I don’t know about you – but whenever people tell me how to reduce my carbon foot print I always think to myself it will involve so much sacrifice.
Seriously – that’s the word. Sacrifice. I selfishly think ugh I don’t want to have to give up XYZ because doing so will make my life harder.
So then I got to thinking – there has to be easy ways to reduce your carbon footprint that don’t involve loads of sacrifice but do make an impact.
I saw a quote somewhere that said the planet doesn’t need everyone doing everything perfectly – it needs everyone doing a bunch of things imperfectly. I love that mindset. So here’s three easy ways you can reduce your carbon footprint with little to NO sacrifice – but BIG environmental impact.
Eat a little less meat.
Before you @ me – I’m not vegetarian and I’m certainly not vegan. I’m not even pescatarian. I’m a puteverythinginmymoutharian.
That being said – it’s been reported that greenhouse gas emissions caused from meat processing is an even bigger environmental thread than fossil fuels. Red meat specifically utilizes 11x more water and produces 5x more emissions than poultry.
This doesn’t mean I’m encouraging ya’ll to give up red meat. Our household certainly isn’t. At B&B we’re all about realistic, small, easy changes you can make to your own lifestyle that have BIG collective impact to the planet.
In our house we’ve adopted “meatless Mondays” so that we’re going meat-free one day a week. KB actually had this as a work initiative and because I pack his lunch (and send him off to work like a cute lil’ school kid lolz) it really inspired me to learn to make more meat-free dishes! They’re possible – and they’re tasty!
Transparently, KB and I don’t eat a ton of red meat on a weekly basis as it is. Not even really on a monthly basis. I love swapping in ground turkey for my red sauce pasta recipe and we tend to eat a lot of poultry and seafood.
Drop the fast fashion – shop sustainable!
This is a topic I feel insanely passionate about…
Shopping fast fashion and trends is one of the worst possible ways you can consume when it comes to environmental impact.
I know we all associate brands like Forever 21 and Zara with “fast fashion” – but to be honest any time you’re buying a $5 tee shirt from even other trusted brands or Amazon, you should stop and think…
How the F is this shirt only $5?
There are so many problems with “the $5 tee shirt” I don’t even know where to begin. First of all, if you only spend $5 on an item – you think of it as disposable. It goes out of style next month? No worries, I only spent $5 on it, I’ll just toss it in the trash.
Which is exactly why textiles make up one of the highest percentages of our landfills.
Furthermore – how is it possible to pay a laborer a fair wage when a shirt only costs the end consumer $5? It isn’t possible. Let me say that one more time for everyone in the back.
IT ISN’T POSSIBLE.
I want to be super careful here – I am fully aware that I write from a place of privilege and I try my best to see past that privilege when writing pieces like this. There are so many cases out there of families and people that cannot afford to buy the sustainable cotton tee from X brand at $25+. I get that – I don’t judge that. No one should judge that.
But for those of us that have the ability to pause and make changes in this area – I really think we need to hold hands and do that. Don’t shop fast fashion as frequently (notice I don’t say never – we all love a good trend at times!). Donate before throwing in the trash. Shop sustainably where possible and research about capsule wardrobe dressing so that your wardrobe doesn’t go out of style next year, causing you to have to shop all over again.
Shopping for pre-loved items is a great way to shop sustainably on a budget – hit up your local thrift store, sign up for sites like Poshmark, and have fun giving extra life to a piece that otherwise would have ended up in the landfill!
These little mindset changes can add up to BIG impact in the long run – and actually save you money.
Swap out some of your home items from single use to reusable.
I dedicated an entire blog post to some super easy eco-friendly home swaps. FIVE of them to be exact!
We’ve started to reduce the amount of single use items in our home and we’ve found that our household costs have actually started to go down! We no longer buy single use plastic bags for food storage and use reusable silicone bags instead. I also swapped out my cotton face rounds I use for my facial toner and now use washable rounds that I can toss in with the rest of my laundry.
Eco-friendly swaps don’t have to be complicated or expensive – and they add up!
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Have other tips to share about how to reduce your carbon footprint? Share in the comments below!