Sustainable living is a lifestyle that promotes eco-friendly principles and practices to reduce your personal ecological footprint. A major factor in this is minimizing energy consumption, but there are many other ways to be more mindful of your natural resources and honor nature by giving back through volunteerism or supporting fair-trade products. It also means embracing a vegan diet, using non-toxic cleaning and beauty products and avoiding plastic waste.
A sustainable lifestyle is more than a buzzword, it’s about the choices you make each day and the impact those decisions have on your surroundings and community. The good news is that there are so many ways to be greener, from switching to LED lights to joining a co-op to using a sustainable search engine like Ecosia that gives some of its profits to plant trees. It can be difficult to fully adopt a sustainable lifestyle, but you can start by making small changes and then growing from there.
Ultimately, a sustainable lifestyle is about doing what you can with what you have to spare to ensure our earth’s ecosystem doesn’t fall out of balance. It’s a long journey, and no one can stamp out their carbon footprint completely (though you can use this calculator to get a better idea of your own).
To live sustainably, the first thing to do is become aware of how much you consume. You can then work to limit that consumption by reducing the amount of trash you create, switching to renewable or recycled sources of energy and focusing on buying local food and goods. Purchasing secondhand clothing or furniture is a great way to cut down on waste, and you can opt for reusable cups and other household goods instead of disposable ones.
Another key component of sustainability is limiting your water usage. With only 3% of the world’s freshwater in natural circulation and 2% of it available for drinking, water conservation is a must. This includes using low-flow toilets and shower heads, checking for leaks and being mindful of water usage in daily activities, such as washing dishes or brushing teeth.
In addition to lowering your energy consumption, you can also work to limit your fossil fuel emissions by becoming a one-car family, riding your bike and taking public transit. You can also save on your electricity bills by turning off lights and appliances when you’re not using them, and by adjusting the thermostat.
You can even cut down on plastic waste by switching to reusable water bottles, bags and straws, as well as choosing unwrapped produce at the grocery store and bringing your own reusable dinnerware. Plastic makes up 80% of marine debris, and thousands of seabirds, turtles and seals die each year from ingesting or getting tangled in it.
When you do have to purchase new items, choose electronics with lower energy consumption, buy recycled products and opt for refurbished or used items whenever possible. You can also help to support the environment by participating in e-waste recycling programs and joining a reuse organization. The more of us who embrace these changes, the greater impact we’ll have on the planet!