1. Eat Organic and Local
Eating organic, local foods is a way to enhance one’s personal health as well as contribute to a healthy agricultural system that doesn’t spew harmful chemicals into the environment or burn fossil fuels in transporting the food. Better yet, growing one’s own food is definitely local and can even increase the viability of one's wallet.
2. Make One's Own Cleaning Products
This is fantastically easy. All that is needed is vinegar, lemons, baking soda, castile soap and borax. With these five ingredients, a person can make any home cleaning product that she or he may need, including solutions to: clean the floors, clean toilets, clean showers and sinks, wash clothes (in a washing machine or by hand), etc.
This one applies to many aspects of sustainability. It saves money. It averts the negative environmental consequences of heavy chemical detergents, as well as the effects those heavy chemicals can have on people (especially children). It also reduces the wasteful “disposable” packaging that most commercial cleaning products come in.
3. Say “No” to Plastic Bags and Wasteful Packaging
It now costs money in many parts of the world to get a plastic bag from a shop and now some places are even trying to ban them completely. This is indicative of how severe the environmental costs of disposable plastics have become, on a global level. There are islands of plastic forming in the seas and oceans all over the world and these plastics are killing the birds, fish and other wildlife that humans rely on for survival.
It is good to recycle plastics; however, it will always be more sustainable to use cloth shopping bags, instead of "disposable" plastic bags, and choose products with no or minimal packaging.
4. Reuse Containers
If it is impossible to find a product without packaging, it is a good idea to at least reuse the containers, if possible. Containers such as jars, squirt/spray bottles and shampoo bottles can all be put to good use again. Especially if a person is growing his/her own food and making his/her own cleaning products. Used containers can definitely come in handy. Large containers can be used to grow plants/vegetables in, jars can be used to preserve foods in and bottles can be used to store homemade cleaning products in.
5. Participate and/or Start Community Initiatives
Participating in initiatives that bring the members of the community together for a good cause is a great way to spend time. It brings neighbours in touch with each other, which creates a nice social network of support close to home, which every person needs. Many wonderful things can be accomplished by people joining together for a cause, such as cleaning up the neighbourhood park, or creating a community garden, or car-sharing, or even taking care of each other’s kids.
6. Take Time to Relax
Living a sustainable lifestyle has a lot to do with simplifying and slowing down. In today’s modern, high-stress, fast-paced world, it’s often hard to find time to take it easy, but this is very important. It is important for one’s physical and psychological wellbeing. Take some time to lay down in the shade of a tree or on the beach. If a person wants to take it a step further, meditation and/or breathing exercises are excellent ways to calm the mind and relax. They’re healthy for the mind and body, can be done anywhere and cost nothing.
7. Create
It might be part of one’s job description; however, too many people are not encouraged to use their creativity in the workplace.Because we all have different kinds of intelligence, we all create in different ways. While one person makes music, another might work on math equations or engineering designs. There are so many ways people can be creative and it’s very important for everyone to use this innate ability to express and create.
8. Ride a Bike and Walk Whenever Possible
Not only are walking and riding a bike the most sustainable forms of transportation, but they are also very low-impact (on joints), natural forms of exercise. Again, killing two birds with one stone. A person can get around emission-free, pollution-free, while getting the exercise her/his body needs. If walking or riding a bike isn't an option, try to take public transportation
9. Be Water and Energy Efficient
Turn off the stove five minutes before the food will be ready (residual heat cooking), turn off the water while in the act of brushing teeth, reuse the water from cleaning fruits/vegetables to water plants, take short showers (cold showers are also helpful), use a powerstrip for appliances and turn it off when not using the appliances, and use energy efficient lightbulbs. These are all measures for being energy and water efficient.
10. Spend Time in Nature
Spending time in nature is a vital part of maintaining and nurturing one's connection to the Earth that provides for human survival. It's even better to spend some quiet time in nature, in order to fully appreciate the sights and sounds that a wide open meadow, a thick forest or a wavy seaside offers.
Jennifer Hinton - I am writing for Suite 101 in an effort to combine two passions of mine: writing and seeking healthier, sustainable ways of living. I have ...
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