As awareness about the global crisis the is world is facing grows, so does the desire to do something about it. More and more people are trying to make eco friendly changes in their lifestyles. And some people are going so far as to change every little detail about the way they live in order to be as close to zero waste and carbon neutral as possible.
But how realistic is this for the average person really?
Challenges of a Green Lifestyle
By far the biggest challenge of eco friendly living is the cost. Almost all of the green options available cost more than their conventional counterparts. This sad fact can make an eco lifestyle unattainable for some people, and challenging for anyone who doesn’t have deep pockets. It is very difficult to look at two cartons of eggs size by side and see that one costs $1.99 and the other costs $6.25… and chose the more expensive one.
But sadly, that is what happens with a lot of eco friendly options.
So how can an average person, with an average income, make the lifestyle switches that are necessary to save our world for future generations?
Eco Living Is Not All or Nothing
Luckily, choosing to live a low impact lifestyle isn’t an all or nothing kind of thing. You do not need to move out of your city apartment, buy a farm in the middle of no where, and take your whole lifestyle off the grid to live a low waste life.
It is easy to look at those two cartons of eggs and think “how much good am I really doing by buying this one carton of eggs if this is the only green choice I can make right now?”. But in truth, it does help.
There is a famous quote “The world does not need a few people doing it perfectly, it needs millions of people doing it imperfectly.” And that is what you should be thinking when you look at those cartons of eggs. Maybe you can’t afford to buy all the earth friendly options out there, but even doing just a little will help if millions of people are also doing just a little. That is the mindset we all need to take if we are going to make a difference in the world.
Spend Your Money Wisely
When you go shopping, think ‘quality over quantity’. How much stuff do you really need? How much stuff do you buy that just ends up sitting on a shelf or taking up space somewhere? Or maybe just ends up in the trash a few days later. You really don’t need all that junk. If you stop buying trinkets and little things that aren’t really useful, then you will have all the money you saved by not buying those things to spend on things that do matter. Like eco friendly items.
Eco friendly items tend to last for a long time. That’s kind of the point. Remembering that helps when you head to the stores. If you have any doubt about whether you need it or not, you probably don’t. Save your money and buy something that is good for the world instead.
Don't Throw Away Everything You Already Have
There is a common belief that if you want to call yourself eco friendly you must have ALL the eco friendly things. And if you use a plastic spatula you cannot call yourself eco friendly.
Will that is just not true! I have a plastic spatula.
The key here is that once you choose to go eco friendly, you choose to buy NEW things that are sustainable. But do NOT just throw away your old things that aren’t. At least not until they are no longer useable. Throwing away perfectly functional items just because they are not made of bamboo is glass is definitely not eco friendly. Keep using those items until you no longer can. Then, and only then, replace them with something sustainable.
Do As Much As You Can
Perhaps you can’t afford that six dollar carton of eggs every week. That really is a pretty steep jump in prices, three times the amount of the conventional eggs. But if you can afford it once a month, that still helps.
Think of it this way, the options that are available in stores today are there because of demand. For the last few decades the consumer has demanded that things keep getting cheaper and more readily available. We want everything at a low cost and we want it now. And industry has adjusted to meet that demand. If we want to world to go back to sustainable practices, then we need to demand sustainable practices.
So the more cartons of those pasture raised eggs that are bought, the higher the demand for them gets, and the more farmers will start to supply those eggs to meet the demand. So even if you are only buying pasture raised once a month, you are helping to increase the demand. And if hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people start to buy one carton of pasture raised eggs a month… that is a lot of demand.
And as industry makes the adjustment to meet higher demands, the prices start to come down as the methods of production become normalized. So today those eggs cost $6, but maybe next year they will be $5.50, then $5, then $4… and so on. Until eventually they cost the same, or even less, than conventional.
It has worked before. Organic vegetables use to be hard to find cost drastically more than conventional vegetable. Today they are sold every where and generally cost only a few cents to a dollar more.
This is how the average person with an average income can help. By increasing the demand as much as is feasible in their individual lifestyle.
The "Investment" Swaps
You are probably sick of me talking about eggs by now. So I’ll switch it up to something else. Some of the eco swaps out there are more of an investment type of thing than a daily or weekly type of thing. Silicone stretch lids or beeswax cotton wraps for example. These are both things that cost much more up front than the throw away versions (saran wrap, tin foil, and plastic baggies). But these swaps can be used for years.
