Pro Tip Tuesdays
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Don’t Get Discouraged
As my last semester of college is quickly coming to an end, I have been more stressed with schoolwork than ever. As a result, I have kind of been slacking in the sustainability department. I’ve been eating more meat/dairy lately, letting food in my fridge go bad, driving to class instead of walking, etc. While I feel pretty guilty about this, I am not allowing myself to become discouraged in the process of living more sustainably. Sometimes, life gets pretty crazy and we are bound to make mistakes and lose track of our goals. However, it is important to remind yourself that you are still making changes and you are…
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Jars!
This is something I have only begun to do recently, but I wish I had sooner because it is so convenient. If you are trying to be conscious of limiting your spending on plastic-packaged items, you’ll probably have a lot more glass jars laying around. I have learned that saving these jars for future uses is a satisfying way to reduce your waste output! For example, I am constantly buying salsa in glass jars. Instead of throwing them all in the recycling bin, I have begun to wash them out and keep them for future food storage. Like if I’m going to the beach or the pool this summer and I…
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A Tree-Free Home
As Earth day approaches, it is important to keep our tree friends in mind, for obvious reasons. It is no secret that billions of trees are chopped down per year (about 15.3 billion to be exact) for a variety of our everyday household items. Trees provide us with clean air and reduce the amount of Co2 in the atmosphere, so it is important that we greatly reduce deforestation rates before it is too late. Here are some simple changes you can make for a more tree-free home: Replace paper towels with a set of cloth towels for cleaning. Old T-shirts also make for great towels! Simply wash and re-use. Replace paper…
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How to Save More Energy!
One of the most effective ways you can reduce your carbon footprint is by conserving energy. While it may be common knowledge to people that you should always have lights turned off in rooms you aren’t currently in, it actually goes farther than that. Leaving your electrical items turned on/plugged in when you are not using them uses up energy for absolutely no reason at all. For instance, after you finish charging your phone, it is likely that you leave your charger plugged into the socket. Well, despite your phone not being plugged in, the charger is still sucking up a bunch of energy. This goes for any other kind…
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Ditch the Plastic Water Bottles
Growing up, my family would purchase 24 packs of spring water. We would go through them pretty quick, a large portion of them ending up half-drank, stacked up on nightstands, or underneath my bed. It’s a shame to think of all plastic I have accumulated in my lifetime, but a couple years ago I made the switch from buying bottled water to investing in an insulated water bottle. There are an infinite number of reasons why you should make this change too, but, here are just a few of them: you are eliminating another single-use plastic from your life (if you pitched the plastic bags like I suggested in an…
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Eat Local!
Buying local food is a growing movement that has many environmental benefits. One of the most important benefits of buying local food is that it reduces your food miles. When you buy produce or meat from a grocery store, it is more than likely that these products have traveled over 1000 miles to get to you. That’s a lot of CO2 missions. Luckily, buying local greatly diminishes this footprint. Upon doing research for one of my classes, I stumbled upon a website called EatWild. Basically, it is a huge database for you to find locally grown produce and meats in your area. It gives you lists of farms including their…
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Environmentally-Friendly Fast Food?
As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, eating less meat is one of the best things we can do for the overall well-being of the planet. One might think that going vegan or vegetarian means you have to sacrifice the enjoyment of eating fast food from time to time. Luckily, however, as trends for veganism and vegetarianism continue to rise, fast food corporations have begun to participate as well. I used to think that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy fast food if there wasn’t any meat involved. It turns out that is simply not the case! One day, I started ordering my Qdoba or Chipotle burritos without…
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Ditch the Plastic Bags
I cannot stress this one enough guys: REUSABLE GROCERY BAGS. I recommend these not only because it is important that we cut back on our single-use plastics, but also because reusable grocery bags are incredibly convenient. In my college town, we only have a Walmart to buy our groceries from. That meant that every time I would go and get a bunch of groceries, I was leaving with 6-10 plastic bags full of stuff. I would have to make extra trips from my car to my apartment to get everything inside; and it was just an all-around inconvenience for myself as well as the environment. I finally decided to purchase…
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The Earth’s Got Beef With Us
For my first post, I am going to share one of the most important things you can do to help in the battle against climate change: eat less meat. Specifically, eat less beef. I know, that’s probably not what you want to hear, because cheeseburgers just really hit the spot, but did you know that livestock operations account for roughly 50% of methane emissions into the atmosphere? Of domestic livestock, the beef cow/calf sector is the largest contributor of methane emissions (source). Not only this, but meat production requires massive amounts of Earth’s resources. For more information, check out this video. Look, I understand that cutting back on meat is not easy for…
