7 Ways to make your home more sustainable this year

Created by Angelica Guardiola

Photo by Maksim Goncharenok

As our world is ever so changing constantly, so is our time to save our planet and valuable resources. A current issue society has recently been focused on is the carbon emission and chemical waste each of us produces every day. One of the best ways to reduce your carbon footprint is to make your home more sustainable. There are many ways to do this, from using energy-efficient appliances to growing your own food. Let’s breakdown what it means to be sustainable and why being sustainable is not only beneficial for the environment but for future generations and the future to come.

What is Sustainability?

In multiple definitions sustainability, in summary, is a goal set by society pertaining to the ability to safely co-exist without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own basic needs.To be sustainable, an activity must be consistent with the planet’s finite scalability – it can be repeated over and over again without damaging or depleting the earth’s resources. Sustainability to sum up, means taking the responsibility of doing even the normal day to day tasks and completing them in a more environmentally friendly way. Here are a few examples to help grasp an understanding as to what sustainability looks like

3 Examples of being sustainable:

· Eliminate plastic pollution by using reusable shopping bags instead of in store plastic bags

· Reduce food waste by using vegetable and fruit scraps to regrow even more produce

· Eliminate waste and toxic chemical waste by boycotting fast fashion

There is a wide array of ways to be sustainable in today’s economy these were just to name a few.

In recent years, the concept of sustainability has gained increased scrutiny and importance in a world that is grappling with the effects of climate change. As a result, sustainability has become a major focus for businesses, organizations, and individuals.

Photo by Vlada Karpovich

Why is being sustainable important?

There are multiple factors as to why being sustainable is becoming so very crucial in today’s economy. To start, sustainability in itself outlines that we must account for the future generations by ensuring that we have enough resources now to meet their needs in the future. With the amount of carbon dioxide emission and chemical waste that the current generation creates as a collective, it can jeopardize our own resources even now.

Adding on to that, as our population continues to gradually grow, it is becoming increasingly important to live sustainably. This means finding ways to use resources more efficiently and reducing our impact on the environment assuring that we preserve the environment and natural resources for the future. Which increases the survival rate of generations to come.

Being eco-friendly doesn’t just mean saving the future, it also has a different meaning when it comes to businesses and jobs. In the corporate world, this means taking the more holistic approach in any department, ranging from manufacturing all the way to the logistics side of business. For example, by using energy efficient alternatives in turn benefits the business by reducing operating costs. Additionally, sustainable practices can help businesses build a positive reputation to consumers looking to support businesses that share their values. Sustainability in most cases, is a key value for many people. More often than not, consumers and investors are constantly looking to support businesses that share their values too and sustainability is a major key value for many. This in short, drives in more revenue for businesses and increases marketing to expand business.

Sustainability has a drastic impact on todays everyday needs and even more of an impact on the near future. Wondering how to start becoming sustainable? Start from home with these 7 ways to make your home more sustainable this year!

How make your home more sustainable this year

If you’re looking for ways to make your home more sustainable this year, here are 7 great ideas:

1. Use energy-efficient appliances

Whether washing clothes, turning on a light, storing groceries away in the refrigerator, the appliances we use day to day consume large amounts of electricity. Using energy efficient appliances puts money back into your pocket by saving you money on the small amount of energy used, minimalizing your environmental footprint.

Pro tip: Look for appliances with the “Energy Star” label to ensure the appliance is energy efficient!

2. Install solar panels

The key reasons turning light into energy is considered the efficient alternative is due to reducing the need to use electricity cutting down the cost of utility while lowering the amount of electrical plant pollution in turn creating cleaner air and a healthier habitat and environment.

3. Grow your own food

Did you know you can create your own abundance of produce at home? Did you also know you do not need to go out of your way to purchase a garden starter pack?

