Adopting a more sustainable and eco-friendly lifestyle doesn’t have to be difficult or even be expensive. There are many small steps you can take to be more respectful of our planet, in fact, you’ll be surprised of how much money you can save in the long run. Here are five tips to help you start.
- Grow your own vegetables
First of all, you don’t need a big garden to have a vegetable patch, you can absolutely grow delicious fruits and veg in a small garden, a courtyard and even a balcony. All you really need are the right tools, determination, and a bit of creativity. For small, concrete yards, you can invest in raised beds, pots or containers. They come in all shapes and sizes and could fit in your garden, you could start growing tomatoes, cucumbers and even potatoes. If you have a bit more space having a polytunnel or a greenhouse could be a great addition to your outdoor space. You could even grow exotic fruits and vegetables such as avocados and chillies.
Growing your own food is an amazing way to reduce your carbon footprint and is a good way to teach your kids that food does not magically appear on supermarket’s shelves.
- Reject fast fashion
If you don’t know already, fast fashion is a term used to describe cheap, trendy, low quality clothes that retailers produce and sell as quickly and frequently as possible. Fast fashion is definitely not sustainable for much longer, in fact the production of polyester alone emits about 706 million tons of greenhouse gases a year, and hundreds of gallons of water go into making a cotton item.
One way to reject fast fashion is to change your shopping behaviour. For example, choosing brands that only offer sustainable, organic and recycled material. You could also decide to only buy vintage, second-hand clothes.
- Have a staycation
It’s no surprise that flying is bad for the environment, even flying occasionally burns a lot of fossil fuel. And even so, it may be difficult right now to even envision a world where we can travel again, why not try choosing to stay in your home country?
Camping is a great way to enjoy nature and discover new places that you may have never seen if you chose to go abroad. On top of being great for the environment and cheap, being outside, around nature is amazing for your mood and overall happiness.
- Eat more plants
Adopting a plant-based diet can be hard to commit to if you are a meat or cheese lover but it truly does wonders for the planet and your body. To sum it up, an omnivorous diet will lead to an emission of about 3.3 tons of CO2 per person per year, a vegan diet is equivalent to 1.5 tons of CO2 per person per year.
Reducing your meat consumption could really be an amazing start to living a sustainable and healthy life, why not start with meatless Mondays for example?
