When you start in the world of sustainability, you realise how necessary it is to change your current lifestyle and lead a sustainable lifestyle. You start to analyse everything around you and all your actions. Many times we can fall into the typical analysis paralysis. We start to see that practically everything we do can be done in a more sustainable way but, sometimes, we either don't have the time, enough resources or enough knowledge about the subject to lead a 100% sustainable lifestyle (if it were possible to be 100% sustainable...).
The most important thing is to incorporate small habits to change our daily lives. Please don't turn your life upside down overnight, this will cause discomfort and you are more likely to go back to your previous habits. Sometimes we don't realise how important small habits are in the long run. So, let's start with the proposals!
Choose the area where you want to start living a sustainable lifestyle
As we said before, the important thing is to start small. That's why it's best to start with a topic that really motivates you, incorporate it into your day-to-day life and then move on to other areas. Here are some ideas!
Local products
You can start consuming products from km 0, seasonal, organic, from the local greengrocers. By consuming this type of products we help to maintain local agriculture and reduce CO2 emissions, as the impact of transport, storage and distribution of these products is lower than international products. And don't forget to get your own fabric shopping bag. A plastic bag doesn't fit well with our sustainable lifestyle.
Eat as vegan as possible
According to this article in El País; a global vegan-based diet would return to nature the area that would occupy 62 Spains. The idea is to be aware of the products we consume and consume less and less animal products. Plant-based diets are one of the most important mechanisms for reducing our impact on the planet. Switching to a plant-based diet is like kiwis, it's all about its benefits! (sorry...)
Buy in bulk!
After shopping at the supermarket, see how much packaging, especially plastic, ends up in the bin (hopefully in the yellow bin). By buying the products we need in bulk, we reduce the amount of packaging we throw away. Food waste is also reduced because we only buy as much food as we need. We just need to have our own glass jars, glass bottles, cloth bags... So easy!
Start cycling!
This means of transport doesn't need fuel, it's economical, in many cases it allows you to get to places faster than the metro or bus, you do sport... Switch to the bike! The planet will thank you and your buttocks too!
Conscious fashion
Fashion is present in our daily lives and it is important to be aware of what is behind each garment we wear. Most of the big clothing companies manufacture in Asia, and distribute their products all over the world, which implies a huge amount of CO2 emissions. Factories dump toxic waste into waterways, exposing workers and local people to substances that are harmful to their health. And we cannot overlook the working conditions of the workers...
The textile industry leaves much to be desired today. The actions we propose in this section are to consider if you really need to buy more clothes than you already have. If the answer is yes (we really need less clothes than we think...) buy second-hand clothes or clothes from shops that manufacture with sustainability standards. Here is a guide to have a sustainable closet that goes into more detailed tips, download it here!
As you can see, these are just a few basic ideas to get you started in this whole sustainability thing. We encourage you to choose the area that most motivates you and take sustainable habits into all aspects of your life.
Live sustainability from your own point of view! We have to take the pressure out of ourselves, we can't be 100% sustainable, we don't have all the answers and sometimes our values don't match our actions, so what? We are learning, we don't have to underestimate the small acts.
Sustainability is a way of living, it is a philosophy of life, we encourage you to live from this vision!
