We’ve been destroying our natural soil by growing non-organic cotton, we’ve been overproducing plastic and destroying our planet for quite some time now. The ozone layer is depleting, global warming is escalating and climate change is real. Have you ever wondered what you, as an individual, can do to make things at least a little bit better? Sustainable living is an attempt to reduce an individual’s carbon footprint or environmental impact by being eco-friendly and minding energy consumption. If you have never tried practicing a sustainable lifestyle, here are a few essentials that will show you what changes you can implement in your daily life to help protect the environment.
Buy ethically and sustainably made clothes
Photo by Ellieelien on Unsplash
What happens to our clothes after the season ends? We store them and eventually throw them away next year. Fast-fashion labels are opting for manufacturing inexpensive, trendy clothes that are worn only a few times before we get rid of them. These practices rely on cheap labor in developing countries, which means that some people work in inhumane conditions. Besides that, the fashion industry contributes to pollution more than you probably thought. These labels use low-quality polyester and non-organic cotton, so they tear apart rather easily and end up in the garbage. They also use toxic dyes to color their fabric and toxic chemicals to tan their leather. Buying ethical and sustainable clothes means that you’ll have to pay more for those pieces but you’ll also participate in keeping the environment safe and they will last much longer than those from the fast-fashion labels!
Eliminate single-use products and find alternatives
Single-use products have been governing our lifestyles for a long time now, and they’re mostly made out of plastic. We take plastic bags wherever we buy something, we use plastic straws, paper and plastic cups in cafés, and we wrap everything in plastic, including our food. At this rate, we’ll be swimming in plastic soon and it’s up to you to reduce its use and production. There are a lot of alternatives for single-use plastic like wood, bamboo or corn starch. Consider buying a few bamboo straws, so you don’t have to use at least two plastic ones in cafés every time you go for drinks. You can also find bamboo toothbrushes to replace your boring plastic ones. Get a few cotton shopping bags and say goodbye to both paper and plastic bags.
Mind your diet
When we shop for food, we make our decisions based mostly on the price and taste and not on sustainability. We should also pay attention to how that food is packaged, distributed and produced. An important thing to note down here is that a sustainable lifestyle doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy life. We can accustom our diet to the policies of a sustainable lifestyle because there are also sustainable wines we can enjoy with our friends, like this outstanding natural wine. It’s organic and it goes through the natural fermentation process! And that’s what sustainable food is all about. No pesticides, chemicals, and no growth supplements.
Use up what you already have
A lot of things we buy end up in the garbage as soon as we think that we can’t use them anymore, or when they start taking up too much space at home. That certainly solves our problem temporarily, until we buy new things which will end up in the same place. That waste has to go somewhere and we all know that our planet can’t store all of that for an unlimited amount of time. That’s why you should use your things as much as you can before buying new ones. Use your old shirts to replace wiping cloths and single-use paper wipes. Reuse glass jars for food preservation, desk organizers or bathroom containers. Or use them as drinking glasses! One more example – use your plastic containers to make self-watering seed pots or a cell charging station. Make woven baskets out of newspapers and magazines or use them as wrapping paper and so much more. The possibilities are limitless, you just have to try!
Sustainable lifestyle trends are on the rise now due to climate change and pollution awareness and we should all try to implement some of them to help save the planet. Next time you want to buy or throw away something, think a little bit if you could maybe use it for some other purpose, or if you really need that new one.
