Sustainable living is a buzzword on increasingly gaining traction today, but what exactly is it and how do you get started? For starters, sustainable living is a lifestyle that’s based on eco-friendly practices. The main aim of living sustainably is to honor nature by reducing your carbon footprint. A sustainable lifestyle is focused on reducing your use of natural resources to lead an eco-friendly lifestyle.
To reduce your carbon footprint, the first step is to realize that your every action has an impact on plants, animals, and the environment. That’s why, the key principles of environmental awareness, reduce reuse recycle, are considered as the foundation of a sustainable lifestyle.
A sustainable lifestyle can be extremely rewarding and it’s simple to follow. In this article, we look at a few tips to help you make the transition to a greener, sustainable lifestyle.
- Research
Start by understanding the issues the planet is facing today. Read about topics like climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, concerns about increasingly growing landfills, water pollution, land pollution, air pollution, and habitat destruction to get a clearer idea of what is happening on our planet and why is it important to switch to a sustainable lifestyle.
Attending talks by activists, having conversations with naturalists, and meeting like-minded people from sustainable living communities are other great avenues of improving your knowledge about the environmental concerns today and finding ways to contribute to a greener tomorrow.
- Practice Living With Less
Living a minimalistic life means maximizing the use of everything you own, replacing things for greener and more sustainable options, and recycling your waste. Often, minimalistic living is misunderstood as giving up your comfort and convenience. However, minimalistic living is not about giving up everything, but about consuming responsibly. It teaches you to be mindful of your consumption and also considerably reduce your carbon footprint.
- Manage Your Waste
Start small by segregating your waste. This is a great way to help with recycling and reusing waste optimally. This way, food waste can be used for creating natural manure, and plastic waste can be further recycled, thereby reducing landfill content and the use of natural resources.
It’s also important to be mindful while shopping, ideally buy only what you need. Choose products that have less or eco-friendly packaging. You can also carry glass jars for refills instead of buying packaged goods. Carrying a cloth shopping bag will help you keep away from the collecting a ton of bags when you’re shopping. For recycling old glass bottles and tin cans, it’s better to take them to the recycling unit instead of adding them to the landfill.
- Keep A Zero-Energy Balance Budget
Keeping a zero-energy balance budget means you only take what’s needed, and return what you’ve taken back to the environment. To maintain a zero-energy balance, it’s important to reuse, reduce, recycle so there’s a sustainable balance between the demand and availability of natural resources like water. Following this is key to living and maintaining a sustainable lifestyle. Keeping a zero-energy balanced budget will not only help you reduce your carbon footprint, but is also economically sustainable.
- Switch To Renewable Energy
Fossil fuels like coal, gas, and oil are limited and are formed over millions of years. Fossil fuels like coal are used extensively to generate electricity and oil is primarily used in the form of petroleum or gas for vehicles. Besides being scarce, these fossil fuels generate a lot of environmental pollution when used, thus harming the planet. Instead of relying completely on non-renewable energy sources, try switching to renewable energy.
Renewable fuels like solar energy is an inexhaustible form of energy that doesn’t cause any pollution, thereby, reducing your carbon footprint. To shift to solar energy, start small by installing solar panels for your water heater or simply adding outdoor solar lights to your garden. You can also opt for solar chargers for your electronic devices.
- Know Your Food
One of the most essential aspects of a sustainable lifestyle is the food you consume. Though growing your food and buying locally is important to a sustainable lifestyle, it’s also essential to learn about your food and the benefits of transitioning to organic, locally-produced food. Start by growing fruits and veggies in your backyard. You can also use your windowsill by placing small boxes containing herbs and smaller vegetable plants.
To take your green efforts to the next level, join a kitchen garden community in your area to help create urban green spaces. Growing fruits and veggies in your home will not only provide you with chemical-free, seasonal produce but will also clean the air in your living space. Reduce your intake of meat because meat production greatly contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and habitat destruction. Start by simply reducing your meat consumption to a few days a week.
- Be Mindful Of Your Electricity Usage
Using electricity wisely is an important step towards sustainable living. You can start by switching to LED lights in your home. These lights use considerably less energy and last much longer. Using solar-powered gas heaters and outdoor lights can also help you reduce your electricity usage.
Most of the electricity is wasted due to electronic devices being plugged in even when they’re not in use. To reduce your electricity consumption, make sure to plug out your appliances and gadgets after use. Reducing your energy consumption will not only reduce your carbon footprint, but will also reduce your electricity bills.
Conclusion
Beginning a sustainable life is a rewarding process. Just by making a few mindful changes, you can lead a sustainable lifestyle that’s satisfying and in harmony with nature. Simple behavioral changes like practicing minimalism or maintaining a zero-energy balanced budget are ideal for making a green transition that is rooted in a clear understanding of the environmental issues faced by the planet today.
A sustainable lifestyle can greatly improve the quality of your life. More importantly, the transition to responsible consumption habits can have a big impact on reducing your carbon footprint, thereby, healing the planet.