Imperfect Habits Everyone Should Adopt
Reduce your carbon footprints with seven easy habits
With the impending doom of our planet approaching quickly, everybody can afford to pick up some new habits that can help delay our destruction by just a little bit longer. The stigma around the zero waste and vegan communities is that they are very exclusive, and very harsh when it comes to imperfections. But, the cold hard truth is that you don’t have to be perfect at any of it to contribute to saving our planet. Below is a list of things to incorporate into your life that won’t make you the perfect minimalist, zero waste-er, or vegan, but will still make an impact.
1. Ditch the straw
The most basic of the zero waste needs. You’ve heard it a million times, but cutting down on single use plastics like straws, lids, and utensils heavily cuts down on your plastic usage on a day-to-day basis. These smaller items, while they may be “recyclable”, they do not often make it to the recycling plants because they are too lightweight to make it through the mechanical sorters. So they just go to landfill anyway, most of the time. You don’t need to spend money on a fancy reusable straw because you could just ditch it in general if you are able to! But, if you want to get a pack for yourself, you have lots of options from stainless steel, to glass, to silicone or bamboo! They usually run less than $10 for a pack, and come with a little carrying case most of the time. Or, if you want to go a little fancier, FinalStraw sells a collapsable version that can fit on your car keys. I know not everyone has the ability to ditch plastic straws, but if you are able to, it is a small sacrifice to make.
2. Meatless Monday
I made a jump into vegetarianism about a year ago, and it was genuinely very easy for me to give up eating meat. Though I know that is not the case for everybody, cutting down on the amount of meat in your diet can drastically reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses released into the air, greatly impact water conservation efforts, and of course, save some animals in the process. So, eliminating meat even from one day of the week will greatly impact the planet. Now that I don’t eat meat, I find myself personally eating a lot more whole foods and feel much healthier. It steers me away from fast food (though I do still indulge in Taco Bell on a weekly basis). Of course, the most impactful diet would be veganism, so the more animal byproducts you cut out of your diet, the better! I personally have taken the opportunity to exclusively cook vegan foods, but do occasionally indulge in eggs or cheese when I eat out.
3. BYO Lunch
This is one of my favorites — because you can save money doing it too! I know it’s really easy to head to the Chipotle across the street from your office and have them make food for you, or go to the corner store and pick up a pre-packaged salad, but a lot of that food is overpriced and creates lots of unnecessary waste in the process. Instead, you can meal prep! I think cooking is so much fun, and I love to play with new flavors and cuisines to make my meals for both school and work really satiating and delicious. I usually like to make three days of hot food at a time, or pack a salad the morning of. My favorite food blogs is called FromMyBowl, and is full of delicious, meal preppable recipes that you can take to work, school or anywhere you need to go.
4. Bulk buying
This habit is definitely not accessible to everyone, but if you have a local health food shop near you, or a grocery chain that has bulk bins, this is another great way to save both waste and some money. Whole Foods is probably the largest national grocery chain that allows you to buy in bulk — and they allow you to measure your container before putting food in it, so you don’t have any extra weight at the end of your transaction. You just need to talk to a staff member before filling your containers. However, if you do not have access to containers to fill with produce, as some produce bags can get pricey, you can also reuse the ones that the grocery store gives you. That will, obviously, reduce plastic use without having to pay any extra money! However, if you are looking for produce bags to fill with bulk ingredients (or just regular produce bags), NaNa & Co is my absolute favorite. The company was founded by two refugee sisters in Canada, and they make all of their products from upcycled materials!
5. Thrift shop
Fast fashion is one of the leading industries when it comes to high waste and negative environmental impact — accounting for 20% of our planet’s water waste, 1.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, and is responsible for drastically underpaying their 40 million factory workers in unsafe work conditions. While the sustainable fashion industry is on the rise, and is definitely making a large impact on the world’s waste, the best way to reduce your fashion waste is to buy used clothing pieces from thrift shops. 85% of the clothes that we buy will end up wasted — so buying thrifted pieces will help keep our landfills clear. If you don’t have any thrift shops near you, many online retailers serve the same purpose. Apps like Depop, Poshmark, or ThredUp will let you purchase gently used clothing items at a lower-than-retail cost.
6. Buy from sustainable brands
If you aren’t quite finding that missing piece from your wardrobe secondhand, the next best thing is to buy from sustainable brands. However, this isn’t just limited to clothing. You can buy just about anything from a more sustainable retailer. TenTree is a favorite of mine, and they focus mostly on hiking gear and outerwear. They also will plant ten trees with every single purchase. Planetbox will cover all of your to-go lunch needs — with utensils, water bottles, and lunchboxes of the sustainable variety. Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics is my go to for package-less skincare and haircare. Just a little bit of research will get you basically any of your basic needs in a more sustainable version!
7. Switch to plant milk
The dairy industry is one of the most harmful industries on both the environment and the animals. Besides, cow’s milk isn’t really meant for humans anyway! It’s, obviously, meant for baby cows. Dairy farms produce a very high amount of nitrous oxide, which is a greenhouse gas 298 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. The large increase in greenhouse gases affects the degradation of the ozone layer and directly affects climate change. Switching to plant milk, or reducing your amount of dairy intake in general, will decrease the your carbon footprint by a great deal. While all plant based milks rank lower than cow’s milk in the categories of emissions, land use and water waste, the most sustainable option is oat milk. However, there are plenty of other options, like nut-based milks (which are very easy to make at home), rice milk, soy milk and hemp milk. All of these options have a variety of flavorings, and most are available calcium fortified if you’re worried about losing out on your calcium for the day!
Overall, sustainability doesn’t take a few people living 100% zero waste, but it takes everybody on the planet doing their part little by little. So, if you can make any of these changes or implement just a little bit of zero waste into your lifestyle, you’ll be doing your part. The low waste community can be very intimidating, especially because many people are going to tell you that you’re doing it ‘wrong’. The reality is that imperfect low waste living is the best way to live.
