Have you ever thought about how you can make your life more sustainable? To be honest, I never really gave much thought or even wanted to do something about my impact on the environment, until I had children.
I grew up enjoying clean beaches and beautiful rainforests, and I am hoping that they can enjoy that too.
Since I have had them, I have been more proactive in recycling, growing plants, conserving energy, and buying second-hand clothes.
I’ve even made vegetarian meals that the whole family likes to eat. Which amazed me cause I had always focused most of our meals around meat, as I thought they would not enjoy the meals if they were vegetarian.
Here are 5 super simple things you can do to make your life more sustainable
1. Adopt a vegetarian diet
Did you know that raising animals for food produces more greenhouse gases than all of the cars, planes, and other transport combined, which I find pretty shocking. If you feel you can’t go cold turkey just yet, why not have a meat-free day, or even a meal to start if you are that much of a carnivore. Actually, you don’t need to eat as much meat as you think.
2. Avoid bottled water
The biggest scam of all is bottled water! Not only does the plastic that is made for the bottles use up large amounts of oil to make, but you are wasting money on something that is free straight from your tap. And yes, tap water is fine to drink. I drink tap water and it’s beautiful. In some places, I did have to purchase a filter, which lasted for years. Just purchase some reusable sustainable bottles for your water for when you go out.
3. Avoid genetically modified food
Genetically modified foods, or GMOs (genetically modified organisms), are not only bad for the environment, but they also can have effects on your health. Turns out lots of people don’t even know what a GMO is, or what GMO stands for. Try to avoid genetically modified foods as much as possible and buy organic to make your life more sustainable.
4. Change your light bulbs to energy-efficient ones
When we were living in a caravan, we switched all our lights to LED lights, and the power bill was less than half what it was before — we were paying around $10 a fortnight. It’s a very simple thing to do to help the environment in a huge way.
5. Grow your own produce
Just like going vegetarian, if you are growing your own produce, you will also be reducing greenhouse gases, especially if you purchase produce from a supermarket, as that usually requires a drive into town. If you don’t have a green thumb, at least try to grow some herbs; they are easy to grow. I recently grew some basil, rosemary, and mint from seed, and they didn’t die. I was very proud! Another good thing is to buy from a local farmer at your markets, which are also a lot cheaper than the supermarket.
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