Going green doesn’t necessarily mean a massive shift in priorities. From carpooling to starting your own garden at home, small lifestyle changes can create a green revolution in your household. Environmentalism can often go hand in hand with frugality, and most of the ideas on this list are likely to be as friendly to your wallet as they are to the earth, creating even more green to enjoy.
1) Shop Local
Shipping creates a major strain on the environment due to the consumption of fossil fuels to power trucks, boats, and planes. You can get around this and live in a greener way by focusing on locally produced products that have a shorter distance to travel en route to your home. Farmstand is a cool app that brings the best locally grown food from over 8,700 farmers’ markets from around the world.
2) Grow Your Own Food
Growing your own fruits and veggies is another great way of reducing your overall carbon footprint. Home-grown food saves on gas consumption, not only from your own trips to the grocery store but also from the international agriculture network that sees food products shipped in from all over the world. You can even take it a step further and create a backyard chicken setup so you have a source of fresh eggs on hand every day. Any means of reducing your reliance on food shipped in from great distances will make a wonderful positive impact on the environment.
3) Drive Less
Clearly, the use of fossil fuels is an issue that impacts the environment in myriad ways. From air pollution to the prospect of oil drilling in previously protected natural areas, reducing your reliance on gasoline is a good idea for eco-friendliness. Carpooling can be a great way of avoiding gas consumption, and GoKid makes it easy to link up and coordinate with other parents in your area who have similar priorities.
4) Ditch Plastic Water Bottles Forever
Staying hydrated is important, but there’s no reason to use plastic water bottles to keep your daily fluid intake up to the right levels. From landfill waste to the draining of water reservoirs and even the carbon output of the boats and trucks that ship bottled water from place to place, ditching the disposable containers and opting for a reusable bottle is a quick and easy way to go green. If it seems like too small of a change, consider how many plastic bottles you tend to use in a year, and remember that the environmental impact of bottled water is actually quite shocking. Some of our favorite reusable bottles include S’well and Hydro Flask.
5) Encourage Your Kids to Reduce Waste
Your kids will learn from your example. If they see you treating your environment carefully and thoughtfully it will encourage them to do the same. You can also teach them in practical ways such as encouraging them to think carefully about how much time they spend in the shower and encouraging them to make environmentally responsible choices when it comes to clothing and toys. Participating in green activities in your community (tree planting days, community cleanup days, etc.) can also help set your children on a path to sustainable and green thinking in the long term.
Being green isn’t just about the broad long-term effects. It can have a positive and immediate impact on your own health, budget, and happiness.
