We are beginning a new decade in 2020! Unlike most New
Year’s resolutions, don’t require you to break a sweat at the gym. As
2019 has ended, it’s time to start thinking about the environment. Global warming, species extinction, higher sea temperature,
a mammoth carbon footprint and scarcity of natural resources are no longer new
terms in our world today. As we continue to turn a blind eye to these figures,
they seem to be increasing on a geometric progression, giving us lesser remedy
time than we had a few years ago.
Fortunately, many people are getting on board. The
eco-friendly living movement is now spread in every home and society, so we
hope to get on the right side of fate soon. If you are yet to join the green movement, we urge you to
start today. This is why we collated this article to expose those small tweaks
you can make to be more eco-friendly in 2020.
What is Eco-Friendly
Living?
Eco-Friendly living is the practice of reducing your demand
on natural resources by making sure that you replace what you use to the best
of your ability. We all know that climate change, global warming, and resource
depletion are real and their impact on human and animal lives can be highly
destructive. It is an opportunity for people to take action for sustainable
living that can help them to reduce their environmental impact by altering
their lifestyle. If we take a rough estimation like using public transportation
more often, becoming more eco-friendly can go a long way in reducing your
environmental impact and making this planet a clean and safe place.
Here are 5 ways to be
more Eco-Friendly in 2020
Grow your own Veggies
& herbs: Growing your own veggies is one of the biggest ways to
become sustainable. A person new to the world of food-growing can start with
garden herbs. These seeds can be grown in pots with six hours of bright
sunlight, and only need watered a few times a week. You don’t have to buy seed
to start your own garden; you just need to buy seed pencils or plantable pens.
When the seed pencil becomes too short to write or color with, just plant the
pencil into some soil then watches it grow into flowers, herbs or vegetables.
Avoid single-use
plastic: Over 1 million birds die every year from ingestion in
plastic. And according to the National Oceanographic, over 100,000 marine
mammals are killed by single-use plastic pollution annually as well. These
consist of drinking bottles, food wrappers, polythene bags, plastic bottle
caps, plastic sachets, plastic wrappers, plastic straws, and Styrofoam cups
& plates. Not all types of single-use plastic can be recycled. It’s not
your fault that you have no idea which of the seven categories of plastic
should be put into the recycling bin.
Start using reusable
rags instead of paper towels: One of the simplest ways to be more Eco-Friendly in 2020 is
to replace paper towels with reusable cloths. Just as plastic products choke
waterways, unrecyclable paper produces unnecessary waste in landfills. It’s
very easy to use a paper towel to clean up a spill. But imagine the
number of paper towels discarded each year, with every household on the planet.
The main reason for using reusable rags is reusable cloths can do the job
faster, by soaking up more liquid with less material and waste.
Avoid plastic wrapped
food: You will get all the veggies & fruits in plastic nets
and the plastic net cannot be recycled, whereas buying veggies comes to around
some bucks and you don’t want to waste some more bucks on plastic bags – simply
bring your own reusable bags to hold them and avoid wasting plastic for
veggies. Most of the people use wrapped food out of convenience, but spending
an extra couple of minutes making mindful decisions will rack up your
eco-points.
Change up your
transport: Not every distance is walkable, sometimes we need to get
from one place to another in a certain amount of time, or the weather is too
bad to take a walk… but there are many other modes of transport that can be
explored for a more sustainable 2020.
Instead of using your car or cab to get to and
from work every day, or to the city for a shopping or vacation trip, could you
take a bus, the train or even cycle? Not only this will save on emissions but it also reduces the
number of times you fill up your car, time wasted in traffic and so on.
