5 Easy Ways to Create a More Sustainable Lifestyle
The world is heating up, our oceans are filling with plastic, and our atmosphere is being infected by toxic pollutants from wildfires, unsustainable agricultural practices, and the overuse of fossil fuels. If we don’t do something to remedy these issues now, then we are in trouble. Unfortunately, we cannot control the actions of others. But, we can reevaluate or own lifestyles and make little changes that will benefit the environment. Here are 5 simple ways that I try to live a more sustainable lifestyle, and you can too!
1) Use a Clothes Line
If you can, try to ditch your clothes dryer. Drying your clothes with the power of the wind and sun is a much more sustainable way to do your laundry. You will be consuming less energy from the power grid which will benefit both the environment and your wallet. If you live somewhere with year round warmth, then you can make this part of your permanent routine. If you live somewhere with cold winters like me, you can at least use a clothes line for half the year (or even hang your laundry indoors.)
2) Grow Your Own Food
Another great way to create a more sustainable lifestyle, is to start growing your own food. Starting a garden may seem slightly daunting, but you don’t need to grow ALL of your own food to make a positive impact in your life and the planet. Set a goal for yourself to cut your grocery bill down by $20 per week. You can easily do this by growing a few tomato, cucumber, and squash plants. This will reduce your reliance on the broken, unsustainable food industry. You will also be much more satisfied with your meals knowing that you grew this food with your own hands, and know exactly how it’s been cultivated and handled.
If you don’t have room for an actual garden or patio containers, microgreens are another great alternative to start growing your own food. There is incredible variety in microgreens, they are packed with flavor and nutrition, and you can easily grow them right on your windowsill. To learn HOW TO GROW YOUR OWN MICROGREENS, CLICK HERE!
3) Start a Compost Pile or Worm Bin
Another great way to live a more sustainable lifestyle is to reduce your landfill waste. This means starting a compost pile in your backyard. How many kitchen scraps do you throw away on a daily basis? Most, if not all of these scraps can be composted into rich fertilizer for your garden.
Start with all of your produce waste. Pretty much anything that’s plant based can be composted. These are excellent sources of nitrogen, which is necessary for the composting process.
Also, all of your used paper towels, newspapers, napkins, cardboard, dead leaves, and wood chips can be composted as well. These provide a source of carbon, which is also necessary for the composting process.
Avoid putting meats, dairy, and oils in your compost bin as these will rot, smell bad, and attract unwanted visitors. If you are interested in composting meat, bone, dairy, and fats, you CAN with a method called Bokashi composting, which uses anaerobic bacteria to break organic matter down, but I have no experience with this so I’ll leave that adventure up to you to figure out.
Vermicomposting is another great method of composting. Starting a worm bin is an excellent and fun way to compost your food scraps. As worms eat and break down your compostable materials, worm castings are created by the digestive process and are super beneficial to your garden. TO LEARN MORE ABOUT STARTING A WORM BIN, CLICK HERE!
4) Use Tupperwears Instead of Ziplocs
Ditch your ziploc bags! Single-use plastic storage bags are HORRIBLE for the environment. I admit, I used to use them all the time without thinking of the negative environmental impact. Now though, I try to avoid them at all costs, opting instead for reusable Tupperware containers.
Instead of taking a sandwich to work in a bag and throwing it away afterward, take it in a reusable container. With this simple switch, you can prevent thousands of plastic storage bags from ending up in the landfill. Not only will you be able to reuse your tupperwear a thousand times or more, your sandwich will be better protected from the carnage of the work fridge.
5) Switch to Reusable Grocery Bags
This is another simple switch you can make that will definitely have a positive environmental impact. Start bringing reusable bags with you to the grocery store.
Think about your normal grocery run. How many plastic bags do you come home with? Ten? Twenty? Eliminate the need for those cheap plastic bags altogether.
Not only is it WAY better for the environment, but it’s also so much easier to carry your groceries into the house. Three large reusable bags can do the work of ten cheap plastic bags.
Another bonus to using reusable bags is a lot of grocery stores now offer discounts for your efforts to be more environmentally friendly. Who doesn’t love a discount?!
Conclusion
I know it may seem like a futile task to help right the environmental ship, given how small of an impact these changes seemingly make. But imagine if everybody took these steps to live a more sustainable lifestyle. What would the impact look like then? It would be very significant. Remember that baby steps are still steps in the right direction, and by promoting these ideas, we are working toward a cleaner, greener future.
Even if you only start with one of these ideas. It’s still a step in the right direction. So try it, see how it goes, and take it from there. I would really love to hear YOUR ideas on how you try to live a more sustainable lifestyle so please drop a comment below and let me know. I always want to inspire you, but I want to be inspired by your efforts as well. Thanks so much for reading and don’t forget to subscribe to our blog below!
Take Care,
Cody
Thistle Downs Farm
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