Eco-friendly living and a sustainable lifestyle aren’t just buzzwords that are popular nowadays because they’re “cool.” They’re actual lifestyles that many people follow because of the benefits it brings to the environment- and the people. In this article, we’re going to take a look at what sustainable living is and how you can start it.
What Does It Mean to Live a Sustainable Life?
To live sustainably, you must reduce the number of resources you consume to protect it. You can reduce energy usage, use organic goods and items, and even adopt an eco-friendly diet are all options, but there’s more to it than that. If you want to live a sustainable lifestyle, you should aim to affect the environment as little as possible while also replenishing the resources you’ve used. And that’s the key, refilling or replacing the resources you’ve consumed to “give back” to the world.
Why Living a Sustainable Life Is Important
We are constantly producing resources, using energy, and producing garbage at unsustainable levels. This causes environmental issues like pollution and climate change, which are destructive to the environment, wildlife, and people.
Small lifestyle modifications can help minimize your carbon footprint and solve these issues that are affecting the world today. Since we all live in this world, it’s our responsibility to do our best to help mitigate these problems. We only have one earth to live on, so we should do our best to take care of it.
How to Live an Environmentally Friendly Life
-
Use Your Car Less
It is blatantly obvious at this point that using fossil fuels to power a single person riding a car is no longer viable nor sustainable. Instead of driving a car, study your city’s local transit choices and other forms of public transportation. For example, a bus route, light rail systems, or car and van sharing services for commuters are all examples. If you need to travel near your home, walk or ride your bike- it’s not only more sustainable but a lot healthier too.
-
Reduce Your Household’s Energy Consumption
Reducing your energy consumption isn’t so hard. It’s all a matter of turning things off and unplugging them when not in use. It’s also ideal to do things manually when there’s not a lot of them in the first place- hand washing dishes or even a few pieces of clothing will go a long way in reducing energy consumption.
Make sure to get professional electrical services to ensure there’s nothing wrong with your electrical system. Something might be using too much energy. This causes a spike in your electricity bill, which also wastes precious resources to create that electrical energy.
-
Start Recycling
If everyone recycles to the best of their ability, there would be far less waste in the world. Look for recycling collection services that manage waste efficiently and opt for either recycling or reusing available materials. Buying recyclable items tells businesses and establishments that there’s a demand for recycling — a demand that they shouldn’t ignore.
It’s also critical to find the right recycling facility for hazardous materials like lightbulbs, lithium-ion batteries, smart devices, laptops, and other gadgets. Always find out where these items are recycled using electronic recyclers and don’t support companies that send electronic waste abroad for dubious “recycling” operations.
-
Patronize Fair Trade
Look for Fairtrade certification when purchasing imported commodities from throughout the globe, particularly coffee, cocoa, tea, and exotic fruits. This mark certifies that these products were cultivated using environmentally friendly farming practices and that locals are paid fairly for the goods they produce. Items that aren’t Fairtrade certified may not have been produced responsibly and may have resulted from exploitative labor practices that don’t benefit the local community.
-
Donate or Resell Old but Useful Items
Through reselling and donating, items you no longer need might have a longer shelf life. You’re helping lessen dependency on low-cost single-use or single-use items that wind up in landfills by prolonging the shelf life of each product. Consider giving children’s clothing and items to a non-profit resale organization or charity that will distribute them to people in need. Or, if you have gadgets, there are facilities like Free Geek that offer to recycle and refurbish your old devices so that they can be used by the less fortunate.
We’re responsible for the planet that we live on. If we let it get destroyed by our careless actions, we don’t have another place to go to. Living sustainably is one of the most effective ways to keep the environment going.
