5 Ways to live a more sustainable lifestyle
5 Ways to Live a More Sustainable Life
A sustainable lifestyle encompasses environmentally conscious choices from all areas of life. From what you eat, to clothes you wear, brands you choose and services you use. All this stuff can feel like a bit of a minefield. Just when you thought you were making the most sustainable choices possible, along comes new information that says you could be doing better.
At Only Fair Clothing, we encourage you to do the best you can with the knowledge and resources you have. Doing something to reduce your carbon footprint is better that feeling disheartened and giving up all together. Plus you’ll get have some amazing benefits if you do!
Benefits of a sustainable lifestyle
Chances are if you’re reading this, you already care about sustainability. Aside from sparing future generations from a life of environmental misery, living a sustainable lifestyle has some massive bonuses to you too!
You’ll save money in the long run
It’s true. Sustainable options are often more expensive buy in the first place. For example, a pack of 20 disposable zip lock bags are so much cheaper than those reusable silicon ones! But as time goes on, eco options end up cheaper because you never have to buy them again. The same goes with clothing that’s made to be worn again and again, as opposed to fast fashion brands.
You’ll save time
Who loves spending their precious time purchasing the same things over and over again? Not us! Eco friendly products which are reusable or are made to last means less time thinking about all the stuff you need to buy, and less time buying them at the shops.
You’ll know you’re doing the right thing
When you know you’ve done everything in your power to live a sustainable lifestyle, you’ll feel good about yourself. This is one of few things in life that you have full control over! And when you make choices aligned with your values, you’ll boost your own mental wellbeing.
5 ways to live more sustainably
There are lots of ways you can reduce your carbon footprint and play your part. Here are 5 simple changes you can make to support the environment today:
1. Reduce your plastic waste
Plastic takes up resources to produce, then takes thousands of years to break down. While we think throwing it into recycling makes it ok, turning it into recycled plastic uses an immense amount of energy. Most of it doesn’t even get processed in the UK. The majority of our plastic recycling waste is shipped to other countries like China. And when these countries have stopped accepting our waste in the past, what we think is getting recycled actually ends up in landfill.
Reduce your plastic waste using simple swaps. You could start buying your pantry staples from bulk food stores, choose fruit and veg that’s not packaged, ditching straws and using your own reusable canvas shopping bags.
2. Choose second hand or sustainable clothing
There’s no denying that buying second hand clothing is the most sustainable option you can make. Buying pre-loved clothes signals to manufacturers that there isn’t the demand for them to produce more next time.
If you DO want to buy a fresh new outfit, the next best thing you can do is buy from a sustainable brand. Do your research and look for brands that use organic fabrics, have a recycling scheme and treat their workers in an ethical manner. Certifications are a great way to guarantee that the clothing was made to measurable sustainable standards. For example, clothing from Only Fair use GOTS certified organic cotton, are PETA vegan approved and Fair Wear stamped.
Of course, we go a few steps further and make sure everything, including our packaging, tags, t-shirt printing inks and facilities are sustainable too. But if that wasn’t enough, the carbon cost of all our shipping is calculated and offset. This means that Only Fair Clothing pays to fund sustainability initiatives to compensate for our shipping emissions.
3. Switch to a 100% green energy supplier
It’s not just about the stuff you buy. Choosing a green energy supplier means either the portion of electricity and gas you use comes from renewable sources or the carbon has been offset. The actual electricity and gas that reaches your home may come from “dirty sources” but you’ll know that the same amount of energy being generated and used elsewhere is renewable. So either way, you’re still helping to replace a proportion of energy generated as green energy.
4. Reduce your meat intake
If you feel like almost every new restaurant popping up is vegan or vegetarian, you’re probably right! Cutting out meat from our diets is something that’s becoming more prominent every year. With popular initiatives like Veganuary and Meat-free Mondays, our society is becoming pretty clued up when it comes to the huge carbon cost of meat consumption. But if you’re not ready to give up the taste of steak and bacon just yet, merely cutting down on your animal product intake can have a huge positive impact. You could start by choosing a day a week that you eat vegetarian. Or maybe you decide to only eat meat for your evening meals. Remember, it’s not an all or nothing kind of situation. Every bit counts.
5. Reduce your air travel
Most of us have been forced to reduce our air travel over the past year thanks to Covid. But on the plus side, this has saved a huge amount of carbon being released into the atmosphere. Airlines schedule flights on a supply and demand basis. That’s why us consumers can make an impact by choosing more sustainable alternatives like train travel where possible. If you do a lot of air travel for business, always check to see if there’s a way to hold the meeting virtually first.
If there’s one thing you should take away from this article, it’s this: Never feel you have to be completely perfect when it comes to making sustainable choices in life. This form of self-guilt-tripping makes us unlikely to take any action whatsoever! Instead, choose a few of the swaps mentioned above. Start slowly and build on it. Remember that anything you can do to keep reducing your carbon emissions will make a difference.
Learn about the sustainable and ethical ethos behind Only Fair Clothing here.