Human behaviours and activities are threatening the environmental stability of our planet. As we as a society are becoming more and more aware of our detrimental impact on the environment, people are coming together to do what they can to make a change.
The problem is, for many of us we are stuck in our ways. This can make it hard to know where to start in terms of living a more sustainable lifestyle. We have created this guide to help you get on the right track to living a more sustainable lifestyle.
Sustainable Lifestyle Tips
Statistics show that by the year 2100, the world could have compl;etely run out of rain forests, food in 2050. Fish in 2048 and water by as soon as 2040.
These eye opening statistics are staggering and we know that if everyone was to follow these tips we would all be making a huge, positive difference to the planet.
1) Eat Less Meat
One of the biggest contributors to global warming is food, and in particular meat. Global agriculture contributes to 30% of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.
There are multiple reasons why meat production is so bad for the environment. Firstly, out of the 3.8bn cubic meters of water used by humans, 70% of it is consumed by global agriculture. Secondly, forests are destroyed to make way for cattle ranches.
Finally, 1/3of all food is wasted where it ends up in landfills and decomposes which releases methane into the atmosphere.
2) Drive Less, Cycle More
Our next tip to living a more sustainable lifestyle is to drive less. This is because vehicles have a huge effect on the environment through the construction process, throughout their use and to their eventual disposal. On average in the UK, cars produce about 27% of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions each and every year.
A good way to reduce your carbon footprint is for as many car journeys as possible, switch to using public transport, walking or cycling.
Although it may not be as comfortable as traveling via your own car, it’s so much better for the environment. Plus, walking or cycling has the added benefit of improving your health too.
If you find cycling intimidating and aren’t too sure where to get started, there are plenty of videos and how to guide online as well as beginners courses for cycle maintenance. One useful blog is by Cycle Maintenance Academy who specialise in teaching beginners the basics of cycle maintenance.
3) Buy Eco Friendly Products
Another key driver of climate change is consumer habits. Unfortunately, the production industry is not always sustainable. This can be due to the process of production, the packaging of products, the transportation of the goods and even the chemicals released from products. Identifying which products are and aren’t eco friendly can be a challenge, here are some examples of products that have eco friendly alternatives available:
- Our first product example is paint. Standard wall paint generally contains chemicals known as volatile organic compounds of VOCs. You may or may not have heard of VOCs before, when released into the environment they can create a ground level smog that also contributes to the ozone layer. As the paint on your wall dries or gets heated up through sunlight or close contact with radiators, a process called ‘off-gassing’ occurs. This process is what leads to the nasty smells, headaches and nausea that accompany a fresh lick of paint. A good way to avoid this is to switch to a low VOC alternative. Victory Colours is an example of an eco-friendly paint brand that is more sustainable than regular paints.
- Buy less fast fashion. Clothes are a big contributor to pollution, creating around 10% of carbon gas emissions. Buying just one fast fashion t-shirt produces the same amount of emissions as driving 35 miles in a car.
- Avoid disposable coffee cups. The reason we suggest this is because with reusable cups available, why use disposable cups that are detrimental to the environment. To put it into perspective 16 billion paper cups are used for coffee each year, this leads to 6.5 million trees being cut down, 4 billion gallons of water wasted and enough energy used to power 54,000 homes. What’s worse is that in many cases, disposable coffee cups are not always able to be recycled amongst regular cardboard and paper recycling due to a plastic waterproof lining. This means one cup can contaminate an entire load causing a lot more to be sent to landfill.
4) Save Energy Where You Can
Energy production is another huge contributor of global greenhouse gas emissions, responsible for around 35% of total emissions. This leads to a number of environmental issues including pollution and climate change. Saving energy at home is a great way to help reduce your carbon footprint. Some ways we suggest saving energy is by switching off lights wherever possible, turning heating down or off when it is not needed, hanging clothes to air dry rather than using a tumble dryer and finally not leaving appliances on standby.
Summary Of Our Tips To Living A More Sustainable Lifestyle
We hope this article has given you a better insight into a sustainable lifestyle and how small changes to your daily routine and habits can make a difference. If everyone made a few changes to their lifestyle such as if everyone in the world recycled, the whole planet would be much cleaner and it would make more use of available resources.