With the new year coming up I’m planning on making a few lifestyle changes. I’d love to live a more sustainable lifestyle and to live a little more responsibly. The future belongs to the children and I’d like to educate them by example and do our bit for the environment and our planet. Here are five ways you can live a more sustainable lifestyle too.
Consider an electric car
I’m not suggesting you go out and buy a new car tomorrow, but when you are looking to replace your car, seriously consider going electric. We will need a second car next year and to assuage my guilt at the possible impact on the environment we are looking at getting an electric one. I was worried about charging an electric car but there are so many charging options, such as a NewMotion chargepoint and there are plenty of public charging points now too.
Reduce your home energy use
There are lots of easy ways to reduce your energy consumption at home. You can make sure that appliances are turned off at the wall rather than left on standby and use energy efficient bulbs and appliances. Hang your washing out to dry on the line rather than use a tumble dryer to conserve energy too.
Recycle
We already recycle a fair bit but I think there is lots more that we can do. Recycling keeps rubbish out of the tip and is so much better for the environment. This year we are going to keep as much of our Christmas wrapping paper as we can and put it aside to use next year, the same with birthday wrapping etc. I’m also planning on upcycling a lot more, so not only putting rubbish into the recycling bin, but working out if we can do something else with it at home.
Buy local food / Grow your own
This year we are going to plant out herb plants so that we don’t have to keep buying fresh herbs. If you have a bigger garden or an allotment you could make yourself a little vegetable patch. We haven’t got the space for that so I’m going to try to buy locally produced fruit and vegetables and make sure that we buy seasonally too. If everyone did this it would significantly reduce the environmental impact of importing fruits and vegetables overseas and it also supports local farmers so it’s a win win in my book.
Stop using disposable products
So much of what we use is disposable and doesn’t need to be. Consider using washable nappies, flannels instead of baby wipes, eco cloths instead of kitchen paper. You can use re-useable wax paper instead of cling film and pack leftovers in glass pots instead of using foil. You can also make sure that anything disposable that you do use is easily recyclable.
I hope this has given you some ideas on how to make small changes to your life that can make a big difference to your environmental influence on the world.
