Living Sustainably is a goal that many of us should have these days. With the state of the planet deteriorating rapidly, exploitation of animals and humans at an all time high and resources running ever lower, it is essential that humans as a whole are able to reduce their consumption of almost everything.
Whether it’s food, water, clothing, shoes, electronics, furniture or other general consumer goods, it all requires taking something from our planet. Oh and not to mention the fact that these are all over-consumed, wasted or thrown out in ridiculous quantities by the human population. The amount of waste has tripled since 1960. Global water usage has increased almost six-fold since 1900, to 4 trillion m3 per year. The luxury goods market has more than doubled in the last 20 years.
Many people will simply brush this off with a “oh well it’s just cos we’re a growing population” sort of comment. That is, however, the exact issue. Making excuses can’t continue and it’s also completely irrelevant. That’s like saying “ah well my lung cancer was caused by unknown factors, not smoking”, and then totally disregarding your diagnosis and doing nothing about it. No matter what the cause, it is happening and we need to limit it as much as we can.
The greatest threat to our planet is believing that someone else will save it
Robert Swan
I know this all sounds extremely negative and as though there’s no hope for anything, ever again. Luckily, that’s not the case. With a simple shift in our society’s behaviour, we can drastically reduce the negative impacts – and it starts with you. Yes, you. Every single person can play their part in aiding our planet back to health and keeping it fit for generations to come. So let’s see what we can all do to start living more sustainably, more within our means and ultimately, more happily.
Changing our diet
One of the main lifestyle shifts that we can make easily is a change to our diets. Although this might sound daunting at first, it is actually very beneficial and there are many reasons to do so. The meat and dairy industry require huge amounts of water, land and plant crops to keep it going and feeding our ever-growing population. With more and more people starting to eat meat regularly, it is crucial to try and counteract this where we can.
Not only has it been proven that we can survive without any meat at all, there is even a strong case that many people would actually thrive on a plant-based, vegan diet. Without going in to too many of the health benefits of veganism (there’s a separate post on that here), we can safely say that it provides people with a nutritious, balanced and sustainable way of eating. But how sustainable is it?
Well, over the course of a year it is estimated that a vegan saves 1.5 Million litres of water, 6600 KGs of grain, 1022 square metres of forest, and over 3300 KGs of CO2! That’s a pretty crazy amount of resources that are saved, just by eating healthier, plant-based foods. Now imagine you live in a household of four, how much would you save then? What if you got your family friends, your cousins and your grandparents all to switch to a vegan diet?
That is a lot of resources saved. In fact, if you got just 9 other people on board, that’s over 15 Million litres of water saved per year! 15 Million!
Eating a vegan diet could be the single biggest way to reduce your environmental impact on earth
A Study By The University Of Oxford Has Shown
Many people are reducing their meat consumption or becoming vegetarian, but unfortunately that simply is not enough anymore. Had we made the shift a decade ago, we might have gotten away with it. Now, we are facing a critical time where drastic and urgent actions need to happen. Comparing even a vegetarian’s CO2 savings show how much more effective a vegan diet really is. 730 KGs per year, vs 3300 – that’s over 4 times less saved than a vegan diet!
So as you can see, it’s a very effective way of creating a sustainable, healthy lifestyle for yourself and is one of the steps you should definitely consider if you want to become more sustainable. If you are looking for any tips on how to switch to a vegan diet, check out our other blog posts on that here.
Nobody really needs Fast Fashion…
Another one of the most resource-straining industries is the fashion industry. Clothes, more clothes, shoes and more shoes. For some people, their inventory is endless – they don’t even have space for all the clothing and pairs of shoes that they hoard! This habit is a little hard to drop though, and may be easier to do gradually rather than burning everything you own and buying only 1 outfit per year.
Clothing takes so many resources from cotton, to leather and wool from animals, to metal used for sewing machines. And for what? So that it can just be worn for a year and then chucked away? The main problem is that society has basically taught us: you own many outfits, you’re rich. You wear the same clothes multiple times a week, ew. Now, obviously in most places it’s not quite so bad and not quite so black and white, however there remains this idea that people need to have all these different types of clothes, different outfits for different days and different pairs of shoes for different events.