Its probably one of the easiest ways to go sustainable. You can start by using any of the vegetable or fruit scraps you cut up for a snack or dinner and regrow them and have even more produce just from that one fruit or vegetable. By doing this over time, you save yourself money and benefitting your own health too. There are less pesticides and preservatives in home grown produce and while growing your own food at home, there is less plastic being used for packaging lowering the amount of plastic pollution there is being made every single day.

Psst! That avocado you are planning to use can regrow its own tree by just the pit! Don’t throw it away! Soak only half of the seed in a glass of water and watch it sprout over the course of a few days!!

Photo by Vie Studio

4. Use recycled materials

Reduce, reuse and recycle!

As many of us were taught in school, one of our top factors for pollution is plastic waste. As a refresher, more than 7 billion tons of plastic pollution covers our earth and only less than 10% of that has been recycled. By disposing away of those materials in the correct manner we can clear our chemical emissions in our environment almost completely. All while preserving our water, saving energy and making the earth a more inhabitable place to live for generations to come.

There are many ways to use recycled materials and are as simple as starting from home.

For starters simply start with turning old sheets, towels or clothing into washcloths. With just this one step you save not only money from not having to keep buying cloths but you also save energy and materials for potential products.

Another easy way you can use recycled materials from home is repurpose empty containers, boxes, items as plant holders or storage.

These are only vague number of examples of how to use recycled materials from home but even the smallest change can make all the difference.

5. Compost your food waste

Were you really just going to continue throwing away the ends of your vegetables for salad?

I bet you didn’t know that those scrappy end pieces can actually be used in your plants!

In turn by composting food waste in your plants you reduce the cost of using landfills to throw away food waste, you reduce the methane emissions that come from the use of landfills, you conserve water due to having healthier soil and lastly you reduce personal food waste all around. Its just as simple as throwing veggie and fruit scraps into your garden or putting the left-over egg shells into your garden.

Pro tip: If you are looking to start that new diet with al the veggies and fruit do it! Why? Not only is it benefitting your health you can use left overs or scraps into your garden thus, creating a healthier plant and body in return!

6. Use natural cleaning products

I know what you’re probably thinking, the labels you see lately on everyday household items such as “VEGAN” or “CRUELTY FREE” are a bunch of nonsense and its just easier to buy the regular bottle of bleach or dish soap you buy every time.

However, the bottles of cleaning products you continue to buy have a huge impact on not only the environment but your health as well. A regular bottle of cleaning product can do so much from damaging ecosystems by producing more plastic and chemical waste that enter our environment, to ruining our own bodies due to the variations of chemicals in each individual cleaning product. By using products that have these specific labels will in turn help preserve resources and money used to store waste in landfills all while also keeping our environment, minds and bodies, clean and healthy.

Now let’s talk about how to choose the right product!

Select products with these following labels to go sustainable:

· BPA free

· USDA Organic

· Cruelty free

· Certified Vegan

· Energy Star

· Fir Trade Certified

· Leaping Bunny

· NON-GMO Project

· Recyclable loop symbol

...and many more because the list goes on!

7. Reduce your water usage

Did you know our earth is filled up with 326 million trillion gallons (70%) and of that percentage we each individually use about 300 gallons every single day?

That in sum means out of the 7 billion of us, we each use almost a hefty amount of all the water there is to provide for us on earth. Conserving this frugal water helps protect the water left on earth, it preserves our environment and its natural resources, it preserves water for recreational purposes, and it also saves money not only for us individually but it also saves cost for potential conflicts.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska

In the bathroom start by

· Turning off the faucet while brushing your teeth to save more than 6 liters of water that gets wasted by leaving the water running

· Fix any leaking faucets which waste more than 15 liters a day

· Taking faster 5-minute showers saves more than 40 liters each day

In the kitchen start by

· Only use the dishwasher with full loads which uses 15 liters of water per cycle

· Reuse cooking water to allow room for further water usage

· Avoid rinsing dirty dishes to preserve liters of water which can be used elsewhere

In short, making your home more sustainable doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive – small changes can make a big difference. So why not start today and make your home more sustainable this year!