"I will walk in balance with Grandmother Earth and in harmony with all her children." We must treat this part of the SunDance Vow as our collective global environmental peace agenda if we want to see our beloved home- our earth, survive a few more decades. Balance and harmony have become most critical in today''s day and age when seasonal cycles stand disturbed and the anger and wrath of the earth has become a routine occurrence. Hence, we need to get more attentive about what we are snatching away and what we are giving in return.

By incorporating the green habits of reducing, reusing and recycling alone, we can drastically reduce our environment footprint in an economically efficient way. To REDUCE is to make less waste in the first place and also eliminate wastage. Hence, use only as much of everything you need, in turn conserving our resources. For instance, if you don''t need to maintain your mobile phone bills or electricity bills in physical form, opt for the email version only. Don''t unnecessarily print documents. Reduce your consumption of electrical energy simply by unplugging electronics when they are not in use and by utilizing natural light when you can. Reduce consumerism by avoiding impulse shopping and hording stuff which you will never use. Encourage sharing and careful usage of products. Also, shopping smart and with a foresight helps in reducing wastage. For instance, buy a multipurpose household cleaner, instead of buying many different ones for each cleaning role; Buy products with little packaging so that less packaging ends up in your rubbish bin; For those items that are used daily in your house, buy big packs of them instead of small packs so that less packaging waste is created. These small measures will save you money as well as reduce waste.

REUSING and RECYCLING play equally important roles in helping you lead an eco-friendly life. Reusing an object means extending the ''life'' or repurposing an object rather than simply throwing it away as garbage. The best thing to do is to buy with reusing strategy on your mind. Buy food, drinks, jams and pickles etc. in bottles instead of cans and opt for rechargeable batteries instead of one time use ones. Items such as these create very little waste, as they don''t have to be thrown away after one time use.
Buy non-toxic products whenever possible. Many toxic products such as motor oil and pesticides cannot be reused, so take care to dispose them of appropriately, if you must buy them. Though, it''s a good idea to think of safer alternatives to hazardous products. For example, lemon juice, baking soda and vinegar can be used to make your own effective household cleaners and olive oil with lemon juice is a good alternative to furniture polish. Apart from that, reuse whatever you can: newspaper, old clothes, linen, old text books and so on. For example, you can donate old clothes routinely to orphanages and old age homes and give away your kids'' old text books to the needy kids. Your aim should be to try and land very little into the trash can.

Then there are some things that MUST be discarded. Ponder if these can be recycled. Recycling helps in waste management and lessens the pollution that may result from waste disposal. Glass, plastic, wood, newspapers, aluminium cans, fabric, used motor oil and batteries can be easily recycled. For example, old wood can be used for making small garden seats or eco-friendly objects such as bird tables or as firewood. In fact in most localities, there are vendors who will collect these products from your homes to send it to recycle counters. So, it''s a good idea to give it to them if you don''t have do-it-at-home recycling ideas for these goods. For recycling motor products such as break fluid, oils and tyres, take them to your local servicing or fuel station. By recycling these products instead of throwing them away, you will be contributing actively towards reducing hazardous waste, thus safeguarding your planet for the coming generations.
So, get innovative and go green... by reducing, reusing and recycling!