Apr, 2022

Top 5 Best Tips For Living A More Sustainable Lifestyle

It’s 2022, and we need to start acting together. We have to do better because if we don’t start to get our act together, our planet is going straight to hell. We need to change the way we live and consume products. You can focus on the little things, and yes, even the little things can make a big difference.

Changing your lifestyle can sometimes be difficult, but according to some research, if you do something continuously for 21 days, you can adopt that lifestyle. Without further ado, let’s take a look at how you can adopt a greener lifestyle.

What is a sustainable lifestyle?

It is difficult to clearly define the concept of sustainability. The basic ideas behind it have been known for centuries. But for a long time, there was no word for it. Basically, people have always tried to live by this principle. Sustainable living means not consuming more than can be grown, regenerated, or made available in the future.

It is especially in the case of indigenous peoples that we can still see the corresponding action plans today. As a rule, they only produce or harvest what they need. Sustainability first appeared as a term in 18th-century forestry literature. However, the concept at that time was based more on economic interests than on environmental protection.

It was not until the United Nations conferences in the 1980s and 1990s that a somewhat clearer picture of sustainability developed. Since then, the main concern has been “to live in such a way that a life worth living is still possible on earth for future generations”.

1. Consume less fast fashion

The first way to adopt a sustainable lifestyle is to abandon fast fashion and buy from ethical companies instead. By consuming eco-friendly brands, you can minimize the damage to our society and environment. Reformation and Vetta are among the many fashionables and sustainable companies that practice ethical means of production in hopes of minimizing the fashion industry’s impact on the environment.

However, the best way to make a positive change when it comes to clothing consumption is to recycle your current wardrobe or donate or buy from thrift stores. And let’s face it, who doesn’t want to save the Earth in a pair of vintage Levis? These pieces are always chic and timeless and minimize the damage to our environment.

2. Promote reusables in the bathroom and kitchen

As our grandmothers and previous generations did, favoring reusable items in the home is an ecological gesture that avoids finding disposable products in the wild afterward. Especially since some products can take up to hundreds of years to degrade, for your hygiene, prefer, for example, washable discs and wipes to remove your make-up and to wash your baby, rather than the classic disposable cotton pads.

As for the traditional sanitary napkins, cotton swabs, paper towels, aluminum foil… ecological alternatives exist, such as menstrual cups and panties, oriculi, or even beeswax conservation paper: they are reusable and biodegradable! Use glass jars for your groceries to limit plastic packaging that pollutes the environment in the kitchen. The result is zero waste and great savings!

3. Avoid single-use plastic

Most plastics are not biodegradable and end up in landfills or the ocean, causing damage to wildlife and the environment. Often, plastics also contain chemicals that can make animals sick or injured. Single-use plastic can be easily replaced with reusable items such as straws, water bottles, etc. You can also use reusable containers instead of wrapping food in foil, plastic wrap and/or Ziploc bags. If you have no alternative to single-use plastic, recycle it like many of us on a college campus!

4. Limit your meat consumption

It’s not for everyone, but stopping or completely limiting your meat consumption has a huge impact on the well-being of our planet. Not only will it promote a healthier lifestyle, but it will also promote a healthier planet! The meat industry is a huge contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, so by supporting it, you are directly supporting its unethical and unsustainable practices. In terms of food production in general, anything produced organically has a more sustainable value than the alternative.

5. Reduce water waste

In my experience, limiting unnecessary water use is easier said than done. However, I have found that shortening my showers from 15 minutes to 5 minutes is a good place to start! Other ways to reduce water waste are: not leaving running water unattended or unused, doing laundry only when there is a full load, etc.

Many environmental and societal benefits can be reaped by reducing water consumption, including minimizing droughts, reducing carbon, and preventing pollution from infecting our global water supply.

Sound off in the comments section below and tell us what you want to read next and if you want to read more about living a more sustainable lifestyle.

Sep, 2021

How Does Veganism Really Help the Environment?

Some people claim that going vegan will save the planet but to what extent is this true? There is a rise in the number of people going vegan nowadays and for numerous reasons. Vegan people supposedly have lower health risks for conditions such as heart diseases or cholesterol, although the science behind this is still very skewed.

