Eco-friendly resolutions for the New Year

Each year, people all over the world create New Year’s resolution lists to help motivate and inspire habit changes for the new year. While we are all so hopeful and innocent in 2020 that 2021 was going to be better. Unfortunately, it was another hard and stressful year for most. If anything, it has shown us all that we need to change and grow as a human population if there is to be true equality and justice for all. It has also shown us how much is possible when we decide to collectively take action and enact change.

Going zero waste is a hard and sometimes daunting task, but tackling just one or two goals a month will help you live an overall more conscious and sustainable lifestyle that will surely inspire others in your life. The most important thing is to allow yourself to be imperfect, and take a break if you need to focus on your own well-being first.

Here’s to kicking this year behind us, and moving forward into 2022 with hope, justice, and love!

Choose secondhand before buying new

Before I ever buy anything new like a product or appliance, I always check my local Buy Nothing group, FB marketplace, and then thrift stores. Often times, this practice helps me cut down on my consumerism because sometimes I find a homemade solution to my problem, or repurpose something I already own to fit my needs. Finding local thrift stores can be a great way to spend the day, especially if you are just moving into a new place or are looking to spruce up your home.

Shop locally

Shopping locally keeps money in your community, and helps small-businesses thrive. If you can’t find what you need secondhand, then you are still able to make an environmentally conscious decision about who you shop from. Attending local markets year-round can be a great place to pick up food items, clothes, and home decor. Make it a 2021 goal to not buy from problematic brands or large corporations that do not have sustainability measures.

If you have to order online, consider doing so from companies who have verified carbon offsetting measures, and/or ship in completely recyclable or composable packaging. The Zero Waste Store is an online store that I trust, but I am fortunate enough to have a local zero-waste shop that has in-store shopping, pickup, delivery, and shipping! Etsy supports small business owners, and you can usually find people in your own city or state to support.

Incorporate plant-based eating

Try cutting out meat one day a week, then work up to more for a more sustainable diet. In my first few months being plant-based, I would just search for vegetarian/vegan alternatives for my favorite dishes. This helped me to realize I wasn’t really going to have to change my diet much at all! I am excited to begin experimenting with making different seitan meat alternatives so that I can stop buying my favorite brands at the store.

I have found that soups and curries were the easiest meals to make for groups that involved meat-eaters and vegans. In my first few months, I just searched all of my favorite meals and found vegetarian/vegan alternative recipes for them. Cutting our beef products is the largest way that you can make an environmental impact with your diet. Even if you can’t work in cutting meat out of your diet this year, consider cutting down on your beef consumption when it comes to your meat eating.

My favorite recipes that all of my carnivorous friends love are from Bosh and Deliciously Ella! There are so many amazing plant-based Instagram accounts and blogs out there that cater to every audience, all you have to do is search.

Read more books

I have been gifted some amazing books this year that I frankly just haven’t had time to sit down and read. For my job and all my side projects, I am consistently staring at a computer screen. It puts such a strain on my eyes, so I have been trying to be mindful about taking technology breaks throughout the day.

I try to have a mixture of fiction, environmental science, and environmental justice books on hand so that I can constantly be learning new information. It has helped me so much in my climate action journey to be able to understand why I am making all of these changes in my life. Not only that, but it helps me to feel less overwhelmed and more “in-the-loop”.

Next month I will be posting my reading list for the year, so be on the lookout for that article!

Grow your own herbs and veggies

Growing basil, cilantro, green onions, etc on your windowsill is incredibly easy and non-time consuming! You can grow them in a pot, buy a tabletop grow kit (simple grow light and pot), or you can invest in an indoor hydroponic system. There are many resources online to fit a wide array of budget, space, and time limitations. If you have an outdoor space, planting a garden is a great way to connect with nature, and to have a fun project to work on and cultivate.

