People have different reasons to go green. It may be for the good of the next generation, their own consciousness, or to save money. Motivation aside, living a more eco-friendly lifestyle reams multiple benefits and is not as intimidating as it seems. There are hundreds of smaller steps you can take to live an environmentally conscious lifestyle. We’re sharing five of our favorite ways to help give you a headstart with your eco-friendly lifestyle.
Avoid single-Use plastic
It is estimated that each year, 8 million metric tons of plastics end up in our oceans. This means we are on-trend to have more plastic than fish in our oceans by 2050. Although these statistics are frightening, there are easy ways for you to help our plastic problem.
- Stop using plastic straws. There are other options such as stainless steel straws.
- Reusable bags. You can buy a reusable bag for less than a dollar. Tip: Leave a couple of extra bags in your car so if you forget them in your house, you’ll always have a spare!
- Reusable water bottles and water filters. If you drink 8, 8-ounce glasses of water a day (for those of you that actually do this, great job), times 365 days a year that is 2920 glasses in one year. Most plastic water bottles hold 16-ounces of water. So, that’s about 1460 plastic water bottles a year!
Reduce Food waste
An estimated ⅓ of the world’s food is wasted! When that food ends up in the garbage, all the resources it took to create that food, are wasted. It seems easier to buy food in large portions, but you could potentially be losing money by throwing away most of the food you purchase anyways. Here are a couple of tips you can use the next time to shop eco-friendly when you go to the grocery store.
- Plan, plan, plan! Don’t just show up to the store without knowing what’s in your own cabinets. You can make a list and plan your meals out.
- Store your food correctly. Your freezer should be your best friend. It’s one of the easiest ways to preserve your food.
- Buy foods that can be used for multiple meals. Fruits and vegetables are easy to integrate into different meals.
Repair, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
The concept of recycling has probably been embedded into everyone’s eco-friendly lifestyle already, but recycling is more than just plastic bottles. Some other ways and things you can recycle are
- Fixing things that are broken, don’t throw it away! We’re so quick to throw items away and buy new ones, without even trying to fix the original item first.
- If you can’t fix it, donate it. There are countless ways to donate your old goods to people that need them or businesses that can recycle the parts.
- Knowing what can and cannot be recycled. Paper, glass, plastic, and used electronics are just some of the materials that you can recycle.
Eco-friendly transportation
We’re pretty much all guilty of wasting trips in the car for either little or no reason. Thinking about the transportation you take and the impact it has on the environment plays a huge role in being environmentally conscious. Here are some transportation ideas you can implement in your everyday life.
- Walk more. If your destination is walking distance, opt for the walk instead.
- Carpool or rideshare. With all of our rideshare apps nowadays, it’s easier than ever to carpool.
- Travel closer to home if possible. We all want to take that long-haul trip around the world, but flying releases a lot of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Explore all the interesting places near your home town!
- Buy an EV or plugin hybrid. You will save on gas and you may even be able to get a special lower EV rate plan from your utility company.
Eco-friendly home improvements
There are changes you can make to make your home more efficient. As always with change, comes adapting, but there are changes you can make that shouldn’t affect your daily life in a drastic way.
- Install LED light bulbs. This is an easy one and can potentially help you lower your electricity bill and have to change the bulbs less frequently.
- Use reusable dishcloths. Paper towels are easy to grab and just as easy to waste.
- Unplug! Even when your appliances are turned off, they are pulling power.
- This isn’t a small adjustment, but go solar! Solar can reduce air pollution, cut water consumption, and produce the amount of energy it took to make them in just 05. to 1.4 years.
Remember, there is no one right way to be environmentally conscious and being aware of the issues at hand is half the battle. Hopefully, these tips and tricks will help you if you’re on a mission to start living a more eco-friendly lifestyle.