Small Lifestyle Changes That Can Make a Big Difference to the Environment

So you want to live a more sustainable life, but don’t know where to start? Here are a few tips to start you on your eco lifestyle journey…

Contents

Consume Consciously

I think this is one of the biggest and easiest ways that individuals can make an impact on the environment and I am excited to see the growth of media attention that this type of lifestyle is receiving. On a daily basis we are indicated with advertisements for the latest phone or fashion item. Our perception of success is tied to our increasing consumption and this constant presume to consume is, in my opinion bad for yourself, but undoubtable bad for the environment. Landfills are over flowing and the constant production and transport of material items creates a huge carbon foot print. Most of these items are designed to break so that you have to buy the newer version and few of these items provide long term value to our lives.

I am not a minimalist. You don’t have to be a minimalist to consume consciously, you just have to make sure that what you are consuming has a purpose and is worth both the cost to you and the cost to the environment. Pick items that last. Pick items that have multiple uses. Pick items that are used. You don’t need to do a big Marie Kondo style cleanse, although a good decluttering is always nice. Getting rid of items is not environmentally friendly, keeping, using and reusing them for a really long time is. Consider your purchases to make sure that you are consuming because you really and truly need something and not just because society is telling you that you need it. I think that by approaching consuming with these values in mind you will be surprised by how little you really need and by how much your wallet and the environment will thank you.

Additional resources: The Minimalist – a website, podcast and film on minimalism

Eat less meat and/or animal products

Ok so I admit going vegan might be a pretty big life change, but meat eating is one of the largest contributing factors to our environmental issues and one of the biggest things an individual can do is to stop eating meat products. Animal agriculture is responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions, more than the combined exhaust from all transportation. For a lot of people (myself included) going vegan is too big a life change to sustain over a substantial period of time, but reducing the amount of meat you eat by either going vegetarian or by eating meat just once a week are more achievable and can greatly reduce your personal carbon footprint pretty substantially. I’ve heard of a lot of different ways that people reduce their meat consumption; some will limit meat to only once a week or month, some will say no to all red meat or some will eat vegetarian at home and only eat meat when eating out. There are many different approaches to reduced meat eating and picking the one that best suits your lifestyle will ensure you can maintain it for the long haul.

Additional resources: Cowspiracy the go to documentary (and site) on animal agriculture

Start switching out non-ecofriendly products

I purposely put this as the last item on this list because I think it is the last lifestyle change that people should make when trying to live a more ecofriendly life. This is because it does require a little bit more effort, but also because a large portion of people get swept away in the aesthetic of an ecolifestyle that the actually eco side of the lifestyle is lost. As part of the increased media attention there is a lot of exposure about to how to live a green life correctly and often that includes matching bamboo utensils or fancy mesh grocery bags. You are much better flowering the ‘consume consciously’ principles outline above then completely replacing your kitchen with bamboo.

In reality your cute reusable bag may not even be better for the environment as it requires significantly more of an upfront carbon footprint to make than the flimsy plastic bag does. Now this does not mean use plastic bags instead, this means use your reusable bag again and again and again. A 2011 study found that a cotton bag needs to be used approximately 131 times and a polypropylene bag needs to be used approximately 11 times to compensate for the higher upfront production costs. I’ve been using the same Lululemon shopping bag for my groceries since I moved out of my parents place and they had been using it even longer before me. Even when I can’t possible use that bag any more will I upgrade, and I will likely just upgrade to another bag that my parents have lying around. Repurposing or reusing existing items that you already own will always be greener then buying new more ecofriendly items.

When you have gotten all conceivable use out of a product then it is time to replace it with a more ecofriendly product. This process will take a while, but here are a few things that I found exceptionally easy to switch out for more ecofriendly versions once their predecessors were no longer useable.

Toothpaste – This is super easy to make at home, however I will warn you it does take a little bit to adjust to it because it more corrosive then regular tooth paste (which many dentist say is good because with regular toothpaste you generally start on the same side so you have 1 clear side and 1 dirty side).
Tooth brush – bamboo tooth brushes all the way! These are super easy to find
Shampoo bar – I started using these because their solid form meant I could bring it in carryon bags, but I love them and they are good for the environment. I LOVE Lush’s shampoo bars
Beeswax food wrapping – Super easy replacement for Ziplocs, saran wrap and wax paper.

A few things that you should try to avoid when planning your replacement product purchases are products that contain Palm Oil(hugely destructive to rainforests), non-organic cotton (uses excessive amount of water and is sprayed with damaging chemicals) and of course plastics which take 1000s of years to biodegrade.

Additional Points

I want to stress that moving to a more ecofriendly lifestyle is a process, do not go strip your closet down to 5 items today, turn vegan tomorrow or go out a buy a huge amount of ecofriendly products next week. Start small, but continuously improve. It is much more important to make sure that this lifestyle is sustainable for you then to try to dramatically change and give up in a few weeks. Stop purchasing fast fashion or one time use products today, start eating meat only once a week or making your own tooth paste.

I also want to mention that I believe part of living an ecofriendly lifestyle is created by what you do outside of these items. The fact is that the majority of climate changed is caused by corporations and governments and large scale improvements must include action by them. Advocacy, donations and petitioning should be a part of what is considered a green lifestyle, it may not be as sexy, but it is even more important (maybe this will be its own post one day!).