How to Live Sustainably: An Easy Guide
I have always been somewhat conscious of how our actions impact the planet. Recycling has always been taught in school, and I’ve caught a few documentaries here and there, but I think we can all agree that it hasn’t been until recent years where we’ve actually thought “Shit! What have we done?!”. Living sustainably is something we can all implement into our lives. And it’s a lot easier than you probably think. The key is making small swaps here and there, finding out what works best for you, and slowly turning them into your ‘go-to’ products and habits.
Now I know we can’t directly control the planes flying in the sky, the largest corporations emitting pollution or the amount of food waste from supermarkets, but there are plenty of things within our control that we can do to help reduce our own carbon footprint.
Consuming less Meat
Eating less meat is very doable. I have been a vegetarian for nearly 7 years now, after I watched a chicken get killed, plucked and cooked ready to eat for dinner. It turns out I was more than happy to leave it off my plate. The next day I choked on some fatty beef and that was the end of me being an avid meat eater. I did eat fish, however, in recent times, that’s completely stopped since learning that plastic lines, ropes, and fishing nets contribute to half the plastic pollution in the ocean.
I began by solely being put off meat, yet over the years I have learnt the truths and horrors of what the meat industry does to our planet; and the horrors of what our planet does to animals. I’m not going to go into facts and statistics, as I’m sure you have all heard, read or skipped past posts stating them. But, I urge you to be more conscious about what goes into your mouth, where it comes from and how it got there.
If every family in the UK swapped one meat meal a week to a plant-based one, it would have the same environmental impact as taking 16 million cars off the roads (sorry, couldn’t help myself!). It would be near impossible to physically take 16 million cars off the road, but how easy would it be to leave the chicken out of your curry or swap your sausages for the meat-free version! It’s all about what we can control, and I truly believe eating less meat is something everyone can do.
Plastic Alternatives
Other things we can do is to look for products that don’t use plastic. Now, I would say the biggest issue with this is that everyone has their favourites already, whether it be make-up or cleaning products, and trying to find something that works as well (or smells as nice) can be a struggle. Their accessibility is another thing that may deter people from making the swap (the ease of being able to pick them up from the supermarkets is a major bonus), so I am aware that sometimes it may be that people want to do their part, they just may not know where they can get the products from or have the time to source them from elsewhere!
Our fast-paced lifestyles thrive off the consumer culture we see in supermarkets; having all our needs readily available, packaged for them to last longer. But to what expense is saving time doing to our planet? You can argue that larger companies and supermarkets are pledging to make themselves greener and their products more widely recyclable, but really, we should look to fight this outside of the supermarkets, out of the CEOs pockets and into our local streets and on to small, independent websites. If we spend a bit more time looking around to find eco-friendly alternatives, not only can we reduce our plastic waste, we can also help the smaller businesses thrive.
Reducing Fast Fashion
Fast fashion is another major area that we could focus on. Not only do a lot of clothing brands exploit workers in poorer countries; paying less than minimum wage for longer working hours, but they’re usually made from a poorer quality of fabric, not made to last (so you’re forced to buy more) and are thrown away when the next fashion trend comes in. Again, the ease of being able to buy clothes with the click of a button is tempting, and we all love to buy fashionable items from our favourite high-street brands, but as someone who has a lot of clothes, there are things that I am now trying to implement into my life which I hope you can do too.
My first tip is to stop looking! Don’t tempt yourself by endlessly scrolling through clothing websites - it never ends well. However, if the urge to shop is there (retail therapy is a thing) perhaps put your items into a wishlist, and wait a few days before ordering them to see if you really do want them. If you can’t stop thinking about them, look to see if there are any similar items on any of the pre-loved clothing apps and sites there are now.
Also, if you feel you need a new item, why not look into websites and shops that focus more on slow-fashion or using recycled materials. The pricing may be a bit more expensive, but you can guarantee the quality will show for what you’ve paid and will last longer. You can even dye your old, faded pair of jeans black again to give them a new lease of life!
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Our lifestyles do rely on a lot of things that are harmful to our environment. For instance, I use my car to drive to the places I need to go, I may have a few lights on in my room whilst charging different electronic devices at the same time, and I do like to buy shoes (is that harmful?). We may not be able to change everything ourselves, but there are a lot of things we can do to live a more sustainable lifestyle; one that works well for you and for the planet.
You always get the odd person who says “it won’t make a difference”, but minority influence is a really powerful thing. If no one decided to change things they weren’t happy with, I’m sure the world would look very different right now. Take a look at the Women’s Suffrage Movement; it took activists a Century to win back the right to vote. Although things still aren’t ‘perfect’ (an issue to be debated in another post), the constant actions made by groups of people who actually cared has snowballed and created the life that we’re able to live in today. The point I’m trying to get at is ignoring an issue won’t make it go away, but by doing your bit, no matter how big or small, you’re contributing to something that actually matters. If you can take anything from this post, I hope that you change at least one thing in your daily routine to a more eco-friendly, greener alternative. One thing is better than nothing.
Here are some websites and instagram pages that I find useful:
https://www.wwf.org.uk/what-we-do/promoting-sustainable-living
https://www.awastefreeworld.com/
https://zaoessenceofnature.co.uk/
Make sure you follow Maddie on her sustainability-based instagram:
@itsamadd_world
https://www.instagram.com/itsamadd_world/