Meat and dairy (farmed cattle) now account for 14.5 percent of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions, according to the United Nations. That’s nearly the same amount of pollution as every vehicle, rail, ship, and airline on the globe! If the world decided to go vegan, this will drop by 70 %. The relationship between carbon emission and farming is undeniable.

There are many other impacts of meat consumption. Meat production is linked to the destruction of forests in South America, both directly and indirectly. Large swaths of the Amazon are being deforested to make way for cattle ranching and soybean cultivation for animal feed. Meat-eating contributes to greenhouse gas emissions such as methane, Carbon dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. Climate change, such as global warming, is exacerbated by these gases. Also, meat production requires a large amount of water.

Should You Stop Eating Meat?

Cows, Calve, Calf, Nature, Livestock, Cattle, Animal — How Does Veganism Really Help the Environment?

The meat industry has been getting a lot of bad press in recent years, as fad vegan diets and the associated industries put more pressure on governing bodies to alienate meat-eaters. However, it is true that with a growing global population, the amount of meat that would need to be produced to satisfy everyone is staggering, which does lead to valid environmental concerns.

No one can dictate what others should eat (although vegans are trying their best to). Everyone is free to make their decisions, however, a lot of experts do recommend the reduction of meat consumption and even suggest government make policies about meat consumption.

Having a vegan diet does not mean being unhealthy. People nowadays often associate being vegan with being unhealthy, as there is less protein in plants than what is found in meat, but there are a lot of substitutes to meat to replace the protein requirement.

Alternatives such as…

Salad, Fruit, Berry, Healthy, Vitamins, Fresh, Food — Alternatives…

Many individuals regard cow’s milk as essential to their diets. It may be drunk, poured over cereal, or mixed into smoothies, tea, or coffee. While many individuals can or choose not to consume milk owing to personal choices, dietary constraints, allergies, or intolerance, it is not for everyone. Alternatives are soy milk, almond milk, coconut milk, oat milk, and so on… There now are a lot of more expensive alternatives to cow milk.

This can also be seen in the rising demand for meat substitutes. Plant-based burgers, sausages, and other meat alternatives are now available in all well-known supermarkets, made from legumes, vegetables, grains, and other components. When compared to meat, meat alternatives have a number of advantages. Vegan burgers, for example, are supposedly cholesterol-free and typically have fewer calories.

Some alternatives are tofu, soy protein, oat flakes, chickpeas, or pea protein. Once considered as bland food, there are now so many recipes linked to these alternatives, that happen to be very tasty.

Health Benefit

People who don’t eat meat — vegetarians — generally eat fewer calories and less fat, weigh less and have a lower risk of heart disease than non-vegetarians do. People who eat red meat are at an increased risk of death from heart disease, stroke, or diabetes.

There is a new term “flexitarian”, to describe someone who eats mostly plant-based food, but at time consume meat and I think everyone should be ‘flexitarian’. We should have a quota of meat consumption and not go beyond it, for Earth to be a better place. Everyone should work on a flexible diet to protect the planet. Let us know in the comments if you are thinking of giving a vegan diet a try…

Jun, 2021

The “to-Do List” of Things to Stop Doing

Let’s be clear when we say “not to do anymore”, we must understand, “to temper or slow down considerably”. The consumer society has created a multitude of needs in our lives. The question today is whether or not we are strong enough to say “stop” or whether we prefer to continue to keep our blinders on, making us, in the end, selfish.

So, what do you think? Would you be willing to:

1. Eat less meat

The idea of becoming vegetarian, vegan, or vegetarian overnight puts the followers of these dietary practices directly in the extremist box. Imposing is not the right method. It is better to explain, to show, to repeat, rather than to impose.

In the case of meat, two factors come into play: pollution and animal suffering. Regarding pollution, it is essential to know that to produce one kilo of beef, the greenhouse gases emitted are equivalent to a 60 km car journey and require between 20 and 50 times more water than what is needed to produce one kilo of wheat or rice.

Regarding animal suffering, we have always been comforted that only cats, dogs, hamsters, rabbits, and birds were pets, worthy of having feelings. Other animals were considered wild and destined to be eaten, regardless of their age. But, unfortunately, we have to accept what we have on our plates to make a difference.

