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Sustainable Living Goals
Refuse Reduce Reuse Repair Repurpose Recycle
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Going Plastic-Free
1. Say no to single-use plastics! (Refuse)
2. Look for plastic-free alternatives (Reduce)
3. Get some reusables (Reuse)
4. Don't be so quick to recycle! (Repurpose)
5. Making recycling the last resort (Recycle)
6. Get a plastic-free toothbrush
7. Give up plastic tube toothpaste
8. Give up plastic soap/shampoo bottles
9. Give up plastic dish sponges & detergents
10. Give up plastic razors
Changing Your Diet
11. Reduce or eliminate meat consumption
12. Reduce or eliminate dairy consumption
13. Buy Organic or Biodynamic food
14. Buy locally grown food from markets
15. Grow it local
Dealing With Food Waste
16. Freeze your veggie scraps for later to make a delicious broth!
17. Choose the ugliest fruit and veg on the shelf, nobodies perfect!
18. Buy less, more frequently to prevent spoilage
19. Don't eat out too often restaurants can be quite wasteful
20. Learn to preserve your fruit and veg if they need using up
21. Eat the skin of your fruit & veg, this is often the most nutritious part!
22. Compost your food scraps (or use your green waste bin)
Quitting Consumerism
23. Practice conscious consumerism, stop and re-evaluate, is the use or value I get out of this product worth its environmental impact?
24. Stop following the 'trends' be unique, eco is the new trend!
25. Give things away that you don't use
26. Buy second hand where possible
27. Understand your weaknesses
Transportation Transformation
28. Travel less
29. Walk/cycle more if possible
30. Use public transport where possible
31. Carpool where driving is necessary
32. Give up flying at least until it becomes electrified...
Sustainable Electricity
33. Reduce your electricity consumption
34. Switch to a carbon neutral electricity provider
35. Get LED light bulbs installed in your home
36. Turn off power points when not in use
37. Get some solar panels on your roof
38. Get a home energy storage system
Sustainable Investments
39. Bank responsibly and ethically (eg. Bank Australia)
40. Switch to a sustainable and ethical superannuation fund (eg. Future Super or Australian Ethical)
41. Invest in a community renewable energy project
42. Offset your carbon footprint with a subscription service such as Ecologi
Social Sustainability
43. Have conversations about your sustainability efforts with your friends and family.
44. Post your sustainability ideas and efforts on social media
45. Join We Don't Have Time, the worlds largest social media platform for climate action!
46. Join Good Empire (coming soon...)
Volunteering
47. Join a local volunteer group
48. Clean up rubbish when/where ever you see it
Permaculture
49. Read the Essence of Permaculture
50. Learn the Permaculture Principals and Ethics
Saving our forests
52. Only buy FSC certified products
53. Choose recycled products
54. Choose sustainable, tree free TP!
54. Sign petitions to warn your government against deforestation
More Information
Going Plastic-Free
Plastic is a strong and durable material conventionally made from fossil fuels that have been underground for millions of years then dug up to typically make into products or bi-products that only serve one purpose before being spread around the surface of our planet to wreak havoc on the natural environment for hundreds if not thousands of years.
It ain't gonna be easy but the sooner more of us become a part of the solution the sooner the problem will diminish naturally! Together we are the solution. Join the #PlasticReversolution today!
1. Say no to single-use plastics! (Refuse)
Its always easier if you carry with you a reusable, sustainable alternative such as a reusable bag, a cutlery set, a reusable coffee cup, etc. Refusing single-use plastics and giving your reasoning may also encourage the vendor to think about providing sustainable alternatives.
2. Look for plastic-free alternatives (Reduce)
When you are shopping and faced with the decision to choose between a plastic packaged product and compostable packaging or no packaging... go the plastic free option!
It might be a little more expensive but the more we support plastic-free alternatives the cheaper they will naturally become as it becomes the new 'normal.' Besides... what price do we put on our planet and the beautiful creatures that inhabit it? It's priceless!
3. Get some reusables (Reuse)
Go plastic-free @ Reverse IndusTree! Reverse IndusTree's Plastic-Free Store offers a wide variety of sustainable, reusable products that most of us typically use in our every day lives.
4. Don't be so quick to recycle! (Repurpose)
'Recyclable' does not always mean that something will be recycled and the Australian recycling systems are struggling to deal with all of the plastics that we so rapidly dispose of, especially due to the fact that China recently stopped recycling much of our plastic waste for us. If you do end up with plastics, the best thing you can do is reduce it's impact is to try and find another purpose and reuse it over and over again if possible.
5. Making recycling the last resort (Recycle)
As mentioned in the previous idea, something being 'recyclable' does not mean it will be recycled, there are many different kinds of plastics and some of them are simply not 'cost effective' to recycle and therefore end up in landfill. In many cases in Australia, many recycling facilities simply dont have the infrastructure that enables them to recycle specific types of plastics.
6. Get a plastic-free toothbrush
7. Give up plastic tube toothpaste
8. Give up plastic soap/shampoo bottles
9. Give up plastic dish sponges & detergents
Changing Your Diet
Changing your diet is potentially the largest, most impactful goal you can set for yourself towards a sustainable lifestyle, typically accounting for the largest part of an individuals carbon footprint.
11. Reduce or eliminate meat consumption
Consumption of meat is not only proven to be bad for your health it is also baahahaad for the environment. Animal agriculture is the leading cause of deforestation, water consumption and pollution, it is responsible for more greenhouse gases than the transportation industry, and is a primary driver of rainforest destruction, species extinction, habitat loss, topsoil erosion, ocean “dead zones,” and virtually every other environmental ill. Yet it goes on, almost entirely unchallenged. Learn more
12. Reduce or eliminate dairy consumption
Dairy is also proven to be bad for your health and also contributes to the environmental destruction caused by animal agriculture. Learn more of the health effects of meat and dairy.
13. Choosing Organic or Biodynamic food
Industrial scale, conventionally grown food has a much larger impact on the environment than organic or biodynamic. The reason for this is the fact that conventional farming typically uses a lot of synthetic pesticides and herbicides, which is not only bad news for the pollinators but it also degrades the soil quality by killing it microbes which leads to lower water retention, less nutrients, and an overall lower quality product. Not to mention the fact that chemical residue left on the crops we eat could be killing some of the microbes in our own microbiome (gut).
14. Choosing locally grown food
Choosing locally grown foods is not only a great way to support your local farmers but it also reduces transportation by not having to travel very far to your stomach, it can reduce food waste due to the fact that food often wilts on its long journey to the supermarket and the time it might have to spend siting on the shelf.
15. Growing your own food
Growing your own food will not only save you money, reduce transportation and food packaging, but it could likely strengthen your spiritual connection with the earth as it has done for me. It is also a great opportunity to teach your children where their food comes from and how to grow it!