Simple Steps For You How To Start a Green Life
In an earlier article – Zero Waste Lifestyle for Beginners, I have shared my personal experiences in the early days of a green, sustainable and surprising way of life. received by many readers. Now, when I practiced this lifestyle for a while, I realized that I had changed a lot. Some old habits are gone, and some new habits have been formed since.
I think most of the positive changes that I make are made by starting to practice small, simple things and maintaining them daily.
If you’re finding it hard to give up your old way of life and adapt to a more sustainable way of life, don’t worry too much and try instead like me, starting with extremely simple actions I saw it first. Here are some simple steps you can take to get started on your green lifestyle.
Always carry a water bottle when going out
If you are a frequent wanderer (I mean traveling) or enjoy the outdoors, then you will find that water is extremely important. So, from now on, instead of buying bottled water at supermarkets or grocery stores, take your personal water bottle with you when you go out. Most cafes, restaurants, airports, or hostels offer free filtered water, so it’s convenient for you to fill up your water tank when it’s empty.
It is my habit to carry a pitcher whenever I go out. And this habit not only helped me to lead a more sustainable lifestyle but also saved me an additional amount of money from buying bottled water.
Water Bottle types
Currently, the water bottle I’m carrying with me whenever I go out is a stainless steel bottle to keep heat. Like a child who likes tea more than anything else in the world, I often make myself a hot pot of tea with peppermint, chrysanthemum, or sweet-grass and put it in my backpack while wandering outdoors.
Sometimes, if I want to keep my body cool, I put in a pinch of mint leaves, some slices of lemon and cucumber, along with crushed ice cubes, so there is already a cool bottle of cool water for hot summer days. My water bottle has good heat retention, so after 5.6 hours, the water was still very hot.
And the ice was still not completely melted. (It is also necessary to invest in your own personal water bottle. Remember to prioritize using stainless steel or glass bottles, as they are safer for health. Now water bottles are sold out).
spread on the market, it is difficult to distinguish what is quality assurance and does not contain harmful ingredients. Before buying, you should consider and consider carefully the origin of the water bottle as well as a Confidence level of sale!
Read Also: How to improve the quality of life: 9 tips
Prefer using second-hand items
The items I’m using, the clothes I’m wearing, they’re mostly second-hand ones I bought at the secondhand location. If not, it’s also something I inherited from my acquaintances or friends when they were no longer in use. Some new items were given, given to others.
It’s been a long time since I was interested in buying new things to use. When I need to buy something, I always look at second-hand stores first. The priority to buy/use second-hand goods both helps me save money while helping the item prolong its life cycle, helping to save some waste in the environment.
I think it is also quite a simple thing that we can completely do to live a more conscious life. What do you think?
If you are a habitual buyer of brand new items because you are worried about the quality and safety of the old items. Which have been used by many different people, you will probably find this to be a very small task easily.
In fact, everything takes time and you need more time to feel comfortable with your new habits. Let’s start with light things first. Books are one of the things we can completely buy old instead of buying new ones without having to worry much about quality.
Energy saving
Electricity and water are the two sources of energy we use every day. Start by using electricity and water appropriately. Here are a few energy-saving ways you can refer to:
Prefer the use of energy-efficient household products. For example, instead of using an old incandescent light bulb, try switching to a compact fluorescent light (CFL) or a light-emitting diode (LED). These two types of light bulbs use very little power and are very durable.
Use just enough and do not use it when not really needed. A hairdryer is a powerful tool and therefore consumes a lot of electricity. Try to limit its use when not needed. Leaving your hair dry naturally helps your hair to avoid the damage caused by drying.
What to do in summers?
It’s summer now so I mostly let my hair dry naturally or use a fan to dry it. The dryer was only used by me when I had to go out to fold but my hair was still dry. In the winter, I also limit my hair drying as much as possible by washing my hair during the day and reducing the number of shampoos a week. Some other small actions also contribute to saving energy such as:
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- Take advantage of natural light instead of bluffing on
- Reduce shower time
- Do not leave the faucet open continuously when brushing your teeth
- Limit turning on the air when the weather is not too hot
- Unplug the charger from the phone or electrical devices when the battery is full
- For short distances, switch to cycling or walking instead of cars
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Buy yourself a grocery bag
One of the most simple actions for you to come to an environmentally friendly lifestyle is to carry your bag when shopping or shopping. You can cut your old shirt or leftover cloth to make it into a shopping bag.
Or easier to reuse (as many times as possible) existing plastic bags. This will help reduce a small amount of plastic waste into the environment.
Say no to a plastic straw
To start living more sustainably, practice saying no to a plastic straw when drinking coffee, milk tea with friends! You can prepare a bamboo straw, stainless steel, or glass and put it in your backpack, bag.
But for me, the straws just make enjoying drinks more convenient, but it’s not really necessary. I absolutely can drink without a straw, so whether it’s bamboo, stainless steel, or glass, I still don’t think I’m going to buy it myself.
At a coffee shop
When going to any coffee shop or milk tea, you can tell the seller “I don’t need a straw” or “I have a straw here”. That said, I still see that in some cafes, even though I told the staff not to use straws, but maybe because they forgot.
Sometimes when the drinks were brought, I still saw the plastic straw was plugged in. down to his cup. I know nothing is perfect and absolute. I do not blame myself nor blame the staff. Mostly, for such cases, I just remind you to pay attention to the next time.
Limit purchases of disposable items, or processed foods.
If you notice you will see that we use a lot of disposable products such as paper towels, wet towels, paper cups, plastic straws, foam lunch boxes, plastic spoons, plastic bags, plastic bags, masks health, medical gloves, food, makeup remover.
These disposable products are very convenient but generate a large amount of toxic waste. That is harmful to the environment, and the level of hygiene and safety is also very difficult to verify. Instead of disposable items, try switching to recyclable or reusable products such as plastic straws. Instead of bamboo straws, plastic bags with cloth bags, plastic forks instead of forks and forks. bamboo, stainless steel.
What about paper use?
You can also limit the use of paper cups, paper towels by carrying your cup away and switch to using cloth towels. If you must use disposable items, choose products made from biological materials, environmentally friendly, and biodegradable.
For busy people in the city, it is inevitable to buy processed and packaged foods. To make your life healthier and more sustainable, try the habit of cooking your own meals at home. And choose healthy foods good taste instead of buying processed foods or eating out.
In fact, when you’re cooking in a cheerful, positive mood, you’re invisible sending your energy to the dish. Everything in the world is energized, and the positive energy from the dishes cooked by joy. Or love are all great sources of energy to make your life more healthy and safe fun.
Above are a few simple steps that I have been (and still are) practicing since I first started living a sustainable lifestyle. Even small actions can make a difference, and first of all, we are different. Hope this article brought you some useful things. Read more about maintaining your life in this article. Thank you!