The weather is so lovely this time of the year, isn’t it?
It also brings me so much joy watching deer walking among colorful trees and quietly looking for food. Nothing compares to living in the countryside and seeing these marvellous beings up close.
For the first 11 years of my life, I lived on the Coast less than 15 minutes away from the Italian border. Although I miss speaking Italian and going shopping in Trieste, I feel grateful I get to experience freezing winters and beautiful Slovenian mountains.
There is so much beauty in my country and all across our Earth.
That is why I am so passionate about environmentalism and doing whatever I can to save our beautiful blue and green planet. I mean, it’s not going away and we certainly aren’t going to be seeing the apocalypse in 12 years but our grandchildren will suffer.
The wonderful thing is that we can start being eco-friendlier today, we don’t have to wait until we are bigger, better or richer.
If you are ready to act, here are 15 things you can do for the environment:
- Include more plants on your plate and take away animal products. Animal agriculture is one of the largest contributors to human-made greenhouse gas emissions. It is also the leading cause of deforestation, water and air pollution and biodiversity loss*.
- Walk more often. It’s a great exercise and you get to make sure there is one less car on the road today.
- Grow your own vegetables and fruits. The beautiful thing about gardening is that you don’t need a house and a yard, or even a balcony to do it. Many people grow cherry tomatoes and lemons, as two random examples, inside their home.
- Use reusable totes for grocery. They are incredibly cheap and durable so get a couple to mix and match with your outfits.
- Invest in a handful of mesh produce bags. Again, another zero-waste product that is durable and affordable.
- Start saving for an electric car. This is a more long-term goal but why not plan for the future? The more we normalize sustainability and EV, the sooner we will see their prices go down so almost everyone in the developed world will be able to afford one.
- Buy a second-hand bike and give your car a break. Just because you have to go to the store, it doesn’t mean you need to drive there to carry everything you buy. Get a bike and a basket (or a backpack) and off you go to buy cucumbers for a tasty salad.
- Thrift shop for clothes and accessories. Not only are you not contributing to pollution and human exploitation, but you are actually getting more clothes for less money. If you love to shop, here is your chance to be eco-friendly, human-friendly and dressed better than Rebecca Bloomwood.
- Buy less plastic-wrapped candy and make goodies at home. I bake almost every third day. I make these great pastries filled with apples and cherries that my whole family loves.
- Use public transport to help us have fewer cars on the road. Yes, the bus is probably not electric but you have 20 people in one vehicle instead of 20 individual cars on the road. Let’s aim for progress!
- Use natural cleaning products that are not toxic to the environment. You can DIY or buy things that are natural and sustainable (like this window and floor cleaning products I talked about last year).
- Brush your teeth with a bamboo toothbrush. If you know where to look, you can get a bamboo toothbrush for less than 2€ which is amazing when you look at all the pros of using it. They can be a bit uncomfortable at first but you get used to the feeling pretty quickly.
- Vote for people and policies that are good for the future of our planet. I take elections and referendums very seriously as it is my duty to vote as a citizen. If I want to complain later, I have to at least support one candidate/policy. I really dislike people who are angry that someone won but they never even voted! I understand you have no faith in the government, but don’t be a hypocrite.
- Borrow more, buy less. What happened to having communities that shared gardening tools and sugar? Nowadays we just buy, buy, buy… everything has to be new and fresh and ours. Sure, invest in things you will need often but if you just want to use gardening scissors once a year, ask your neighbour for nature’s sake. It’s also a great way to deepen your relationship with those who live close to you.
- Don’t let the water run when you are brushing your teeth. If you are not actually rinsing your mouth, washing your face or hands, there is no need to have it run for nothing. Water is crucial for the survival of all species and we have to respect it. Don’t be afraid of using it but do acknowledge it is something many don’t have access to.
We only have one home for now. If we don’t take care of it, who else will do the job?
This is not about spirituality or worshipping Mother Nature, but about coexisting with other animals and knowing that we evolved from the same cell as every single plant you see around you.
Plants are our food, and trees provide shelter, wood to make fire, and most of our oxygen comes from tiny ocean plants.
We need to take care of the environment if we want to thrive as Homo sapiens. Technology is great but we are animals and as long as we continue being made of flesh and bones, we will depend on nature.
I hope you choose a thing or two from the list and incorporate it into your lifestyle. It will take nothing from you but will benefit the whole of humanity.
Most of us value clean air and thriving nature. Climate change should not be political, it should be something we fight against together. Because we are all animals, pretending to be different because it’s easier to hate than collaborate.
If you want to learn how to create a sustainable vegan lifestyle please make sure you are following me on Pinterest and Instagram.
Tanja
