5 Easy Ways To Go Green

Photo by: Thomas Richter

For most of my life I've always done what was comfortable and convenient. Even when I pushed myself outside of my comfort zone, it was based heavily on what I thought I should do, not what I felt was true to myself. 2016 has been a year of change, and I decided to be more thoughtful about my actions.

One way this has manifested itself is through heightened awareness of my impact on the planet.  I, by no means, became the girl who only fills one mason jar of trash a year; but I’m making progress in my own way. I think the thought of how much there is to do can be so daunting that people are overwhelmed and quit before they even start. Over the course of the past year, I have found some very easy ways to make minor changes to your life that have a major impact.

Bring your own bags with you grocery shopping

If you go grocery shopping once a week and buy 3 bags worth of groceries each trip, at the end of the year you will have accrued 144 plastic bags. If the population of the USA—318.9 million—all brought their own bags to the grocery store, we could save 45.9 billion plastic bags annually.

Pay your bills online

If you get 5 bills a month, you’ll save the paper required to send out 60 bills a year—also, collecting your mail will be significantly more fun!

Eat better

Try and buy organic, locally-grown produce; not only will you be supporting your local community, you’ll also ensure better quality, less preserved food for you and your family.  Organic farming improves soil quality and minimizes pollution from chemicals and pesticides, of groundwater, rivers and oceans.  If that doesn’t convince you, the fact that it tastes better should!

Carry your own coffee mug

If you order a coffee to go at your local coffee shop Monday through Friday, at the end of the year you have thrown out 240 disposable cups.  If the whole USA threw out 5 cups a week, the population would throw out 76.5 billion coffee cups a year.  (this one works with carrying your own water bottles too!)

Turn off the lights

When you leave a room, check the room; turn off the lights, TV, unplug any electronics that don’t require constant electricity. According to a recent study published in Energy Policy, turning off your lights has a much higher impact on carbon dioxide emissions than previously thought AND you get to save yourself some money on your electric bill in the process! (Win-Win)  

Don’t get me wrong, there are millions of other ways to “go green.” I also try and buy natural, organic products which aren’t tested on animals.  I try and make what I can (in the kitchen and around the house) in lieu of buying pre-packaged products to lessen waste but it’s completely understandable that there are limits to what we can fit into our lives.  In my experience, these 5 tips are really easy ways to help the cause—you won’t even notice a burden in your life; in fact, each time you do one of these things, you can think about the fact that that’s one less coffee cup in a landfill; or one less plastic bag floating around in the ocean. When we all do a little, the end result is huge.