You can even save your green onions, celery and carrot tops/greens to be regrown in your kitchen. Google has hundreds of articles on various ways to accomplish this! I personally just place the end in a cup of water that has just a little bit of water in the bottom. I have the Rise Garden (pictured below), and it allows me to grow vegetables and herbs indoors year round! You can build your own setup for a much more affordable cost.

Homemade snacks

I have started doing a waste audit each month, which basically is just me recording what I put into the landfill, recycling, and compost for a couple of days during the month. Then I sit down and look at what causes the majority of my landfill contribution, and then I research swap ideas and experiment with incorporating them into my lifestyle. I am a HUGE snacker, so that is what generates most of the waste I generate.

Making things like your own hummus, bread, yogurt, crackers, or granola bars are great ways to save money and cut down on unnecessary packaging. I have found it incredibly fun to practice recreating some of my favorite snacks like chips and breakfast bars. I also have started using more of my food scraps in my cooking. You can make some delicious fritters or soup out of broccoli stalks. Nut/oat milk pulp can be used in baking or as a delicious breakfast porridge base.

The United States is estimated to waste 30-40% of the food produced each year, which is ridiculous when you realize how many people in our country go to sleep hungry each night. That is why I try to never throw away any food that could have been eaten or used in something before just being thrown away!

Practice sustainable gift giving for holidays, birthdays, etc

Gifting experiences has been my recent go-to when it comes to holidays and birthdays. Even if you don’t necessarily know the person too well, so many sites offer gift vouchers that can be used for different classes, tours, and tickets! I recently received two different solar powered chargers, which are so handy when I am out on long hikes because I can just strap it to my backpack and it charges. They also both have super bright lights, which makes them double as a super bright light source in a tent!

For my birthday this year, my husband gifted me a 2-day trip to Washington where we hiked and stayed in a cabin on a horse farm. It was magical, memorable, and low-waste!

There are so many ways to incorporate an environmental frame into many types of gifts depending on the recipient. Find my favorite sustainable gift ideas here.

Connect with nature more during the week.

Working a 40-hour work week has made it incredibly difficult for me to incorporate time outside into my weekly routine. It is so important to connect with nature for our mental and physical well-being. I always carry my binoculars with me on walks. It can be so fun to just take a break and watch some squirrels playing, or birds flying from tree to tree. It also provides you with a time to disconnect from technology and the stresses of life, which is important if you want to avoid burnout. Try and schedule at least 1 hour per week where you can get outside, whether it be walking or simply sitting outside!

Join a citizen science project

There are citizen science projects happening all over the world, and they can be found with a quick Google search in many places. Many projects are monitoring or recording wildlife and plant sightings, which is a great way to achieve the above resolution. Something easy that i do is use iNaturalist to take photos of cool plants, insects, and animals that I see out on my adventures. The app records your photo, and people all over the world can help identify what you found. Researchers and conservationists use this data for projects, and it is a verified source of information for their studies. This is one of my favorite photos I captured of a fungi and banana slug (two of my favorite things to find!)

Zooniverse is an amazing platform whether you are looking to be involved for 30 minutes or 3 hours! The most rewarding part is knowing that your time is going to be used in real-time research and most projects have leaders who love to get in contact with the volunteers doing this work for them! Zooniverse is one of my favorite ways to spend a rainy-day and it never gets boring; below are some examples of wildlife projects that currently need help.

Reduce take-out waste

GoBox is a super awesome initiative here in Portland, Oregon that allows you to get takeout meals in reusable containers and cups in over 100 restaurants. You can use an app to return the containers to any location. There are programs like this popping up all over the world, so don’t be surprised if there is something like this in your town!

Okapi Reusables is another Portland company that provides a reusable cup service for local coffee shops and their customers. I was fortunate enough to connect with them in the plastic pollution committee that I lead for Climate Reality! I can’t wait to support them and their mission.

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Thank you for reading, and for choosing to “cut the crap” out of your life!

Happy New Year-

Zöe