5 Easy Ways to Live a Sustainable Lifestyle
To some, living a more sustainable lifestyle may sound restrictive, dull, or impossible. Some may believe in order to live sustainably, you need to transform your life completely. Sure, that’s an option, but sustainable lifestyles are born through education followed by little habits. Those little habits, multiplied by hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people, equally large and significant change.
Sustainable habits can be made in a variety of ways, but we have put together a list of five tips to get you started. These tips are guaranteed to lessen your carbon footprint, are easy to implement, and will make you feel great about the impact you’re having.
Ditch the Single-Use Plastics
Plastic is not fantastic. Limiting your consumption of plastic items, but especially single-use plastics is a simple yet effective way to live sustainably. Plastics are derived from fossil fuel–based chemicals (petrochemicals) and are meant to be disposed of right after use—often, in mere minutes. Single-use plastics are most commonly used for packaging and service ware, such as bottles, wrappers, straws, etc.
We have become unconsciously addicted to their convenience and cheap price points. However, the environmental cost is astronomical. Wildlife and humans are both negatively affected by plastics chemicals, which have been known to be disruptive to the endocrine system, and have been linked to causing infertility.
To combat this crisis, say no to takeaway packaging, plastic-covered snacks, wrappers, straws, and other wasteful one-time plastic items. It might be frustrating at first, and you will need to remind yourself constantly. Eventually, though, you will get used to it, and your positive impact will be obvious.
2. Shop Second Hand
Shopping at discount stores, thrift stores, or even your local garage sale is an excellent way to lower your environmental impact. This is especially true for items like clothing, electronics, appliances, and furniture. These are all items that we use daily and buy often, which means they carry a large environmental impact due to the energy and resources needed to produce them.
Energy, fuel, water, land, minerals, metals, and other materials and resources are all needed to produce our favorite items. To extend the life cycle of these items and honor the resources needed to produce them (while simultaneously lowering the demand for new products) trading, buying, and selling in a second-hand way is a great sustainable option.
3. Limit Your Waste
The United States is the most wasteful nation in the world. the United States accounts for only about 4 percent of the world’s population yet generates 12 percent of the planet’s municipal solid waste.
In our disposable society, we don’t think about the impact of what we throw away. Waste is either incinerated, causing emissions and air pollution, sent to landfills to decompose and emit greenhouse gases, and much less often recycled. The most sustainable item is the one that is never wasted.
Limit your food waste by starting a compost, and aim to fix things when they break before going out and buying a new one.
4. Grow Your Own Food
Producing food for large populations requires large amounts of energy, water, and land. Industrial agriculture has made our lives easier but has caused detrimental effects on the environment. This includes soil erosion, water pollution, toxicity poisoning, drought, animal abuse, greenhouse gas emissions, and more.
Do your best with the space and resources you have to grow some of your own food. This limits the negative effects stated above, will save you money, and cuts down incredibly on your carbon footprint. Start with some herbs in your windowsill, then slowly move to a garden space!
5. Use Eco-Browsers
Eco-Browsers are browser extensions backed behind environmental causes. We use the internet every day. Your searches could be helping to plant trees! Browsers like Ecosia have already planted over 122 million trees and are climbing quickly.
Just search like you would in Google, and your searches will help to reforest areas in over 21 places around the world.
