With rapid population growth and urbanization, the world’s annual waste generation is expected to increase by 70% by 2050. However, many choose to take serious action to address waste consumption and promote green living across the country. Often, individual actions towards going green revolve around small lifestyle changes geared towards a sustainable mindset. The accumulation of these small eco-friendly decisions will enable you to be more environmentally conscious in your home, workplace, and broader community.
Eco-friendly Home Living
Apart from your diet, your home is one of the biggest places where you exert control over the sustainability output of your life. There are countless opportunities for reducing waste in the home, but some of the bigger questions you need to ask is: in what areas do I use excess? Many homeowners find that they consistently overuse their electricity, purchase too much food and homeware products, or use caustic building materials that damage the environment. However, the good news is, great strides have been made towards using sustainable building materials, such as bamboo and clay, which needless to say are much better for your family’s health than other synthetic alternatives.
Going Green in the Workplace
Depending on your position, it may not be possible to enact sustainable policies in your company. However, if the opportunity arises, encourage your workplace to go green by composting food waste, reducing paper printouts, and using energy-efficient light sources. Workplaces nationwide are striving to meet the recent Workplace Sustainability Index, a series of guidelines for promoting eco-friendly work environments. The sustainability index may be able to give your office or company a sense of its ecological footprint and brainstorm effective, realistic ways to reduce waste. Green living experts also recommend bringing your own lunch to work and keeping renewable storage containers in the office to conserve food waste in the workplace.
Promoting An Eco-Friendly Diet
One good way to promote sustainability is to eat locally sourced and seasonal foods in your area, which cuts down on the carbon emissions associated with food transit and storage of bulk-produced goods. It’s also wise to omit animal products whenever possible: even if you can’t go fully veg, cutting down on meat and animal product consumption is cost-effective and healthy in addition to being a major contributor to a healthy planet. You can also cut down on single-use plastic in your cutlery, food packaging, and dishware by purchasing reusable products and recycling the plastic necessities you do need. As consumers, insisting on multi-use plastic sends a message to large corporations that their profits will improve by promoting sustainability, enacting real change in supermarkets and agricultural industries.
Setting realistic goals for going green can help you make small changes across various aspects of your life, including your home and dietary regimen. Gradually, you will start to see real, tangible improvements in the quality of your life by going green.
