7 Ways to Live Eco-Friendly

Change is happening. Sustainability is essential. Here are a few ways to reduce our carbon footprint, limit pollution, and support regeneration of soil.

From climate change activists, to vegan activists world-wide, spreading the truth about animal cruelty and the harmful impacts industrial animal agriculture/aquaculture has on the environment. Environmental organizations raising awareness about the loads of issues we are causing to the environment, to people making drastic changes in their lifestyles to improve ecosystem conditions and limit their carbon footprint.

Anything man has made as a human resource that negatively impacts the environment, can be reversed toward a more sustainable resource with less environmental impact.

Here are 7 ways to live a life of sustainability.

#1 Education

The first step to living an Eco-friendly lifestyle is to educate ourselves about the resources we use daily which negatively and positively impacts the environment. Now we must go a step further and figure out which resources we have a choice to support and not support.

For example:

What do we control?

· What we eat (for many). Where we eat (for many).

· What we drink (for many). What is the drink contained in (for many)?

· Supporting particular industries.

· Which products we buy/use?

· What kind of car we buy? (not everyone has control over this)

· Our habits?

· Our so called “traditions”?

· Culture?

· What we want versus what we need?

· And the list goes on….

What can’t we control?

· Some people unfortunately don’t have a choice in what they eat.

· Some people unfortunately don’t have a choice in what they drink.

· Form of transportation for many.

· Airlines

· Fossil fuels (there are options out there to limit fossil fuel usage)

· How many products we buy are contained (there usually is an eco-friendly alternative).

These are just examples because the point I am trying to make is that we have more control over what we consume in our lives than we think.

Education about which companies and resources we support, where they come from, how are they produced, and why we need them are all necessary for living an eco-friendly lifestyle.

#2 Grocery Shopping

How often do you go grocery shopping? I don’t know about you guys but I tend to grocery shop once a week with minor grocery store trips in between. So that’s roughly four to 8 times per month, 48 to 96 times per year. That’s a lot of grocery shopping. Imagine a family of four or more.

Oh boy that’s a lot of plastic or paper grocery and produce/bulk plastic bags. Well fortunately there are sustainable options out there such as the obvious one…. Bring your reusable grocery bags. But the AMAZING not so obvious resources are these trending Mesh Produce/Bulk food Bags!!

Invest in some Mesh Produce bags and say goodbye to those outdated wasteful single use plastic produce bags!

Congratulations you are taking a step in the right direction!

The Earth, the oceans and the animals thank you for living Eco-friendly!

#3 Composting

Did you know it takes 25 years for a head of lettuce to fully decompose in a landfill? Food just emits carbon into the atmosphere for all those years until it is finally decomposed. This is insane! Most of the waste we produce world-wide can and should be composted, yet most people do not compost, nor do they know how.

Start composting today and give nutrients back to the Earth. Educate yourselves! This shit matters!

Composting is quite easy and fun. Here is a video on composting for beginners. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zvFresyPmA

#4 Use Less Plastic

As we are all aware, plastic is pretty much used for everything. World wide 300 MILLION TONS of plastic are produced every year. Imagine how much is wasted! It’s unfathomable. Think about this: Every single piece of plastic ever produced still exists today in some form. This isn’t right. Here are some tips on how to use less plastic.

· Be aware and conscious of what you are consuming.

· Decide when buying “Do I need this?” or “Do I want this?” most of the time we don’t need it. Remember….. It’s the bare necessities, the simple bare necessities!

· Carry a reusable water jug or coffee cup.

· Use bio-degradable trash bags.

· QUIT USING STRAWS!!! Most of the time we don’t NEED a straw to drink or use reusable Bamboo straws or collapsible stainless-steel straws instead. Bring them with you when you go out. People will want their own trust me!

· Don’t use a plastic bag every where you go! Most of the time you can carry the item you bought with out a bag.

· Quit buying premade or precut fruits, veggies and bulk items wrapped or contained in plastic. Mother Nature designed food such as fruit with a protective skin or shell around it for a reason!

· Also stop supporting the industrial animal agriculture industry. Support your local farmers, ranchers, and regenerative farming practitioners!

The point is we must become more conscious of our plastic use and demand large corporations to transition to sustainable packaging.

#5 Go Paperless

Going paperless is a trendy transition for most businesses, companies and people doing their part for sustainability. But there are still many ways we can all help the environment by using less paper. Such as:

· Paper towels- use bamboo paper towels, recycled paper towels or reusable paperless towels.

· Toilet paper- use bamboo toilet paper or recycled toilet paper.

· Tissue paper- again bamboo is a great and far more sustainable alternative than trees.

Hemp and Bamboo are becoming more popular and are far more sustainable than cutting down trees. Always strive for better ways to use less paper and transition toward sustainable products.

#6 Transportation

An important aspect of life is our forms of transportation. As much good this industry creates for people, it too is a major contributor in green house gases and climate change.

Here are a few ways to reduce your carbon footprint through transportation.

· Car Pool- make the effort to car pool as often as possible. The less vehicles on the road the better.

· Walk or Bike Ride- It’s a great way to stay active, burn calories and breathe in that fresh air baby!

· Uber/Lyft/Bus/Taxi- it’s a similar way of car pooling especially if there is a group of you. Keeping more vehicles off the road and less carbon emissions in the atmosphere.

· Electric/Hybrid Cars- not everyone can afford cars which emit less emissions but for those who can should.

· Don’t Leave the House- sometimes a nice quiet day at home is needed and deserved.

These are a few ways to cut carbon emissions through transportation. If you have other ideas we would love to hear them!

#7 Support Local Farmers

The majority of the worlds food comes from a globalist, industrialized system of farming and transportation. There is so much detail that goes into acquiring the finished farmed product such as a head of lettuce, bag of potatoes, package of beans, pasta, or meat one would find in a grocery store.

The largest practice of farming in the U.S. is Monocrop Agriculture, one of the most unnatural and unsustainable forms of farming on the planet. It is literally non-stop killing. Constant soil disruption, loss of bio-diversity, annual release of precious carbon stored in the ground and the list goes on. Compounding the situation, there are massive corporations such as Monsanto, acquired by Bayer in 2018, who's quest is to obtain absolute control over the global food system. This subject could have a multi-page article written about it alone, but I'm not getting into it at this time.

One of the most important, environmental, ecological, sustainable, healthful, human and animal welfare considered transitions more people can make today, other than growing our own food, is to support our local and even regional farmers.

By doing this we can give power back to the people and our communities, nourish the lives of the famers/land/consumers, and have more control over one of the most important commodities on the planet, FOOD!!!

We hope you enjoyed this article and found some value in it. We all have the power to make positive change in this world. It start with you and me. Let's become educated and make the change.