technologies are downright undesirable. Google tried to evolve the smartphone into wearable glasses. But, to their surprise, people didn’t want to look like the Borg. The technology exists to do it, but socially-speaking, it’s just not viable. Smartphones are infinitely more acceptable. 

Pushing The Limits

A movement towards a more technological society, therefore, is both cultural and technical. You need the right science and engineering in place to make it happen. But you also need a willing population to allow brands to commercialise solutions. We could quite easily have a well-established smart glasses segment by now if individuals were willing to wear computers on their faces. But it doesn’t look like they are, so that idea is going to have to sit on the back burner for a while. 

Pushing the limits is also going to require rethinking the human body. The vast majority of individuals are not cyborgs, despite arguments to the contrary. But to make our technology more useful, the bandwidth between it and us is going to have to expand. In other words, we need to figure out ways to plug it into our brains. And that’s not going to be easy to do or sell. 

How much better things will get is, therefore, unclear. Perhaps we’ve already harvested all the low-hanging fruit technologically-speaking. Or maybe there’s still a long way to go. We just don’t know. 

This post is a collaborative effort by St. Louis Dad.

Ready To Try Some Wild Camping?

You don’t have to stay in a campsite when going camping. Wild camping involves pitching up a tent in the wilderness. This could be anywhere from a forest to a field. 

Wild camping does mean having to go without luxuries like bathroom facilities and wi-fi. However, there are advantages to this raw form of camping. Firstly, there are no campsite fees to pay. Secondly, it gives you more freedom as to where you stay – it’s a chance to explore the great outdoors more freely and intimately (when it comes to multi-day treks of mountains and national parks, wild camping may be the only form of accommodation). 

Of course, there’s more to wild camping than pitching up a tent in a field. There are certain dangers to be wary of and obstacles to consider. This guide offers a few essential tips for those considering wild camping. 

Bring the right gear

If you’re going wild camping, you’ll need to take certain gear with you that might not need to when staying in a campsite. You won’t have access to water on tap, so consider bringing some bottled water with you. Purification tablets and a water filter could be necessary if you plan to drink from natural water sources (you can find more information on drinking water in the wild here https://artofmanliness.com/articles/how-to-find-water-in-the-wild/). If you’re going on a hike and planning to camp in different locations along the way, make sure to bring a light tent and light clothes. Consider bringing food and a gas stove with you too. Equipment like axes could be useful if you plan to make a fire and need to collect some firewood. This guide offers a few examples of axes that could be worth buying https://knowpreparesurvive.com/gear/axes/best-bushcraft-axes-reviewed/. Don’t forget to bring a lighter and some firelighters.  

Know the local laws

There are some places where it is illegal to pitch up a tent. This includes any kind of private land (unless you’ve got the landowner’s permission) and most urban parks. However, when it comes to national parks and public woodland, you can usually camp overnight anywhere unless there are signs that say otherwise. This site offers more information on where you can legally camp in the US https://www.nps.gov/subjects/camping/where-can-i-camp.htm. Be wary that laws may differ abroad. 

Find the right spot

On top of making sure that your camping spot is legal, you need to make sure that it’s practical. Firstly, make sure that the ground is flat so that it’s comfortable. If there is a small slope, make sure that your head is positioned facing uphill when sleeping. Secondly, you need to make sure that you can put pegs in the ground. If the ground is too wet, they’ll slip out. If it’s too hard, you won’t get them in. Where possible, avoid camping under trees so that your tent doesn’t get covered in sap and to avoid dangers like falling branches. Feeling safe is very important – it’s worth always considering local dangers before pitching up a tent somewhere. Make sure to take advantage of any good views.

This post is a collaborative effort by St. Louis Dad.