Save the planet!! I know it is a cliché and we have heard it so many times. We hear it from someone each week. But do we take some small steps, really small teeny tiny steps towards saving our planet?
This blog post is not to give you a guilt-trip that you are not doing anything to nice towards the environment, but to make you aware of the consequences and give you hope that there is a way to revert back to the thriving planet we once were.
I was born and brought up in an urban-setting. I hail from one of the most densely populated cities in the world. Less than a decade ago, I remember my father going to get groceries with his own cloth bag (he still does) and getting fruits and vegetable in the bag. The fruits were fresh and were immediately sorted and put in the appropriate storage at home. Fast forward to today, EACH AND EVERY ITEM at the grocery is wrapped in plastic. I have bought these potatoes, and never gave this a second thought. But with our busy lives it very easily becomes one less thing to worry about.
We have taken convenience to a whole new level, so much so that the inconvenience to individually unwrap these potatoes for use feels okay than to go without plastic.
So here are the promised 5 ways of eco-friendly easy shopping:
- Use cloth bags.
- You can go without completely without plastic bags with your own market bags and be able to carry a lot of your groceries back from the car to the kitchen in one trip. Yes it is possible.
A Nerdy Crocheter
- You can go without completely without plastic bags with your own market bags and be able to carry a lot of your groceries back from the car to the kitchen in one trip. Yes it is possible.
- Try to buy it in bulk.
- You don’t need to buy 20 lbs of potatoes to be able to buy it in bulk. You get loose potatoes to choose from and you can buy as few as you want. Why we need individually wrapped potatoes, I now fail to understand.
- Avoid individually wrapped meals.
- one time use brown Rice containers, one time use cereal, one time use low-calorie meals. The keywords are ONE TIME USE. Why would we use anything one time and throw it away where it goes to trash and stays there forever? Think twice about the next disposable coffee cup you use. Please don’t use these cups at home. just to save yourself a few minutes of setting up the dishwasher? No, it does not justify that. Next time carry your awesome travel mug everywhere and carry your lunch box.
- Consume less meat per week than before.
- A lot of the climate change has been attributed to not only plastic usage and fossil fuel consumption but a livestock production. Even if not for the planet, consumption of only red meat is not very good for your health. Try to reduce meat consumption, your body, the planet, and the animals will thank you.
- Use public transport, bike, or walk to work/grocery/workout.
- There is one way to burn less fossil fuel by actually burning less fossil fuel. Use the bike or walk to work. Again your body will thank you for the exercise. Are you fed up of the pollution in your city? are you moving away into the suburbs to get away from that? And if you drive a car? You may be responsible for that pollution. Okay this is a little bit of a guilt trip!
- You could use your bike for the next grocery trip and not take your car there.
- There are so many bike2work programs. In Australia, here is the link where you receive a lot of information about biking to work everyday including short trails, maps, and tips on weather and traffic.
- BONUS: Wrapping holiday gifts
- This holiday season wrap your gifts in renewable gift wrapping papers instead of the plastic ones. There are so many reusable gift bags out there and they make beautiful gifts and suggest that you were thoughtful.
This world is such a beautiful place, and we have a responsibility to take care of it.
Have a great crafty weekend. Let me know how you are making a difference.
Handmade Over Coffee 