But why? Nobody really needs that when you think about it, and it even causes you more stress with so many different combos and choices. The worst part is that you can’t even wear that many clothes, so they sit around wasting away until one day you think “oh, I haven’t worn that this year so I’ll bin it”. That’s a pretty wasteful product lifecycle if you ask me.
A better way to go about fashion is in a minimalistic way. By buying fewer outfits and fewer individual items, you can focus on buying higher quality, more sustainably produced clothing. Yes, sustainable and eco-friendly clothes are more expensive, but if you pay more attention and are careful in what you’re buying then you can easily even out the costs.
Instead of buying 3 different pairs of trousers that are all kind of similar, buy just one quality pair that will last you forever and didn’t ruin the planet to be made. The other benefit to this is that eventually, if enough people commit to buying sustainably then prices will go down and more and more companies will start to focus on this as demand rises.
This has huge potential to change the way the fashion industry is and could make it a far more eco-friendly and sustainable industry. If everyone plays their part to help this shift then that is a great way to lead a more environmentally friendly lifestyle.
Choosing the way we travel
By now everyone has probably heard it a million times over – we need to travel less often, whilst choosing public transport more, whilst focusing on using electricity rather than combustion engines. Or better yet, walk or cycle everywhere you go. This sounds like a strenuous duty that nobody can really be bothered for or that nobody enjoys. However, there are many benefits to everybody by following this advice.
Firstly let’s think about walking and cycling, since these are the most sustainable. It’s so much cheaper. If you walk to work, or walk to the shops, it is 100% free – there are no fuel costs, no maintenance costs, no fares, no road taxes. So not only do you reduce your carbon footprint but you also save money by choosing to walk short trips, rather than taking the car or bus unnecessarily.
Similarly, cycling is a very cost-effective way to travel. The only cost you have is buying the bike upfront and minor maintenance costs over time, but compared to any other form of transport this is a great deal cheaper. Cycling will also get you a lot further than walking, allowing you to take longer journeys whilst still reducing your carbon footprint and your overall costs.
Public transport is also a great option to travel more sustainably and it brings its own benefits. It’s often cheaper to share transport and generally, the more people you share with, the cheaper it is. If you live in a city, public transport is everywhere, with huge amounts of connections. This makes it a great way to get around as it’s easy, can take you wherever you need to go, is more sustainable than cars, and is cheaper than cars.
Lastly, considering longer distances, trains and coaches are great ways to travel far whilst keeping your carbon footprint low. In order to reduce the global footprint of travel, there needs to be a drastic change in how we get places. Obviously, there are certain journeys where there is no alternative to plane travel – for that we’ll just have to hope electric planes come around quickly! But, for those journeys that can be switched out, it should be made a priority for everyone. Although it takes longer by train and bus, and although train can be more expensive, they really do make a great difference to the health of our planet. Plus, who doesn’t love sitting and watching movies for hours and hours on end?!
So, by being more conscious (and a bit less lazy) when we travel, we can live much more sustainably and have a huge impact on how much we damage and take from the environment. By choosing transport that takes large numbers of people using little amounts of fuel, and by walking or cycling whenever we can, we can drastically reduce the amount of carbon dioxide produced. And by increasing demand for train, bus and coach transport, prices will eventually sink as they have done with flights, creating more affordable sustainable travel methods that everyone can access.
So how does it all add up?
By changing a few key areas of your lifestyle, you can really have a positive impact on the environment and the world around us. Although lots of us are ready to brush the whole sustainability thing aside with the excuse that “I won’t have any impact by myself”, every single step towards a more eco-friendly society is important.
Book A Sustainable Adventure Today
Not only can you play a crucial part by yourself, but you can help to influence others. That’s why it’s so important for us all to try and live sustainably – the more individuals on board, the quicker the dominoes will fall. With the simple changes suggested above, everyone can easily reduce their CO2 output and save wastage of materials and water. All it takes is a bit more thought behind daily choices and you’re well on your way to helping safeguard the environment for generations to come.
Living sustainably is a goal that everybody should have and with some conscious actions and changes, it is a realistic outcome that we can achieve. For inspiration on how you can travel sustainably or live a vegan lifestyle then check out our other blog posts!
