The buzz word of 2019 was sustainability. Terms such as “conscious” or “sustainability” were frequently used, and almost every single company’s Corporate Social Responsibility page got a huge revamp.
With all of the babble about how every company is oh-so-sustainable-now, we as a society tend to overlook the important steps that we as individuals need to take in order to actually be sustainable. From the outside looking in to a company’s priorities, it is easy to criticize when we ourselves are not held responsible to any actions.
However, as wildfires in Australia rage on and news on climate change gets worse and worse by the day, several of us are reconsidering our position and shifting to living life more consciously, be that in our shopping habits, eating habits, or general lifestyle.
From a personal level, I can tell you that it is easy to tumble down the cliff and hit rock bottom where you feel so helpless and as though nothing you’re doing will possibly help the planet in any way. Changing our lifestyles for the long run means developing habits that are sustainable (no pun intended).
These tips are meant to help you reduce your carbon footprint, be realistic tips that you can implement right now, and inspire you to live sustainably. It is my sincere hope that these tips will help you avoid feeling helpless and inspire you to live life consciously every day.
For other tips on how to completely revamp your life to live sustainably, check out my Beginner’s Guide to Sustainability!
Tip 1: Reduce waste
This seems so obvious, “like duh Claire. Everyone knows that”. Let’s go one step further. I began counting how often my partner and I threw realistically threw out the trash and how often we threw out the recycling.
Every time my trash starts having a smell, I would throw out the trash. Since my recycling bins are significantly smaller, I would also throw out the recycling quite frequently. For a while because I was taking out recycling all the time, I felt quite good about myself.
However, we know that 91% of the recycling doesn’t actually get recycled. That doesn’t mean you should not recycle, but it feels a bit like patting yourself on the back for a hard day’s of work when you maybe put in half an hour of work.
My advice is to start slowly decreasing the amount of time you are throwing out any trash or recycling. Keep doing your normal routine; if there is something smelly and you need to throw it out, do it. However, let’s count how often we are doing it and start slowly decreasing our waste.
A great way that I have started decreasing my waste is by buying reusable straws, reusable cups, reusable Ziploc bags, reusable saran wrap, and reusable grocery bags. Whenever I make a trip to the grocery store or to get myself coffee, I will use my reusable items as much as possible. Overtime, trust me, it will add up and you will notice yourself to start throwing out the trash less!
Tip 2: Reduce consumption and consumerism
This tip goes right up my alley because, as a sustainable fashion blogger, I am constantly fighting the battle between recommending new stylish looks to my audience and staying sustainable. One of the biggest blockers living sustainably is fashion.
I get bored if I have to wear the same exact outfit over and over again, and I do not have the means to drop $50 on a basic, plain white t-shirt all the time. That is why I value versatility, quality, and style when purchasing new clothes. Any new clothing has to answer yes to these three questions:
- Can I wear this piece of clothing in more than one way (the more outfits I can style with it, the better)?
- Does this piece of clothing have great craftsmanship or is it made out of good quality (so that it doesn’t fall apart after 1 wear)?
- Is this piece of clothing part of a recent fashion trend that I will wear once and never wear again (because it is not a classic style that will always be timeless)?
I firmly believe that sustainable fashion should not be elitist. How discriminatory is it to say that only clothes made from an entirely sustainable perspective should be worn? The truth is our society does not function like this anymore, and we cannot realistically expect this of ourselves.
My wish is that one day the fashion industry will adapt so that the entire supply chain is sustainable. Until that day comes, however, I will stick with following my three rules.
Tip 3: Reduce reliance on fossil fuels
Lastly, this tip may be the most basic thing you’ve ever seen on the internet, but I am begging you to reconsider the way you think about fossil fuels. Let’s start with some statistics.
28.9% of all greenhouse gas emissions in 2017 came from transportation (cars, trucks, ships, planes, etc). 27.5% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the same year came from electricity (basically anytime we flick a switch on in our house). Also in 2017, 22.2% of greenhouse gas emissions was caused by industry (production of goods from raw materials, burning fossil fuels for energy, etc). Source
Agriculture is a huge topic of discussion. For ethical reasons, I will not debate whether it is right or not. From a greenhouse gas emissions perspective, however, agriculture only produced 9% of the total greenhouse gas emissions in 2017. In comparison to transportation, electricity, and industry (which makes up a total of 78.6% of the total greenhouse gas emissions), 9% is nothing.
If we merely take transportation and electricity, which are both items we can very well control in our day to day lives, that is 56.4% of all greenhouse gas emissions! If we simply carpool more, start taking public transportation, or heaven’s forbid, walk… it is a bit mind-blowing how much of a change we will be making. If we simply switch to energy efficient lightbulbs around the home, turn off the lights when we leave the room, and be more conscious about how much light you actually need, we will be making a difference right away.
I will be the first to admit that I hate public transportation, and I love a brightly lit house. However, similar to my previous tip on reducing waste, let’s start taking baby steps. If you have the option of taking public transportation 5 out of the 7 days of the week but don’t, let’s start with maybe 1 or 2 days. Then, we can gradually increase it to 3 or 4 until you are finally taking public transportation all 5 days.
Bottom line is, we cannot expect ourselves to save the planet single-handedly, but there are so many things we can do in the meantime to start reducing our carbon footprint and immediately affect change in our world.
I promise you that by taking baby steps and setting realistic goals, you can make it happen. There are several times during my life when I feel like a fraud because I am simply not sustainable enough. That is why it takes all of us. I remember a story of what I learned in
