Easy Ways to Go Green

We are living in the era of homesteading and eco-friendly lifestyles. More and more people are coming around to the idea that our carbon footprint has become too vast and we need to try and do our part to reduce that. While it doesn’t have to be an overnight success, this is a lifestyle adjustment we can all take part in. Every step helps and we can adapt more and more to our lives as we grow and learn what works best for us.

Having children has changed my life in so many ways. My husband and I discuss on a regular basis how we want to raise our children and lead by example. While everyone parents differently, and we completely respect that, we have taken it upon ourselves to adjust how we act, the choices we make and the products we bring into our home, to be better examples to these little humans we are raising. We are so cautious with the ingredients in our kids foods, why are we not doing that more for ourselves? If we expect our kids to be active and playing outside, we can’t be couch potatoes in front of the TV. Instead of being glued to our phones, we try to read more books. The examples can go on and on.

Going green has become a more acceptable and adaptable way of living in our society, with more options and science behind everything. Taking the baby steps to try and be better and leave a lasting impression on our future is at our finger tips, we just need to make the conscious effort to act on these.

Here are some easy ways to go green in our lives that we can start as soon as possible.

Not running the taps for too long – When we are washing dishes or brushing our teeth, if we turn off the tap when we are not directly using the water, or by taking shorter showers, it can make a huge difference. We waste so much water every single day, it’s scary what we are doing to our environment. Here in Canada we are so lucky to have access to fresh, clean water throughout our homes and we take it for granted. We don’t need to be drilling into our kids the sadness of the rest of the world that is lacking in such a luxury, but by leading by example and reminding our little ones to turn off the tap, it is a habit that is created that can last a lifetime.

Buying secondhand and thrifting – This one took me longer to adapt to, but I couldn’t be more thrilled with thrift shopping and donating what we do not need or use from our home. Not only do you save money, there can be such a rush from finding that perfect item you’ve been on the hunt for. We live in a world of fast fashion, mass production and over consumption. By doing this, even just a little bit, we are making a difference.

Using reusable water bottles – We are on the verge of banning single use plastic water bottles from our home. We only ever bought them when we would throw parties, but the last time we did so, half of our guests used glasses and our filtered fountain water instead. Single use plastic water bottles are such a waste of money and are destroying the environment. There are water fountains available all over now, so travelling with a reusable bottle, you will have more opportunity to refill and rehydrate then you may have ever realized.

Planting your own vegetable garden – This may take trial and error as you go, but once you gain the reward of fresh, homegrown produce, you’ll never look back. Living in Canada makes this very seasonal, but we reap the benefits immensely every summer and fall and it saves us a fortune on over priced produce that is out of control in this current economy.

Recycle & compost – The lack of recycling I see around the world or in corporations, offices, hotels, etc is astonishing. Recycling is something that is so easy and there truly is not excuse to not at least try! Composting can be more confusing based on your region and what is allowed to be composted versus what can not, but can be very simple for the obvious items like fruit and veggie peels and cores. There are some amazing uses for compost, and by doing just a little bit of research, you’ll be amazed as to what you can do.

These were just a few suggestions and ideas to start going green in your life. This is an ever growing concept and practice that can come in endless ways. We are such a massive population throughout the world and it may seem microscopic in measure to be one person or one family trying to make a difference. But that’s just it, every little attempt, every little adjustment and change made, can grow into a larger scale of fixing our current atmosphere. While some damage is irreversible, we can stop further damage by all doing our part. There is nothing wrong with trying and we can sleep better at night knowing we are not contributing too much to the demise of our planet. Our efforts and habits are noticed and learned by our children, so by showing them better ways of doing things, they will carry that forward into the next generation.

Melanie xoxox