Easy Ways to Be More Sustainable
REDUCE. REUSE. RECYCLE. We hear that phrase all the time but what do we really take out of that message? I feel like for years for me, it was just recycling, but it’s bigger than that. Sustainability can take on many forms, and there are lots of small ways we can be better in the “reduce” and “reuse” categories that I think we neglect. Sustainability in general is hard, it’d kind of a like a diet, you can’t just go all in because eventually you’ll fall off the wagon and give up. I’m not asking you to do that, I’m just asking you to think a little bit more when you’re at places like the grocery, and maybe change up a few habits every now and then in order to help our mother earth.
Why? Why is this so important? Because by 2040, we’re expected to have nearly 6 billion people on this planet, all using plastic. Water consumption is expected to increase by 15% and 70% of our fresh water supply will be needed for agriculture just to feed people. We need to start learning these habits, or we’re going to destroy our planet much quicker than anyone would like – in our own lifetime or your children’s lifetime.
So now that I’ve scared you into it, below are a list of ways, simply by going to the grocery each week, that you can practice sustainability:
Cut back on using plastic bags. Plastic bags, regardless of that stamp on the side of them, are hardly ever recycled. It may not be 100% realistic to stop using plastic bags, I get it, but you can at least stop using them so frequently. For example, in the grocery store, you buy bell peppers, what do you put them in? NOTHING. Just set them in your cart. “Oh that’s so dirty!” You trying to tell me you don’t wash that bell pepper before you eat it anyways? YOU SO DIRTY. I repeat, just set them in your cart. Bulk green beans? Probably not the best idea, get a bag, but hey, 1/2 ain’t bad, Mother Earth thanks you.
Stop buying cases of water. This is so easy. SO EASY. Get a filtered water pitcher, buy gallons of water at a time instead of individual bottles, get a cute and fun refillable bottle, just stop buying cases of water. It’s such a waste and the oceans are literally BRIMMING with these. If you do buy cases of water, refill them. Reduce, reuse, recycle peeps.
Reuse your grocery store containers. An easy way to cut down on the amount of Tupperware you buy is to reuse your sour cream containers, butter plastic tubs and that weird Tupperware your deli meat came in. Why not, it’s essentially the same thing right? And it’ll wear out, but you gave that a longer life than it would’ve had, and at the end of its life, you can still recycle it! And if you think about it, Tupperware can be used in many facets of our storage life (school supplies, screws in the garage, starter pot for a plant, get creative :).
Egg carton plant starters. Speaking of starter pots, egg cartons make great seed starters. Why buy something you could save from your weekly trip? If you buy the cardboard version, it can essentially act the same way as a starter pot you’d buy in the store and be directly planted into the ground (note: this doesn’t apply to foam or plastic, all the more reason to buy cardboard eh??). And BONUS you’re growing your own food and being sustainable in your own right! Create yourself a little herb garden, your dinners will thank me later.
Eat LOCALLY and what’s in SEASON. People advocate for this all the time, but I don’t know if we always understand why. It takes energy to get your groceries to you. Point A (farm) to Point B (store). It could be that simple, if you eat locally. If you are eating processed or out of season foods, there was energy spent in flying that food to your country, shipping it cross country, storing in some sort of facility until inventory required it (which probably has temperate controlled regulations, so don’t think it’s just sitting there), only to finally be sent to your local store. Each step in that process took time and energy to get to you, and at the end of the day, it probably doesn’t taste that great either because of all the additives it had to undergo to make that journey. Just trust me and eat local! Or better yet, grow your own (hint #4).
Eat. Less. Meat. Yes, I said it you red-blooded American. Meat in general is going to be expensive and hard to get in the next 20 years, so you may as well get used to it. You don’t have to be a vegetarian to have a salad every now and then. Even just taking down the days a week you eat meat from 7 to 5 or 6 will make a huge impact on our meat supply and environment in general.
Make a list and only buy what you need. Know how they say never go to the grocery hungry? Well, similarly, you tend to overbuy if you haven’t made a list of what you need in advance. And even then I still overbuy. But meal planning or at least having 4 dinner options written down so you stick to those main ingredients can help reduce in overbuying of produce, meat or other perishables that’ll go to waste.
Turn perishables going bad into something better. Tomatoes going bad? Jar salsa or tomato sauce. Cucumbers, carrots or other veggies on the edge? Pickle them into some delicious giardiniera. Herbs questionable? Make a jarred chimichurri or pesto. Fruit starting to brown? Turn it into a pie filling or sauce. Citrus? These are great to grind in your dish washer disposal or turn into antibac spray. Don’t know how to do these? We’ll teach you, (http://recipes/) it’s simpler than you think, and its worth the minimal extra effort.
Don’t Give Up. We aren’t perfect all the time, but like I said earlier, sustainability is kind of like your diet. You’re going to have a cheat days, but if we keep going, every little bit counts in helping cut down on waste, plastic and consumption.