Our thoughts create actions, actions turn into habits, and habits become our reality. When we change our habits, our life and way of thinking changes as well, and changing is never easy. This is why we believe that instead of focusing only on our goals, focus in the path to them. Our daily habits, routines and life plan create the steps towards our goal.
Having a sustainable lifestyle may be our goal, but where to start?
First, remember the big 3-R’s: reduce, reuse, recycle, try to acquire this mantra in your daily life. Second, here you have an easy and fast guide into 10 ways to save the environment through changes in your routines and habits. Changing is never easy, but every day we have the opportunity to start over, and start living a more sustainable life.
- Reduce animal protein: Try at least one day without meat on your weekly nutrition: did you know that livestock produces more pollution than transportation? According to the United Nations Organization of Food and Agriculture, it produces more than the transport sector about 18% more than its equivalent in carbon dioxide in the transport sector.
Livestock is one of the main responsible for serious environmental problems, also one of the main responsible for Soil degradation and water resources. It is estimated that 7-% of water footprint worldwide is due to food.
To produce the food we eat, it requires huge amounts of water, being animal protein the most water-demanding.
It requires 15.400lt of water to produce 1kg of veal (the number decreases within the animal’s size). Reducing animal protein on your weekly nutrition will be also a beneficial change for your body as well.
It takes a lot of time for the human body to digest animal protein, so having more space in between intakes of meat will be more beneficial for your digestive system as well. These little changes on habits have a huge impact on ourselves and others, especially on earth resources’. - Reduce % recycle waste plastic: try to separate your waste into organic vs recyclable waste. Separating recyclable waste from the organic helps to decrease the need for more production and energy to produce new ones.
When we reuse or recycle, we reduce the need to extract more resources and prevent exploiting earth to obtain them.The organic will be able to biodegrade, the glass and reusable or recyclable plastics will come into use again. We will leave less garbage to be transported and treated and less to be burnt or buried.Also, organic waste you can throw it to your composter and when it disintegrates it is transformed into compost, a NATURAL FERTILIZING for your food garden, in this way we reduce the bad smell that organic waste decomposed plus you will reduce 70% of our waste.Separating your waste reduces the chances of dispersion of dangerous substances such as lithium from batteries. This kind of wastes pollute groundwater and are a threat to our health, these substances are not only toxic but also inflammable and reactive.
This key aspect tells the impact our daily habits impact on ourselves, nature and all living beings.
- Compost & food garden: when you start to separate your waste, you realize the amount of garbage we produce daily, estimated to be 70%of our waste, a lot! So the first key is to decide where to throw all that organic waste.Compost is a great alternative, and you get plenty of benefits by doing so: Compost is a mixture of ingredients used to fertilize and improve the soil. It is commonly prepared by decomposing plant and food waste and recycling organic materials.The resulting mixture is rich in plant nutrients and beneficial organisms, such as worms and fungal mycelium. In this way we transform our waste into organic fertilizer for our already degraded soil.
If you already have a food garden, you can get your own food without all the chemicals and toxic fertilizers that the industry uses.
You can feed your soil with your own organic waste and connect with nature as well. When you realize how much time it takes to decompose, you change your perspective on how much you waste, reuse or recycle.
Also, a wider perspective in how we relate with earth and its resources, the way we consume and how our daily habits can have such a negative impact on the environment. Changing habits will make a positive impact on ourselves and nature as well.
- Reduce disposable feminine products: bet on long-term products or the ones which are easier to recycle. There are alternatives to feminine products that are reusable and have a long-term lifecycle, such as the menstrual cups.Menstrual cups are made of medical-grade silicone, rubber, latex, or elastomer and can last up to 10 years. Imagine all the disposable feminine waste you can prevent by just using one single product. You reduce waste, expenses, energy and environmental impact.Disposable feminine products are a threat to the environment because the biggest problem is that these are pathogenic residues. When not being treated correctly (they are deposited in sanitary landfills or open dumps), dioxin and chlorine can seep and contaminate groundwater, streams and lakes, causing serious health problems for those who consume them.
- Build Eco-bricks: if you are wondering how you can recycle all the plastic you have, you can consider saving the plastic bottles to fill them with other recyclable waste.In that way we have all plastic retained in one container, and then we can use these eco bricks as a sustainable substitute for construction materials. You avoid throwing away loose plastic, which pollutes greatly, and you even build something from it.
- Choose the Free ride: If you have the opportunity, choose the bike ride instead of the car. You not only contribute to less pollution, but to our health as well.It is known that it oxygenates the brain and fights stress, tones and strengthens the back, the heart and makes your immune system more resistant, plus its economical, social and environmental benefits.
- Buy sustainable products and invest in local entrepreneurs: check for local eco-friendly entrepreneurs that are already contributing to sustainability through their business.When you invest in SMB’S, you are investing in the economic growth and the growth of ventures that are contributing to a bigger cause: sustainability.
- Plant a tree: trees are the ones that absorb CO2 from the atmosphere and convert it into carbon, this process contributes to the mitigation of climate change.They produce oxygen, purify the air, form fertile soils, prevent erosion, maintain clean rivers, capture water for aquifers, serve as refuges for fauna, reduce soil temperature (which is one of the main causes of severe droughts), promote the establishment of other species, and regenerate natural resources.A big concern regarding this matter is the destruction of forests and its degradation. The carbon that was once stored is released into the atmosphere, contributing to aggravating the problem of climate change.
It is estimated worldwide that soil use change is one of the most important sources of Greenhouse Gases (GHG).
For all these reasons and more, planting a tree and joining a cause that protects forests, is planting a seed for a better future life. - Avoid fast fashion: you will make your community, the environment and your pocket a big favor. Behind the beautiful marketing strategies, fast fashion is having from long ago a high cost at a social and environmental level.Fast fashion is all about selling low-cost pieces massively, impacting directly to workers that are paying what you aren’t. Because from what you are paying less, there is somebody whose getting less out from it, not only in the economic side but also in the conditions (mostly terrible ones, not to mention child labor).First, thinking who made your clothes and in what conditions it was made will help you consider where and to whom buy. (most workers in the cloth industry tend to have 14 to 16 hours of labor daily).
Choose instead cruelty-free, sustainable and local options when you get to buy something new. Also, you can try to reuse garments or exchange them with a friend that both no longer use but are still in good condition, always try to reduce, or give a second life to that piece.
The textile industry is leaving behind a lot of products that take years to biodegrade, and ultimately they end up polluting more due to this mass consumption system.
- Last but not least, join a community or a cause that pursues the same goal as you, in what area of your life you want to change? How can you be a resourceful human to this earth?Everybody has a talent and a cause, go after your goals and if you join a community, you will also cultivate a self of belonging to something you are appreciated for and valued.
If you still feel this is difficult to keep up with in your daily life, try starting with a journal to organize your days, your tasks and habits to have a clear view of what you are creating each day.
After a while you will see the results, and you will feel gratified, not only for the incredible results and all you accomplished, but because you had made a difference.
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