A Beginner’s Guide to Sustainability: How do you live a low impact life?
To put it simply, low impact living is all about reducing your impact on the environment and Earth’s natural resources. It’s a lifestyle that aims to lower your ecological footprint through daily actions and habits, from shopping local to eating less meat to avoiding single-use plastics.
Longer-lasting choices, like buying a smaller home and limiting air travel, also play a role in low impact living. However, our day-to-day choices have a far larger effect on the world around us.
It’s easier than you may think and changes don’t need to happen all at once. Similar to starting a new exercise plan, you can start off small and work your way up to larger goals.
Some easy places to start?
1) Make your meals at home instead of take out!
2) Carry your own water bottle instead of buying
3) Reuse glass jars (these can be 'water bottles' too!)
4) Participate in a 5 min beach clean up
5) Learn to sew and fix clothes before buying them new
The process of calculating your carbon footprint is a great starting point for low impact living. By answering questions about your buying habits, energy use, and transportation, you’ll be required to reflect on all the ways your choices affect the environment.
Sustainability is a journey, It's okay to go step by step, but we have to move forward. Have you made any low impact switches this year?