As we welcome the New Year 2022, many of us are contemplating resolutions for ourselves, our families, our health, and our way of life. It is more crucial than ever to incorporate the earth in our plans.
Humans have more than quadrupled our consumption of natural resources over the last 50 years, particularly in the United States.
Loss of resources is directly related to our own health, since the World Health Organization says that environmental factors cause 13 million deaths each year and over 25% of disease globally. Asthma, cardiovascular disease, and stroke are all affected by climate change.
So, how can you do your part to live your best life while also ensuring that future generations will be able to live theirs?
Food Choices
Purchasing food locally reduces prices as well as environmental implications such as production, processing, packaging, and transportation. When you buy local food, you are not only getting food that is more fresh and nutrient-dense, but you are also saving the earth from excessive fossil fuel consumption and excessive packaging that will end up in a landfill.
Food that needs to travel hundreds of kilometers to reach your area has a high carbon footprint owing to plane travel, boat and truck transport. Buying locally ensures you reduce that impact while also supporting your area and its workers.
Meat production, in particular, devastates our environment by consuming massive amounts of water, polluting the air, producing greenhouse gases, and destroying natural wild ecosystems.
Choose foods that support rural communities, offer animals a good life, pay farmers fairly, don't include additives, and don't harm the environment while filling your plate this year.
Conserve Water
Water usage and demand are at an all-time high as population rises. Water scarcity affects more than just dry, arid regions. There have been shortages in suburbia and even major regions in recent years. Lawn maintenance, golf course production, and even use within the home, can cause shortages in your own neighborhood.
One unique way to counteract this, resolution style is to install permeable pavements in your garden and driveway. These have porous surfaces that collect rainfall and runoff, store it in a reservoir, and gently release it back into the soil. This creates a hydrological balance and decreases runoff volume, increasing ground water quantities and retention.
Shop Less
Fast fashion produces cheap throw-away clothing that pollutes our environment and does not decompose. The pollution created during the production process contributes to the creation of a carbon footprint. The fast fashion sector also contributes to a human rights crisis, as low-priced items come at a high cost.
Before you buy something new, consider if you truly need it, and if so, whether it needs to be new or if a lightly used version will suffice.
Alternative Modes of Transportation
By 2022, there will be more electric vehicles on the road than ever before. If you're still driving a gas car, think about upgrading since, as we all know, car emissions not only pollute the air at an alarming pace, but they are also warming the planet and climate. They are also extremely harmful to human health, producing decreased respiratory function, asthma symptoms, and cardiac problems.
Avoid Single-Use Plastics
Is it really necessary to carry your groceries in a plastic bag or drink your smoothie with a plastic straw? Single-use plastics account for nearly half of all solid waste worldwide.
Plastics are currently swirling in our oceans, accounting for 40% of the sea surface. Thousands of marine species are killed after consuming it or becoming entangled in it. Every year, seventeen billion pounds of plastic flow into our waterways and it never goes away.
But there are easy alternatives that can change your life in the New Year. Beeswax wraps and bamboo cutlery are more easily degraded and reusable bags and water bottles could cut our waste down by a lot. Every year, 500 billion plastic bottles are sold. Imagine if they weren’t.
Make an effort to join the eco-revolution this year. Remember that companies and governments hold the greatest responsibility and have the most power to turn the world away from climate destruction. However, if enough people make climate-friendly lifestyle changes, we can achieve critical mass and maybe persuade global leaders in business and government to change as well.
