Living Sustainably
Is it worth it?
Did you know? As of today, we produce about 300 million tonnes of plastic waste every year. It is nearly equivalent to the weight of the entire human population!
I used to think that living sustainably was difficult and almost impossible but as I started bringing my reusable tumbler to work and even taking cold showers every day, I realised that it’s the little things that go a long way.
We live on this planet shared by billions and it’s our duty to save it. Living sustainably shouldn’t be difficult, we can adopt a few ways to make a difference as we move along.
What is sustainable living?
Sustainable living is a lifestyle that aims to reduce one’s environmental impact. Lowering your ecological or carbon footprints through daily habits can help sustain the earth.
It is the change of how you do things to sustain the environment. Examples such as reducing the use of resources and your consumption of single-use plastics, shopping for clothing, and more. (We’ll review the examples as we go along!)
Let’s reflect… What are the three basic human needs that are needed to survive? Have you guessed it? Well, they are shelter, water, and food! We live a life involving a great expense that brings no value to our lives and that could potentially cause harm to our planet.
If you think about it, our planet has a lot to offer if we reduce what we take from it. We can slowly transform our lives for future generations to come and make an excellent living out of it.
Now if you’re probably wondering, is there a difference between living sustainably and living waste-free? Hold your plastics, let’s read on…
Living sustainably VS waste-free — Is there a difference?
To simply put it, living sustainably is all about reducing, reusing, and recycling. This is to encourage people to minimise the use of the earth’s resources and reduce the damages of human and environmental interactions.
Ultimately, the goal is to generate the least amount of environmental damages for future generations.
What about zero waste then? Zero waste aims to create no trash and avoid single-use plastics and non-compostable products. Anything that belongs in the garbage is a no go.
A waste-free lifestyle aims to send almost nothing to a landfill. Refuse what you don’t want, reduce what you need, reuse as much as you can, send as little as possible to be recycled, and compost whatever you can’t.
Does living sustainably helps the environment?
Yes! It does! But… how?
Living sustainably can potentially reduce the growth of landfills and the endless plastic lakes floating around the ocean. If you think about it, the luxury we have and resources that we’re exposed to slowly harms the planet — and we don’t even think about it the slightest bit!
We rely heavily on the environment to produce resources for us to survive daily and we must do better to give back to Mother Nature for a sustainable future. For us and the future generations to come.
Products that are manufactured to be easily composted, resources that can be renewed, and definitely, recycling helps the environment! Do you agree with me so far?
How many ways are there to living sustainably?
To answer this question, there are endless ways! There are so many different ways to do so and there isn’t much work needed.
Starting off to making a tiny change is better than no change at all. Don’t ever feel that living sustainably should be dreadful, OK? Don’t you worry, I got your back. Keep reading!
I have eight easy ways to living a sustainable life that is suitable for everyone. Care to check them out with me?
- Reduce your energy usage
This is pretty easy, but a little tricky to tackle sometimes. Reducing your energy usage includes turning off unnecessary lights, your routers, and even your water heaters.
Some of my family members have a habit of not turning off water heaters after they’re done with the shower and trust me, it keeps the energy going and the bills are casting up.
Turn them off, people!
2. Change the lights in your house
It is known that an LED (light-emitting diode) or a CFL (compact fluorescent lamp)light bulb is a great choice to use as they consume less electricity than normal and traditional ones.
And did I mention, they last longer too?
3. Reducing your consumption of single-use plastic
What are single-use plastics you might ask? They are plastics that can only be used once and are then disposed of.
Our planet is drowning in plastic pollution with throwaway culture. Plastics takes approximately 450 years to fully decompose and it, unfortunately, ends up in the ocean, endangering every marine life there is.
Whatever goes in the ocean, goes in you.
4. Fashion choices you make affect the planet too
You can opt to buy your clothes at thrift stores and even support your local community. And… guess what? It makes your travelling miles fewer when you shop locally!
Say no to fast fashion.
5. Go paperless
Technology is everywhere. Allow yourself to immerse in utilising digital notes instead of wasting paper to save trees! If you need paper in hand, why not try printing or using it double-sided whenever possible?
A little goes a long way.
6. Purchase reusable, eco-friendly items
Remember point three? About single-use plastics? So instead of using disposable items, why not invest in reusable products?
Products such as bamboo straws, eco-friendly tumblers, tote bags for groceries, etc.
Ah! I have an idea now… You can even design your tote bags however you’d like. Interesting isn’t it?
7. Turn off electronic devices at home
Similar to the first point, for any electronics that might not require electricity overnight, why not shut them down? Besides, you can save money on the bills!
This includes turning off WiFi routers at night too. And also, are night lights still a thing?
8. Reduce food waste
I know it’s hard to resist the food that you love and buying too much can cause waste. Consuming only what you need is the key to reducing food wastage.
This way, you won’t produce too much trash and your wallet wouldn’t hurt — you’re only spending on what you need, correct me if I’m wrong.
P.S. these animals died for us.
Final contemplations
Changing up a lifestyle is incredibly difficult and a big change. There is no denying that it will take some time for you to adapt because trust me, I took time just for me to adapt to the fact that I bring around my reusable tumbler every day.
“Not this again, water adds weight into my bag” I mumbled to myself.
I admit I’m just plain lazy. I have the freedom of choice to carry my tumbler with my hands but I chose not to.
Saving the environment solo wouldn’t do any justice. But, encouraging the people around you to make the first step would count as something.
Change doesn’t happen overnight. Try choosing a point or two here and you can cultivate new habits, just like I did! (In case if you’re wondering, I chose “purchase reusable items”. That explains my tumbler!)
Wanna know how many carbon footprints you’ve made? You can check out the link here.
At the end of the day, sustainability living is worth it if you ask me. What about you? What do you think?
Before I end off, here’s a quote from WWF that has left an impact on me. “The everyday choices we make all have impacts on our planet.”
If you like this story and want to get future updates from SuperCampus, just hit the follow button! Do share your thoughts with us. We will be delighted to chat!
