These habits can reduce your energy consumption, save
money and natural resources, maintain the vibrancy of your clothes, and eliminate 860 lbs. of CO2 emissions a year.
Showering with cool water is actually incredibly beneficial
for your skin, and it can boost your immune system and metabolism!
Cutting down on time we spend running a bath, washing the car, or watering a lawn can conserve much water as well.
With droughts, wildfires, and shortage of water in the world, consider collecting rain water in a water storage tank. This type of container can store water for irrigation, farming, fire suppression, food
preparation, and many other uses.
When we pause to consider that water is essential in sustaining life for all living creatures on our planet, we may foster a deeper sense of reverence
and responsibility towards this finite natural resource.
Reduce or Eliminate Single-Use Products
Single-use products, including plastic shopping bags, plastic
water bottles, and plastic take-out/take-away containers pollutes the
planet. Bring your own reusable cloth grocery bags for shopping, non-plastic reusable water bottle for drinking water on the go, and reusable containers for meals to go.
At home, wash out and keep glass jars from food or use glass
containers that can be washed and reused to store leftovers.
If a single-use product is your only option, look for items
that are made from recycled materials.
When you order from the internet, make sure the products and company you place the order with uses environmentally friendly packaging and shipping materials, and is working to be net zero.
Shop Smart and Track Spending
Be mindful about your belongings. Before you buy anything
new, try to reinvent, repair, and renovate things you already own.
Instead of tossing out old clothes,
electronics, and household items, ask yourself whether it can be mended,
altered, or cleaned up.
Sell things that crowd your closets, cabinets, and dresser drawers to a secondhand shop, swap with a friend, or donate items that no longer fit you to a local charity.
Many household items including plastic storage containers or plastic bottles contain harmful elements. Once they are dumped into a landfill, forever chemicals can leach into the soil or ground water or even end up in our reservoirs or the ocean.
Finding a second home for unwanted items is a good way to avoid creating garbage. It also curtails production of new products, and reduces toxic emissions caused
when garbage rots or fossil fuels are burned.
When you do need to purchase a tech product or service, try to refurbish one or support companies that have reached their goal of carbon neutrality or have taken steps to achieve it. For example, read about top carbon
neutral companies in the digital space.
Live with Less and Do Your Part to Help Earth Survive
Some of the sustainable moves I suggest you adopt for the New Year may not come as second nature to you.
See them for what they truly are. Things are not a reflection of your
personality or achievements. They are simply objects that you have chosen to
keep in your life.
If you resist the urge to buy stuff on impulse, it encourages you to live within your means, as well as reduce the demand for new products and resources required
to produce them.
Living simply means you have less clutter, can locate and see what you have with appreciation, and live more harmoniously with our changing environment.
Releasing objects so others may have them, conserves natural resources, reduces waste, and promotes sustainable consumption habits.
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Make Sustainability a Family Goal |
Focus on experiences over material possessions. Spend time with loved ones and/or travel to new places by using
eco-friendly modes of transportation whenever possible.
No matter how we view it, living more sustainably needs to be the new normal. Each one of us will decide if and how we do that. Please choose wisely. Our survival depends on it.
Do you think living more
sustainably will save money as well as be eco-friendly? Please comment below.
What creative ideas do you
have for living greener in the coming years? Please share them in the comments section below.
I read every comment I receive. Just
remember to put no links in your comment, as it won't be published that way.
I post on the 1st and 15th of each month.
Please add www.colors4health.com to your online reading list, as you'll get wellness
and color tips at the place where a healthy lifestyle and colors
intersect.
See my Facebook page, Pinterest location, and Website too and give me some social love.
Wishing you health, happiness, and harmony in the coming years. Let's put more of our energy into sustaining a peaceful, eco-friendly planet in the New Year.
If I don’t need it or it is not a gift for someone, I don’t buy it. Things mean nothing unless they are gifts. I eat a mostly vegan diet (an occasional egg or dairy product) and I cook mostly from scratch. I use what things came in for my garbage. (Like a produce or bread bag or my oat milk carton.) I compost and recycle so there’s not much. Even so, plastic is a real problem. So much plastic waste.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you're doing a lot, and hope I gave you a few new ideas. Please let me know if you try anything else out. Happy Holidays and be well.
DeleteNancy- these are some great ideas! I find that I try to be sustainable but we travel a lot and that always throws a glitch in our plans. Every time I go away for 2 weeks, It takes me a week to get back on track. I try to eat healthy, give away things I have too much of or no longer can use.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your comment and visit. Perhaps you'd consider taking public transportation on an upcoming trip: buses, trolleybuses, trams (or light rail) and passenger trains, rapid transit (metro/subway/underground, etc.), and/or ferries. In any event each bit counts. Happy New Year!
DeleteNancy, I did not realize it was anonymous. It's Judee from Gluten Free A-Z Blog
DeleteGlad you noticed that. Perhaps it's because you didn't sign into gmail or your Google account and/or some toggle in the comments section is clicked on or off. Please type your name after your comment and then publish. That's one way of overriding it. Wishing you a beautiful New Year and be well!
DeleteThis is an excellent post, Nancy, with so many excellent, really do-able ideas to help us all live more sustainably. Thank you for being a part of the Hearth and Soul Community. I'll be featuring this post at the January edition of the Hearth and Soul Link Party which goes live tomorrow (Sunday 7th).
ReplyDeleteWonderful.
DeleteApologies if this comment shows up twice, Nancy - it didn't look like it posted first time.This is an excellent post, full of so many do-able ideas to help us all live more sustainably. Thank you for being a part of the Hearth and Soul Community. I'll be featuring this post at the January edition of the Hearth and Soul Link Party which goes live tomorrow (Sunday 7th).
ReplyDeleteLove participating in the Hearth and Soul Community and attending the Hearth and Soul Link Party. I'm delighted and honored my post is a feature this month. Wishing you and your readers the best New Year ever. Thanks so much for hosting the party and be well.
DeleteI've always eaten lots of fruits and veggies, but I more fervently follow the Mediterranean Diet now. I have my own garden and nothing ever goes to waste. If I have too many veggies I juice them and the pulp goes into the compost which eventually goes back into the earth.
ReplyDeleteWonderful to learn that you are making such good use of your garden to live more sustainably by choosing not to waste food. I wrote a post about the subject titled "Food Waste Not Want Not" Checklist. I'd love it if you would look at the search bar and check it out. Have a great day.
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