Serious environmental pollution today will probably make you take more responsible actions to the earth. How to be greener? You often hear that green living is not using plastic. This answer is not wrong, but not enough.
Over the past few years, as environmental pollution has been increasingly escalated, air pollution has reached its peak, many people have started to care more about green living. Green living really just does not use plastic?
In fact, it is not only plastic that is responsible for devastating the Earth. To save the Earth, we need a lot of time to find a viable solution. Some of our unconscious actions are making the environment worse. While it is not possible to completely change your lifestyle, you can still make some small environmental changes as follows.
While reducing plastic, let’s learn 5 other important ways to stay green as followings
1. Minimalist living
Minimalist lifestyle and green living are two popular ways of life that many people are interested in and implementing today. Minimalist living is the use of surrounding items minimalistic, creating a neat living space from which life becomes more simple. For that reason, minimalist people are really easy to follow the green lifestyle.
Minimizing the needs of life and focusing on personal experience makes the surrounding items use the original function. Minimalist lifestyle uses useful long -last objects and limits from using items that are not really necessary in life. As a result, it reduces unnecessary and damaged items that are thrown wastefully. That means you also reduce the amount of waste on the environment.
2. Do not use single-use plastic products
Every day you still see information about harmful plastic particles in the ocean and our food chain from televisions to social networks. They are the result of the bluff use of single-use plastic products. So one of the ways to start greening is not to use plastic products, but rather disposable products.
Many people frame themselves and have negative thoughts about plastic. For that reason, when they switched to a green lifestyle, they automatically discarded all plastic items and replaced them with materials such as wood, stainless steel, glass, etc. However, there were no real materials more environmentally-friendly than any material. You have to know that pottery from clay, glass from sand, wood from trees, .. Human get them from nature as input to the production process. Of course, any production process will generate environmental pollution, more or less depending on the type of production.
The way we use improperly is the cause of environmental pollution. If the items available at your home are reusable plastic (polypropylene – PP, low-density polyethylene – LDPE, etc.), you can continue using them instead of throwing them in the environment. This not only causes waste but also increases the burden on waste disposal.
3. Use of recycled materials
Give a new life to your old products. It can be plastic, glass bottles, old clothes, fishing nets, … anything we can recycle and extend the life cycle of use.
We all know recycling plastic is considered the most optimal method to treat plastic waste. It helps reduce the consumption of natural resources and reduces some stages of production, thereby reducing emissions to the environment. Statistics speaking, recycling could save between 30 and 170 million tons of carbon each year.
4. Prioritize “vegan” products
The good news is that more and more people are interested in vegan products. That means you will not consume or use animal-derived products, including food or cosmetics.
You will be no stranger to the wonderful effects that the vegetarian diet brings. Besides giving you good health, it is a great support for the environment.
Products with animal ingredients are also included in the restrictions of the vegan. Some cosmetic manufacturers use animal-derived ingredients or animal extracts, including honey, beeswax, shea fat, sheep placenta, etc. This is considered cruelty to animals for the cosmetic industry.
5. Be a smart shopper
Though you do not follow the minimalist living, consider carefully when you want to put an item in your shopping cart. Ask yourself if you really need it. Make a shopping plan for things you really need to buy so you don’t get out of control at a mall or online shopping. Unnecessary items may be discarded after a short period of use.
In addition, many brands nowadays focus on environmentally friendly elements in their products. So why not make it your first choice when shopping.
Some brands use 100% recycled plastic instead of primary plastic for product packaging. These are considered the first steps on the path of sustainable business that major manufacturers are interested in and work towards.
Therefore, when shopping please pay attention to the information or ecological labels on the product. Consumption of these products is contributing to minimizing the burden on our environment.
Final Words
If you are really conscious about the environment, living green is not that complicated. But it is not just encapsulated in reducing plastic as many people think. There are many simple actions you can apply to your life and help ease the burden on the Earth. So try 5 simple ways to stay green on the dike to make a difference and responsibility.