Climate change is the greatest threat to humanity. We need to learn how to live greener. We need to find ways to make a greener home, workspace, and kitchen.
Living a greener, sustainable life involves many habits. But you can take a few easy steps today to start living that life.
To help you out, here are eight sustainable living tips.
1. Reduce Your Waste
Use as few resources as you need.
Make an inventory of the belongings you need on a regular basis. Then discard all of the other items you don’t need. By reducing what you own, you reduce what you buy.
When you buy items, buy them used at local stores. Make your own items. Learn to knit and sew, and repair clothes before buying new ones.
Observe an eco-sabbath if possible. During one week, day, or hour, use no resources. Read a book, go out for a walk, or do something else that wastes nothing.
2. Reuse Your Belongings
Buy used items whenever possible. Donate your old items so others can reuse them.
Create a community swap. Designate an area in your neighborhood where people can leave unwanted items. Encourage others to make use of them.
Take reusable bags to the grocery store. Do not use plastic to wrap produce or store food. Replace your plastic water bottles with reusable PVC ones.
Store your food in stainless steel or silicone containers. Compost produce and use compost for gardening.
3. Recycle
Create designated recycling bins in your home. Buy items made from recyclable materials, like green paper. Recycle plastics, including bottle tops.
Download or create a recycling sheet. Learn how to recycle uncommon or hard to recycle items.
Hand over hazardous wastes to officials. Do not put dangerous items in your recycle bins.
4. Refuse What You Don’t Need
Refuse all single-use products, such as styrofoam takeout containers and plastic straws. Refuse giveaways at stores and restaurants.
Buy produce, not processed food. Produce is healthier for you than processed food, which has high levels of sodium and saturated fat.
Ask for experiences as gifts, rather than items. Share time with your loved ones, not objects they will eventually throw away.
5. Change to Renewables
Move your home off of fossil fuels. Look into a home solar installation. Buy from energy companies that use renewables, not coal and oil.
Replace your incandescent light bulbs with LED ones. Select energy-saving or hand-powered appliances. Turn off all appliances when not in use, including computers.
6. Eat and Drink Sustainably
Drink cold tap water whenever possible. Refuse bottled water at home and restaurants.
Eat organic and locally grown food. Shop at your local farmer’s market and food cooperative.
Consider going vegan or vegetarian. Cutting beef out of your diet reduces your carbon dioxide emissions by 2,400 pounds per year. Try not to eat meat for at least one day per week.
7. Change Your Workplace
You live your sustainable life at work. Exceed EPA standards for work environments. Consult with the EPA Center for Corporate Climate Leadership on sustainable business practices.
Focus your business on selling services, not products. Consult with sustainable manufacturers and marketers. Use double-sided paper and print double-sided whenever you need paper.
8. Spend Time Outside
Enjoy nature. Leave your phone and head outside. Visit your local park, nature preserve, and Audubon.
Plant a garden, trees, and flowers. Stargaze. Volunteer to pick up trash and tend to nature.
Learn More Sustainable Living Tips
Climate change is a daunting threat. But living sustainably can stop it. Reduce, reuse, recycle, and refuse items you don’t need.
Shift your food, water, and energy use in your home and workspace to renewable sources. Go out into nature. Learn about it.
Each of us can change the world through a sustainable life. Empower yourself and learn more sustainable living tips through our blog.
