5 Ways to Decrease Your Carbon Footprint in 2022
The new year is an exciting time, bringing new opportunities and chances to make big (or small) changes. For most of us, those changes come in the form of New Year’s resolutions. And while some resolutions may be easier to achieve than others, the first step to making any change is setting a goal.
To be successful, the goal (or resolutions) should be both realistic and attainable, and when it comes to benefiting the environment and your health, those goals can easily be met by making simple changes in the things that you already do every day. So, if your goal is to decrease your carbon footprint in 2022 and beyond, then look no further – Here are five ways to easily begin a path to sustainable living.
- Start a Garden – Unless you live on a farm or shop at a farmer’s market, chances are your food took a long journey to reach your table. Depending on the processing of your food, it may have preservatives, pesticides, and other unwanted chemicals to keep it from spoiling. On top of that, the food had to travel, leaving a wake of carbon emissions from transportation. For this reason, the closer you can grow your food to your table, the better. If you are new to gardening, start simple (lettuce, herbs, etc.). If you want to amp up your sustainability game, consider transitioning from a conventional garden to a soilless medium like aquaponics. Not only will you use ~90% less water than a soil-based conventional garden, but you will also be able to grow indoors year-round, as well as farm fresh fish – It’s a win-win.
- Bring Your Own – When heading to work or school, bringing your own food will save you time and money, as well as provide more nutritious and sustainable meal options. Factor in having food from your own garden, and you have decreased your carbon footprint even more. Keep in mind how you package your meals as well. Reusable bags and containers that can easily be stored and cleaned are ideal and eliminate plastic and single-use containers from flooding landfills.
- Bag It – When shopping for anything from groceries to clothes, take one extra and easy step to sustainable living by bringing your own bag. While it may seem like an obvious and small step, it can actually make a powerful impact – According to Earth Policy Institute, a trillion single-use plastic bags are used worldwide each year, with only a small fraction being recycled and the majority ending up in landfills or our ocean. A simple way to avoid contributing to this figure is to bring your own bags to the store when shopping. Consider leaving a few in your car to have them on-hand when needed.
- UpCycle – By now, you are most likely well aware of how to recycle. From bottles and cans to paper and plastic, there are numerous opportunities to recycle from your home, office and in many communal spaces. That being stated, most of us don’t think about upcycling. Upcycling is the “reuse” part of the saying “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”. Think about the many things that you throw away or recycle that can be repurposed for other uses. For example, a single-use food container can gain a new life as a pencil or brush holder, or an old mug can be used as a planter. Used clothes can be repurposed to make a shopping tote or reusable cleaning rags. There are countless ways to upcycle and repurpose; a simple Google search can get you started. If you are a parent or educator with students at home or in school, upcycling provides a great opportunity to get creative and crafty.
- Ditch the Plastics – Let’s face it, grabbing a single-use bottle is easy and readily available almost anywhere you go, but if you start your day with a reusable water bottle, you can start eliminating plastic from your life. By bringing your own bottle, straws (paper, steel, or silicone) and food containers, you are helping the planet in a major way. In fact, according to PlasticOceans.org, it is estimated that more than 10 million tons of plastic is dumped into our oceans every year. When you choose to bring your own water bottle, you are not only avoiding the plastic waste caused by single-use bottles, but you are also conserving the energy that would be used to produce, fill, and transport those bottles.
While the above listed steps to reducing your carbon footprint may appear to be small or even obvious, the smallest of changes made by each of us can add up to a huge difference for the environment. When you incorporate one (or all) of the steps into your daily practices and habits, you will be doing your part to live more sustainably and reduce your carbon footprint in 2022, and in many years to come.
To learn about how you can take steps to live more sustainably through aquaponics, contact AquaGrove today.