So it will probably cost you $10 upfront for a three pack of waxed cotton wraps, and $20-30 for a set of 6-10 silicone lids. But both will last you for many years. And during the lifetime of these items, you would have spent the same, or likely even more, on replacing your saran wrap, tin foil, and ziplock baggies every time you ran out.
These swaps are investments. Investments that help save the planet by cutting your waste footprint way down. That is a win-win.
Low Cost Investments for the Environment
Not all swaps are investments for your wallet. Some are lifestyle investments for the environment. And luckily, they won’t stretch your wallet much at all. These are things that fall into the category of swaps that have been made affordable already by the demands of the consumer in the last decade or so.
If you haven’t made these swaps already, you should. They don’t cost much, but they made a huge difference in your waste footprint. They are: cloth shopping bags to replace plastic and paper (these can be used anytime you need a bag for just about anything as well as for shopping). And reusable water bottles and coffee mugs to replace disposable. These are things that are generally provided along with your purchase, but they extremely wasteful and bringing your own helps to drastically green up your lifestyle.
How many plastic bags do you usually bring home from the grocery store? Probably a lot. Those bags are flimsy and generally only a few things fit in them before they break. So you end up brining home well over a dozen. But bringing just half a dozen of your own cloth bags completely eliminates that plastic waste. The ‘investment’ here is more about you simply remembering to bring your bags with you every time you go shopping
Free Eco Swaps
Not all low impact lifestyle changes have a cost to them at all. And that means anyone, on any budget, can do them.
Reducing food waste is the biggest, and most important, of these switches. The amount of food that goes to waste in this world is staggering. There is so much food waste dumped into landfills (where it cannot decompose properly) that it accounts for somewhere around 11% of the total greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere. And yet there are many people around the globe who are starving.
So changing how you eat can go a long way toward helping the world. Environmental and humanitarian.
- When you go out to restaurants, take your leftovers home and eat them later instead of having the restaurant throw them away.
- Plan your meals, and stick to the plan. (I must confess this one is hard for me, sometimes i just don’t feel like eating on Friday what I had planned for Friday. But it matters, so I eat it anyways.)
- Learn how to make ‘leftovers soup’. This is basically a way to use left over food, and ingredients that didn’t get cooked all in one go. And you would be surprised about how good it tastes.
- Try out composting. Or donate your kitchen scraps to someone, or some organization, who does. Food waste is such a big deal that some cities around the world are trying to force composting. If you are caught not using the pick up compost bins you will be fined. But this isn’t common… yet. So for now, check if your city has a place to bring your food scraps. Or find a friend with a compost who will take them. Or even try out composting on your own. It’s easier than you might think. And, surprisingly, doesn’t smell bad either.
- Planned-overs. Make big meals with the intention of eating the rest the next day. This helps cut down on the amount effort that goes into green cooking because you only have to cook once, and you have multiple meals. You can even make batches big enough to eat for several days. Or freeze portions to be thawed and eaten later. Just make sure you are actually finishing it.
- Smaller meals. If planned-overs don’t sound good to you, try making smaller meals instead. Small enough that there won’t be any leftovers at all. And so, no food waste. This is good for your waistline too. I would just recommend having a go-to side dish or add on for those nights where you accidently just don’t make enough. For us that is the French go-to. Bread and cheese. Both keep for a long time in the fridge which means they can last all week to supplement those meals that end up being too small. And any bread that gets hard can be turned into croutons later. Extra cheese can be shredded and added to meals, or just eating as is for a snack.
Some other free, easy, changes you can make in your life are things like always turning the lights off when you leave a room. And not having too many lights on at any one time. Walk or ride a bike whenever possible instead of driving. Take public transport when possible too. And shorten your showers, even if its only by one minute a day. That’s 365 minutes a year, 3650 in a decade, and so on. The little things add up.
Live Eco Friendly to the Best of Your Ability
The moral of the story is, anyone can liver a greener lifestyle than they are living right now. Maybe going off the grid isn’t going to work for you. Honestly it isn’t going to work for most of us. I am not off the grid. But every single eco change, no matter how small, matters.
Buy the pasture raised eggs, and any other green option, when you can. Make some eco friendly investments here and there. If you can’t afford to rush out and buy all the things right now, then don’t. Buy one today, and another next month, then put a few on your Christmas wish list. And so on.
If you try to force yourself beyond your means (financially and mentally) you will probably fail. So do it at your own pace. But don’t think that you can’t possibly make a difference, and choose to do nothing because of it. You can make a difference, even if it is a small one. Similar to voting at the elections, you only have one vote, but it counts and everyone should be using theirs. So just go out there and get started. In whatever way works for you!
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