You might be sick of hearing this, but that doesn’t take away from the truth that human beings are responsible for making 1 million species face extinction through their activities.
Are you thinking that it isn’t your responsibility? Or that you as one individual (or family) cannot make much difference? You are wrong.
Every person, if they started living a sustainable lifestyle, could change the face of this planet. And to know more about your responsibility towards the planet you should check out the novel at yanvanathemessage.com which is not like the most other fictional ones that are written from man’s point of view, but it is written from the point of view of all other occupants of the planet.
So, we have created this guide with the 10 most important tips to live a lifestyle that’s eco-friendly and green if you need some eco-friendly products you can check out Ecoy. Keep reading!
1. Go Plant-Based
Most of the world is now consuming a heavily meat-based diet, particularly beef, and pork. This is causing a bunch of ramifications in terms of deforestation of the Amazon and greenhouse gas emission increase.
The solution to all this is a plant-based diet, which can reduce your carbon footprint by 73%. This would offer a huge impact on the planet if a majority of the population adopted a plant-based diet.
If you are uncomfortable going completely plant-based, the easier solution is to switch to Meatless Mondays or Vegan Fridays. Have certain days of the week where you avoid meat.
2. Compost Your Food Waste
Does your city have a composting program? Do they accept food scraps and wastes to create compost that can be used by everyone?
Some cities in the world, like Toronto, have such programs and they have reduced the amount of garbage going into landfills by 182,000 tonnes every year.
If you don’t have a local program to contribute to, there are many self-composting bins that you can purchase to start composting your food waste today. It’s easy to do and it creates natural manure for your garden!
3. Grow Your Own Food
Many people have jumped on to the ‘backyard gardening‘ trend. Growing your own food great for the environment, because it reduces the carbon footprint of shipping your food from distant countries.
But it’s also great for your health because it means that you can pick your vegetables and fruits when they are ripe and perfectly fresh.
They don’t sit in warehouses or storage areas for days or weeks before they come to you. You get to eat food that is filled with vitamins, and other nutrients.
Your health will improve, your wallet will be happy and Mother Earth will thank you for your efforts.
4. Buy Local, Shop Local
The same idea of reducing your carbon footprint applies here. A lot of the products you are probably using in your household came from distant countries, like China, or Japan.
5. Avoid the Use of Plastics
As much as possible, avoid the use of single-use plastics in your household and life. This could mean you need to start carrying eco-friendly bamboo utensils with you that is great for wet hair, including a stainless steel straw and a water bottle.
It might seem like a pain, to begin with, but when you imagine all the thousands of plastic straws, containers, and bottles you have saved from going into the ocean, it feels like a choice well made.
6. Support Green Companies
There are many companies out there that are doing magnificent things to protect and rejuvenate the environment. Carbon capture and utilization technology is a big one to follow nowadays.
You can read more here to see what it’s all about and how it helps companies capture the carbon released by greenhouse emissions to do good for the Earth.
7. Reduce Recycle Reuse
Whenever you can, try to follow the 3 R’s of a sustainable lifestyle – reduce, recycle, and reuse.
It might seem like a simplistic way of living a green lifestyle, but its effects can add up pretty fast. Especially if everyone jumps on the bandwagon.
If you have a recycling program in place in your city, make sure you steadfastly adhere to its rules. And try to reuse items several times, before throwing them out.
Another one to add to the 3 R’s, is Repair. Before throwing out a broken item, consider if you can get it repaired.
8. Avoid Fast Fashion
Fast fashion is where companies mass-produce catwalk fashions at ridiculously low prices for consumers by using cheap (almost slave) labor in poorer countries, and with terrible non-sustainable means.
Avoid, as much as possible, fast fashion in your fashion choices. Companies like Zara, H&M, and more have been under scrutiny recently for destroying the planet by producing fast fashion.
9. Make Eco-Friendly Swaps
Instead of using plastic or styrofoam containers to store your food, choose reusable plastic or glass containers. Carry a stainless steel straw and mason jar with you to grab your daily smoothie.
Use a reusable mug for your daily coffee run. And more. There are hundreds of swaps you can make monthly to reduce your carbon footprint.
Another one would be to use green energy in your home, by installing solar panels.
10. Reduce Your Water Consumption
This point is speaking about reducing water consumption not only in your daily showers and cooking habits but also in the items you purchase.
Every item you purchase uses a certain amount of water to produce.
For example, did you know that organic cotton needs 30 times more water than conventional cotton to produce? It’s awareness of these numbers that will induce you to make better environmental choices in the future.
A Sustainable Lifestyle Can Be Created Over Time
Don’t fear that you have to start living a sustainable lifestyle right away or the planet is doomed.
You can start living an eco-friendly lifestyle now, by incorporating one or two of the tips above and then slowly add more changes into your life. This way you will eventually become the paragon of green and clean living that everyone should be moving towards.
Enjoyed this article? Check out the other lifestyle-related articles on our website and keep learning.
