Being eco-friendly can bring countless benefits to our lives and the environment. However, being perfectly green is not an easy task and small slips soon bring the feeling of eco-guilt.
Check below for tips on how new habits, new routines and rituals can help you take care of the planet without having eco-guilt.
Don’t try to be 100% eco-friendly overnight
Set realistic goals and start small. Adopt small sustainable measures in everyday life. Keep in mind that with a simple attitude, we already help to reduce the impacts on the environment.
Start with products that are easy to replace with eco-friendly alternatives
Market bags can be easily replaced with eco-bags or cardboard boxes. Adopt a mug, replacing disposable cups, in order to avoid excessive consumption of plastic – especially at work. Ensure your hydration by always having a bottle of water with you, stopping generating more waste when buying water in disposable packaging. Dispense the drinking straw or choose from the many reusable straw models that can be easily found.
Choose eco-friendly companies
Every day conscious consumption has become popular and more companies are concerned with the positioning of their products in the market. This makes it easier to find eco-friendly products on supermarket shelves.
However, before buying them, finish using the ones you already have at home, avoiding waste and the unnecessary generation of more garbage. Pay attention to product packaging and be careful with companies that practice greenwash, that is, they have a false appearance of sustainability, without necessarily applying it in practice.
Pay attention to product packaging
Even though it is recyclable, avoid buying products with excess plastic packaging and, when available, choose those packaged in glass or paper, or else bulk products with reusable packaging.
Your food can also be eco-friendly
Consuming food consciously is also a path to a more sustainable posture. Choose to consume foods of plant origin, produced organically and without waste. Adopt the Meatless Monday campaign, and prioritize, at least once a week, removing meat and meat products from your diet.
Sustainable and eco-guilty fashion
The fashion industry is also responsible for generating a high level of pollution to the environment. Therefore, when buying clothes, give preference to pieces made of natural fabrics and preferably buy at bazaars and thrift stores.
If you can digitize it, even better
Think of everything that is possible to digitize in your life and, instead of printing documents, have them accessible digitally, on your cell phone or computer – even the paper agenda can be replaced by the digital one. In addition to helping the planet, digitizing can bring numerous benefits, such as practicality and more organization in your daily life. However, it is important to be careful with excessive consumption of electronic equipment. Buy new ones only when necessary and always remember to dispose of electronic waste in the correct place.
Also take care of your trash
Garbage is one of the biggest sources of pollution for the environment, it is often managed and disposed of incorrectly, generating pollution. However, we can minimize these consequences by adopting an eco-friendly lifestyle.
The first step is to rethink our consumption to generate less waste, with more sustainable choices. Not being able to avoid its generation, it focuses on reusing it, not being able to pass to the correct separation, segregating organic waste and recyclable waste. In other words, apply the 5 Rs of sustainability: refuse, rethink, reduce, reuse and recycle whenever possible!
Eco-friendly house
At home and at work we can take some measures such as the practice of home composting, reuse of water with cisterns and installation of solar panels. Old and broken furniture can be used for other functions or restored by hand.
Rely less on automated means of transport
The less you depend on automated means of transport, the more you will contribute to the environment, in addition to saving money and also taking care of your health. Try, for example, to make the most of your activities by walking, rollerblading, scootering or cycling.
Travel with conscience and cause less environmental impact
So-called eco-friendly travel is a trend that everyone should consciously implement when embarking on their next adventures. The more often we travel around the world, the more aware of the damage we do to the environment on our tours we should be. Check out how to travel without eco-guilt and contribute to the preservation of the environment.
Transport
We can reduce the damage to the environment when we choose to travel in alternative ways, such as by train or bus, instead of traveling by plane, which is a huge carbon waste generator. It may take you a little longer to reach your destination, but perhaps the longest journey is an opportunity to discover a country’s landscape and interact with locals along the way.
Many modern cities have major traffic problems that contribute to pollution. Instead of renting a car, take advantage of public transport or use popular ride-sharing apps. Or better yet, go for a walk. There is no better way to get to know a city than taking a walk or cycling.
Accommodations
The choice of place where we will stay incorporates many ecological ideas in our attitudes within our accommodations, with some simple attitudes such as reusing towels and not changing bed linen every day. Washing these daily generates a surprising amount of waste, especially if all other hotel guests request the same service. Using the same towel for two days instead of one can halve the waste produced.
We can also treat our rooms in an eco-friendly manner. Simple actions such as turning off the TV, turning off the lights and unplugging electronic devices when not in use can generate considerable changes in the amount of energy consumed during your trip.
In addition to these attitudes, when choosing a place to stay, how about choosing places that have proposals that make a difference in at least some aspect related to the environment? It can be through technologies, processes or even construction.
Buy local products
For true immersion in the culture where we are visiting, we should buy as much food, clothing and souvenirs as possible locally.
For example, we can keep an eye on the label of a particular product to see where it was made or manufactured. Shipping goods or food from the place of origin to cities around the world can generate a lot of additional waste along the way. Buying local products is a way of ensuring that what you are buying has not come from too far away and therefore has not had a major impact on the environment. It’s also an excellent way to support the local economy.
Minimize personal waste
When traveling, we must always be aware of the personal waste we may be generating. The best way to reduce our waste is by opting for reusable items like water bottles and reusable bags. And most importantly, when we generate garbage, we must be aware of how to dispose of it and ensure that it ends up in a garbage can, rather than on the streets or beaches.
Attractions
An attraction or the simple fact of being in a certain place can be causing significant impacts to the environment without us realizing it. Natural attractions such as trails or caves should be visited with care. Natural parks are designed to preserve a certain flora and fauna, so we must be careful to keep them in their natural form, always remembering not to collect any natural resources and respect the animals. In addition, some attractions with wild animals use brutal tactics to force them to stay close to visitors, so we should research in advance to ensure they are safe places with good living conditions for them.
Get organized and avoid eco-blame
Acquiring new habits is not a simple task, it requires time and patience to deconstruct old patterns. Organization is important in this process and can avoid that annoying feeling of eco-guilt. Make a checklist before leaving home, keep your sustainable utensils at hand and separate everything the day before. That way it will be easier to be eco-friendly.
Don’t let eco-guilt make you give up
Focus on the efforts you’ve been making and see how your new lifestyle is making a difference, rather than dwelling on the things you haven’t been able to change yet.
Being perfectly eco-friendly is not the goal, but doing what is within your reach today. Look at everything you’ve already managed to change and with that aim to minimize your waste more and more every day. Put eco-guilt aside and remember that your new style is making a difference and helping the planet.
