Up Your Commitment To The Environment

Following last week’s report of a large part of Antarctica breaking off into the ocean, perhaps it’s time to up our individual contribution in the fight against combating climate change. As more and more countries are making environmental commitments, you might feel like there’s more you can do as an individual to decrease your carbon footprint. Here are a few ideas that are easy to do, and might save you some money, too.

Recycle more

I don’t just mean your typical recycling with your cardboard and glass, I mean taking it further and applying recycling to more areas of your life like clothing and household products. Next time you’re looking for something new, consider whether it could be bought secondhand - you might just save some serious money, too.

Renting and Sharing

There are more and more sites out there for sharing and renting. For upmarket clothing, consider using sites like renttherunway or girlmeetsdress, where you can rent designer clothes for a limited time for a much lower fee than buying them for yourself. You could also try carpooling - do any of your colleagues live near you who you could alternate driving to work in the mornings? For longer one-off journeys, why not list your journey on a lift-sharing site and share the emissions and cost?

Avoid plastic

We’ve all read the horror stories of the damage that plastic is doing to our oceans. Carrying around a shopping bag for emergency purchases will prevent you having to buy a plastic bag when you’re out and about. Refusing straws in bars and restaurants can also prevent plastic ending up in our oceans.

When you do have plastic to dispose of, try and recycle where possible.

Choose green companies

Consumers are becoming more and more interested in companies’ ethical commitments. If you’re interested in environmental issues, try seeking out greener alternatives to the companies you currently use, or show your support for companies with green initiatives. There are many companies out there that are actively reducing emissions, like Shiply, so shop around next time for more environmentally-conscious companies.

Reduce meat consumption

As well as environmental benefits, there are many health benefits to reducing your meat consumption. If making the switch to vegetarianism seems extreme, try just reducing your meat consumption to fewer days in the week, like adopting Meatfree Mondays or start trying out more meat-free recipes into your diet.

**This is a guest post.