If you want to take action and contribute to saving our planet, you are at the right place. The internet is full of information and advice on how you can incorporate sustainability into your life but often served as a “to-do list” as opposed to tailored guidelines. In this blog post, we would like to show you how you can work towards adopting a more sustainable lifestyle. By adopting a personal sustainability plan, you can best define what works for you and your lifestyle.
Sustainable living is a practical philosophy that aims to reduce the environmental and social impact of our daily actions. We can say that sustainable living is a way of reducing one’s “carbon footprint.” It encourages people to minimize the use of Earth’s limited resources, and minimize the damage to human and environmental interactions.
What is a Personal Sustainability Plan?
Let us think about what motivates a person to “go green”? If the answer is to do their part, it shows personal responsibility to care for the environment and the welfare of society. A personal sustainability plan begins with an individual accepting responsibility to explore, discover and act toward creating a more positive impact. It initially starts by looking at all the areas of one’s life; a commitment to what a person wants for themself and the world. A personal sustainability plan is about making and sustaining a change in your lifestyle that you can be inspired and passionate about. Actions you can take can be categorized in different areas of your life.
Why You Need A Personal Sustainability Plan
A personal sustainability plan is a great help, when you want to pursue a more sustainable way of living. Why YOU need one is a very personal question though. Some of the reasons, why a personal sustainability plan might be right for you could be:
- Raising awareness: A personal sustainability plan can help you, raising awareness for your own actions and what influence they have on the environment
- Setting goals: Through a concrete plan it’s easier to set actionable goals and how you want to reach them.
- Taking responsibility: By planning concrete steps, you take responsibility for your actions.
- Self-Reflection: Reflecting upon your reasons for wanting to live more sustainably can be very personal.
- Motivation: A thought-out plan with a personal “why” can help motivate you and shows you when to celebrate your wins.
- Contributing: By acting more sustainable you contribute to societal wellbeing and to a better future for the next generations.
- Structure: A plan offers guidance in the process to not get lost in information.
Protecting natural resources:
start by rethinking consumption patterns for energy and water needs. Identifying ways to curb unnecessary consumption is a practical step. For instance, instead of taking a long shower, try to decrease the time it takes you as best you can.
Supporting local and organic foods:
this is one of the vital principles of sustainable living. It supports sustainable farming practices and consumption by encouraging the availability of healthy, local, organic, low-impact, and seasonal diets.
Limit Food-Waste:
Food waste is one of the most significant sources of waste worldwide. Some of the best tips to avoid food waste are:
- Pre-planning your meals or meal-prepping
- Composting food scraps
- Learning how to store food properly
- Freezing or conserving food, before it goes bad
- Only buying what you really need
- Starting a leftover-cookbook to learn how to use leftovers for new meals
Purchase eco-friendly products:
purchase items that are eco-friendly and come with minimal or sustainable packaging, especially those that can be reused. Buying second-hand is a form of consumption that is more environmentally (and wallet) friendly! At faircado, we offer a solution that increases the circularity of produced goods while making you save time, money, and CO2!
Become an educated consumer:
educating yourself on what constitutes sustainable products and services from not helps support businesses that are helping to do good for the planet and the welfare of the people. Having the ability to differentiate between greenwashing and businesses with real impact helps promote better sustainability practices.
The use of sustainable materials:
sustainable materials refer to efficient, eco-friendly, and durable materials that are often locally sourced and manufactured from waste or renewable resources.
Zero waste:
Aim to reduce waste in landfills by purchasing products that do not contain packaging.
Inspire others:
adopt a green attitude and talk about it with your family and friends to inspire them to do the same. One of the tangible ways that they can take a step towards sustainability is by using Faircado, which is a sustainable shopping assistant that aggregates second-hand offers from the most prominent marketplaces into one platform. It makes second-hand shopping easier and more accessible.
Remember that a personal sustainability plan is a journey and there are always ways to progress. We believe that a radical change of behaviors and habits is one of our best options to save the planet. It is time to reinvent how we live and starting within ourselves is a great start!