So, if eating meat is not vital, it may be that it remains unavoidable for reasons of terroir, roots, etc. The idea is not to eliminate it, but to consume less and better quality meat so that our food looks more like it should. At present, our children consume too much meat and proteins, according to a study conducted by Greenpeace and relayed by the Food Observatory. Our eating is no longer vital; it is a need created by the consumer society, thus generating a multitude of diseases—obesity and diabetes in particular.

2. Get rid of your car?

Sell your car and use public transportation. Could you do it? The vehicle is accused of releasing an average of 2.5 tons of CO2 per year. The proposed alternative solutions (hybrid cars, electric cars, etc.) are only a shadow of so-called “sustainable” vehicles. Ten years ago, almost half of the people said they were ready to leave the car in the garage. Today, the number of vehicles in the world is constantly increasing and is on the way to reaching 2 billion.

While the public transport craze still bothers some users, the government is not doing anything to reverse the trend. However, there are incentives to buy an electric bike or ride a bike to work every day!

3. Don’t take the plane anymore?

Flying is undeniably polluting. It would help if you only did national air travel in case of emergency. The idea of making airlines pay a pollution tax would be pure nonsense since, in the end, it would be passed on to the ticket price, and therefore to the consumer. So what to do? Ban them? Too many economic stakes… What if reason and common sense were finally enough to decide? Flying, yes, but not every day and not on national routes.

Flying is not only harmful. It can also motivate new experiences, such as discovering certain civilizations, visiting family, etc. Of course, it is sometimes possible to use other modes of transportation, more respectful of the planet.

But in some cases, the plane is almost unavoidable, like going to the other side of the planet. It’s all about balance. If you have to fly once a year, try to balance your carbon impact by eating less meat, driving less daily, or funding a tree-planting organization accordingly, for example.

4. Consume better?

This is the simplest effort to make and the starting point for taking a more ecological approach to our daily lives. Better consumption has repercussions on at least three factors: economic, environmental, and sanitary.

Consuming tomatoes in winter is not normal. Consuming products from Asia or Africa every day is not normal either. Of course, if you eat one pineapple a month, your impact will be almost zero. However, if you eat avocados at practically every meal, the consequences are not the same.

Eating local and in season does not prevent you from having a mango once in a while. But the idea is to favor the cycle of nature and consume what it offers us in real-time. It is also necessary to put on one’s apron, try recipes, and start cooking again to become aware of what we eat and eat better. Forget about overpriced, fatty, salty, and sweet prepared meals. Going back to basics is within everyone’s reach, even if you are not a cordon bleu and don’t necessarily have the time to cook elaborate meals.

Organic food is becoming more and more popular, but here again, be careful, not all labels are equal, and sometimes a vegetable grown by a market gardener near you without an organic label is often of better quality (and cheaper!) than a vegetable with an organic label sold in a supermarket.

Moreover, consuming food by limiting over-packaging is also beneficial. The hunt for single-use plastic is on, so why not use the many alternatives that exist today? Reusable bottles, food films with beeswax, washable paper towels… are habits to adopt to change things at home and thus have a less polluting impact on the planet.

As for non-food products, repairing rather than throwing away to buy again is also an option to be favored to make objects last in time and save money.

5. Downsizing your wardrobe?

The minimalist trend has followers all over the world. However, brands are still very much alive, even though some have very un-human practices to design their clothes (low wages, child labor, fur, dyes harmful to health, wastewater discharges into rivers, etc.). After the oil industry, the textile industry remains the most polluting in the world.

Some brands are now “green” and show their difference while following the fashion; they tempt fashionistas to jump the gun and assume their passion for ecology. Therefore, buying less and better is also valid for the dressing room.

6. Consume water sensibly

Taking a bath costs not only a lot of money but also wastes a lot of water. Showers are the best alternative for washing. Many tax credits or aids are now available for water heating retrofits. Thermodynamic water heaters, solar water heaters… allow real savings, quickly making the initial investment profitable.

Teaching children to turn off the tap while brushing their teeth or rubbing their hands is very easy, especially if you take the time to explain to them why you are doing it. Fortunately or unfortunately, the best (or worst) habits are formed and kept for life at a very young age. Think about it!

Thinking that abundance is unlimited is a utopia. Thinking that possessing something gives meaning to life is just as utopian. Consuming less, in general, is good for the planet, for the wallet, and people. So, what do you think? Would you be ready to make such changes in your life to save the planet?

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