6 best ways to live a more “eco-friendly” lifestyle
Have you always struggled to develop more eco-friendly habits? Do you want to make a difference in the environmental crisis, but you don't know how? Perhaps reducing waste and starting to make small changes to your lifestyle was one of your New Year's resolutions. But living entirely sustainably or harvesting your own coffee beans and reusing orange peels to make tea might not be the eco-friendly solutions you're considering.
Going green starts with small steps – and those small steps can be the beginning of a huge difference! Where to start? Here are Panda7's 6 best tips for starting to live more sustainably.
1. Reduce your meat consumption.
While going completely plant-based or vegan might seem daunting, reducing your meat consumption can have an incredible impact on the environment. Currently, over 30% of the world's land is used for agriculture, primarily for raising livestock and producing their feed. A United Nations study determined that of all CO2 emissions from human activities, 9% could come from the livestock industry, and 65% of human-caused nitrous oxide could be generated by raising various animals. With a decrease in the demand for meat, there would be fewer livestock to raise and more land available for recreation and planting new forests. Furthermore, eating less meat could lead you to consume more fruits and vegetables, which can be beneficial for your health!
2. Replace single-use items with reusable items.
When you go shopping, replace plastic bags with reusable cloth bags. If absolutely necessary, choose paper bags instead of plastic. The same goes for water bottles: avoid the bottled water from the vending machine and opt for a reusable water bottle instead. Not only is this a great way to save money, but it might even encourage you to drink more water! If you like to drink with straws, choose steel or glass straws instead of plastic ones. If you go to a restaurant, bring your own reusable straw with you!
3. Start a compost heap.
Have you been throwing away your old vegetable peelings, bones, and napkins? Not anymore. Start a compost bin. This can help you "reuse" items you would normally discard. These items can also help add nutrients to the soil where you would normally grow your garden. This saves you from having to buy compost or fertilizer when you can simply make your own! If you enjoy gardening, it makes sense to have your own compost bin. Some municipalities even offer a communal compost bin for the entire community.
4. Take a shower instead of a bath.
From an environmental point of view, taking a shower uses more water than taking a bath.
If you want to save even more water, opt for a low-flow showerhead—avoiding the use of more than 2 gallons of water per minute. As long as your shower is no longer than 10 minutes, you can use only about 20 gallons per shower (ten minutes), whereas a full bathtub would require 36 gallons just to fill—not to mention rinsing. Also, if you're short on time, choose a shower instead of a bath to avoid rushing to work in the morning.
5. Recycle more and use less paper.
These days, technology plays an increasingly important role at work and/or school. Say what you will about being addicted to our phones, but it can seriously save paper! Plus, you're less likely to lose important notes when you go digital rather than paper or a notebook. When you use less paper, fewer trees need to be cut down to make it. Can't avoid using paper altogether? Recycling can help save trees. Without needing to cut down new trees, you can reduce the energy used to create "virgin" paper and manufacture more paper products without cutting down any more trees.
6. Get a quote with Panda7!
You read that right: by getting a quote with Panda7, you're helping us plant a tree. That's because we've decided to create a more meaningful connection with our satisfied customers and surrounding communities by supporting a bigger cause—one we all care about: cleaner air. Our commitment? To plant 1 million trees by 2030. While that goal may seem impossible, we need your help! Thanks to Panda7's partnership with Brynk.eco, we'll plant a tree on your behalf for every auto or lease quote we receive—and triple that if you go ahead and purchase a policy. We're empowering our customers to help us remove CO2 emissions from the atmosphere and contribute to a greener planet.
See below for more information about our insurance that gives back.
We hope this list has given you some ideas on how to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle. While living entirely zero-waste and/or sustainably can be daunting, by making a few small changes to your daily life, you can have a significant impact! Furthermore, by making these small changes, you can encourage your family, friends, and colleagues to do the same! The more people who start taking these small steps toward a cleaner environment, the greater our chances of changing the Earth!