Tips for a More Sustainable Lifestyle

Plastic, surging into the market for consumer use in the 1950’s. Today, all plastic produced and used then still exists and litters our earth. Candy bars and water bottle wraps consumed in the Vietnam War and during Martin Luther King’s “I Have Dream” speech still reside on the earth today, torturing our ecosystems. What can you do to help?

Each day millions of people go to the store, purchase a few items, use a plastic bag to carry the items to their car, and then into their home. The bag is then discarded, left to litter the earth for centuries. Thus causing the suffering of millions of terrestrial and aquatic animals who ingest, are suffocated, or become entangled by the plastic. With the simple task of bringing a reusable bag to the store, you save the planet, the animals, and yourself.

Reusable cups are another simple solution to prevent plastic from ever reaching our shores. In one year, a person can use enough plastic bottles to wrap around the earth according to 4Ocean researchers. By bringing a reusable cup to Starbucks, you can eliminate the single-use plastic of the cup and lid which would pollute the planet for centuries. Plastic spoons, knives, and forks become lodged in animals’ throats, nostrils, and mouths. Bring your own reusable silverware. If you know you’ll be getting a salad from Chick-fil a for lunch, grab a fork before you leave and tell them at the window you do not need a plastic one. Reusable straws have greatly grown in popularity and have wonderful benefits. By refusing plastic straws, you save another animal from a painful death of ingesting the straw or it becoming lodged within its nose.

Purchasing biodegradable phone cases makes great waves of change. Over 5 billion people own phones, meaning roughly 5 billion plastic cases will be discarded. The company Pela has created phone cases that decompose along with the first plastic-free screen protector. According to pelacase.com, over 500,000 have switched to these cases keeping 290,000 pounds of plastic from being produced.

Looking to reduce your carbon emissions? Unplug small electric devices when they are not in use. Turn off lights when they are unneeded, air-dry clothes vs. using a dryer, replace lights with more energy-efficient LED bulbs, and open windows to allow a breeze before turning on the air conditioning. Light is also a polluter of sorts. Turning bright lights off at night that are unneeded help local wildlife go on with their normal life.

Reduce your use of wet wipes and never flush them down toilets. Wet wipes, ranging from makeup remover to Clorox wipes, are created with unrecyclable plastics. When flushed down toilets, they create large masses causing blockages and lead to damaged pipes. These wipes will also never decompose. By using reusable makeup remover pads, old rags, and soap to clean, you can save the planet and carbon emissions created in fixing damaged pipes.

Repair, resell, refurbish, and reuse old or broken items. This prevents the items from becoming waste and prevents more items from being created. This decreases both non-recyclable waste, resources from being drained, and carbon emissions from the removal of resources and creation of new products. Supporting thrift shops, antique stores, Salvation Army, and Goodwill by either donating or buying products helps the planet and economy.

The key to being more sustainable is learning what happens to the products you use once they are thrown away, and what effect it has on the planet and those inhabiting it. Unfortunately, most places that claim to recycle in fact just ship it to China and other countries that deposit it directly into the ocean. By not supporting plastic products, there is no waste or need for recycling. Just because an item is more convenient for you in the short term, does not mean it is helpful for all others on the planet.