Simple Green Living Examples For 2020

If you asked someone in the 1980s what green living is, their answer would be different from what it is today. It is evolving as we learn from our mistakes and plan for our future. And mistakes we have made! But we can still make a difference by implementing some of these green living examples.

Green living examples for 2020:

• eat less meat and dairy
• avoid all air travel
• shop at zero waste stores
• minimize car travel (when you must drive use an electric vehicle)
• calculate your carbon footprint
• wear sustainably made clothing
• offset your carbon emissions
• avoid single use packaged products
• use a handkerchief instead of tissues
• make your own cleaning and beauty products
• bring your own cutlery and food storage containers to restaurants

If you were around in the 80s you might remember how difficult it was to remember to recycle. Next we learned how to bring our own water containers and shopping bags. We now have to pull up our sustainable bamboo socks and create our new green living habits. Here is the lowdown.

Eat Less Meat And Dairy

Raising livestock is a resource heavy, high carbon emitting endeavor. Forests are cut down to make space for livestock and to plant crops that will be used to feed the livestock. In the place of the forests that could have absorbed carbon from the air, there is livestock that is emitting carbon into the air.

There is no doubt that cutting down on the amount of meat and dairy we eat can significantly cut our carbon emissions. It has been calculated that livestock produce up to 50% of all of the human caused carbon emissions.

Avoid All Air Travel

Each year more and more air travel is happening. If we continue at this rate of increased flights, the now 4+billion flights a year will double in the next 20 years.

We need to get this under control or we will definitely not meet our decreased carbon emissions targets.

As a result of this, people are making changes to the way they travel. The trend of “flight shaming” is spreading all over social media where people make a public commitment to stop travelling by air. Train bragging is gaining popularity. Yup, that is where people brag about traveling by train instead of plane.

Shop At Zero Waste Stores

Zero waste stores are popping up all over the place. They are stores that sell products without packaging. A zero waste store is basically a glorified bulk store. Only instead of ripping off a plastic bag to take home your bulk items, you bring your own storage conatiners.

Zero waste stores sell food and health care products. You can get things like shampoo, olive oil, dishwasher powder, spices, eggs, window cleaner and crackers. They also stock disposable items like toothbrushes and razors but ones that aren’t made out of plastic.

Gone are the days of recycling bins overfilled each week. Less packaging = less waste + recycling.

Minimize Car Travel

Minimizing car travel is a green living example that has been around for a while but improvements to cities are making this one easier than ever. Dedicated bike lanes and bike parking at office buildings are the norm.

If you have to drive, the option of an electric car is becoming more attractive. There might even be some rebates available for switching from a gas guzzler to an electric vehicle (EV).

Calculate Your Carbon Footprint

All the cool kids are doing it! Simply search “Personal Carbon Footprint Calculator” and voila, there are several great simple websites that will step you through calculating your own personal carbon footprint.

Once you know your footprint, you can evaluate the areas in which you can improve and you can compare yourself to your national average. The target global carbon footprint can inspire you to make changes. But if you follow these Green Living Examples for 2020, you will be well on your way!

Offset Your Carbon Emissions

Once you know your carbon footprint, it is very easy to offset it (after you’ve evaluated how you can decrease it in the future). To offset your carbon footprint, you should select a gold standard carbon offset project.

These gold standard offset projects have been selected because they meet the stringent criteria that will ensure that they are actually going to help. Once you’ve selected the project, you select how many tonnes of carbon to be offset (the number from your footprint) and make a “donation”.

It really isn’t that expensive. The carbon emissions of an average Canadian is 22 tonnes (yikes). Gold Standard offset projects are all different but you can find them for as little as $15CAD/tonne. That is $330 / year to make sure that the damage you are doing by living your lifestyle is at least being matched in solutions.

But this is not an excuse to keep with the status quo, we all have to do our parts to reduce our carbon footprint.

Wear Sustainably Made Clothes

First off, don’t fall for the games of fast fashion. It is stylish to keep the same clothes for as long as they can be worn. When they no longer fit, but are still in good condition, donate them. If they are not suitable to be clothing any longer, make them into rags for cleaning or drop them off at a textiles recycling centre.

When you are going to purchase a new piece of clothing, shop at a second hand store first. Have a clothing swap with your friends.

If all of the above fails and you still need to purchase something, try to purchase clothing that is sustainbly made. Organically, sustainably grown cotton, wool and bamboo are great fabrics to wear because they last and don’t get stinky.

Avoid Single Use Packaged Products

Single use packaged products were designed for convenience. And they are convenient BUT they are also more expensive and often less healthy than the homemade alternatives. You will feel good about making the switch on this one.

Use a Handkerchief Instead of Tissues

This one is small and easy. Handkerchief use is gaining in popularity because it is so easy to do. Simply swap that box of tissues for a hanky. Contrary to popular belief, handkerchiefs are equally sanitary to disposable tissues. In either case, you need to store the cloth away immediately after use AND wash your hands. The risk for infection occurs for the person doing to laundry or for the person taking out the trash.

Make Your Own Cleaning and Beauty Products

The key to making your own cleaning and beauty products is to simplify! Current customs require a person to use way more products than is required. Beauty care is particularly wasteful with the media telling us we need to moisturize and wear make up and fragrances.

Take time to evaluate the products in your home and ask yourself “is this necessary for my health”. If you are eating well, resting and exercising, your skin and hair will show it.

For the products that you will need, look up the home made version of it. You will find that they are actually very easy to make. You can then reuse your own containers and be in control of the ingredients. Everything from deodorant to toilet bowl cleaner to toothpaste to shampoo is a simple mixture of a few ingredients. You will find that creating your own products if way more affordable AND it is fun!

Bring Your Own Cutlery and Food Storage Containers To Restaurants

Just like bringing a cloth bag to a grocery store, it only takes a bit of time to remember to bring your own cutlery and storage containers to a restaurant. Most restaurants have real utensils but occasionally they resort to the disposable kind. If you are keen to take home your left overs, you can simply pull out your storage container and fill it up.

Some restaurants allow customers to bring their own containers for take out food as well. I just mention that when I make the order and often they will take the containers into their kitchen to fill them up. The trick to this is to make sure that you are bringing a reasonably sized container for the food that you are putting into it.

And don’t forget to include chop sticks in your cutlery – I am always surprised and prepared when some restaurants still use disposable chopsticks!