If I've learned anything since I've started striving to live sustainably, it's that you have to appreciate the baby steps in order to stay sane. While big picture stuff is important, worrying about the magnitude of our wastefulness and disregard for the earth makes it hard to feel that your everyday actions can make a difference. But they can. Why? Because the fact is you that are not the only person trying to make a difference; millions are, and those millions are inspiring millions more to make baby steps that together add up to leaps and bounds.
I've decided that, in my effort to live as sustainably as possible, I'm going to make one baby step each week. That might seem slow, but by the end of a year I'll hopefully be doing 52 things in a more earth-conscious way than I was at the start of the year. And hopefully, through this blog, I'll inspire others to make these changes as well. My plan is to post my "green goal" for the week every Monday. Feel free to comment if you have any tips or insights!
Green Goal No.1: Glass Over Plastic
Idea from 1001 Ways to Save the Earth, by Joanna Yarrow
Buy food, beverages, and household products in glass containers over plastic whenever the opportunity. Why? Glass can be recycled into glass again, whereas plastic loses its integrity each time it's recycled, becoming weaker and weaker until it inevitably has to be thrown into a landfill. Glass is also free of harmful toxins found in plastics, such as BPA, which are harmful to your health. So this baby step's a double whammy; buy glass for your the earth's health as well as your own!
You can also up-cycle your glass bottles, jars, etc for useful things around the house. Some things I've done recently (with the help of my creative sister, of course): Decorated a glass tea bottle into a change jar, a cream soda bottle into a flower vase, and a few bottle caps into magnets. This is also a great money-saving tip as well: why buy it when you can make it yourself? Get some more ideas from these sites:
Photo Credit: (UB) Sean R
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Awesome Alyssa! I've heard that there are a lot of sweet benefits to using pyrex glass containers instead of tupperware or some plastic leftover container system. You can use them in the microwave, dishwasher, usually oven, and you don't get anything harmful that would leach out of the plastic in tupperware. It's not like any normal college student could afford to have a bunch of glass containers, but its worth thinking about and investing in some day!
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