Younger people are much more in tune with issues surrounding climate change and sustainability. As the generation with the most to lose, sustainable living is one way to do something positive to help our planet. Whether you want to do something on a small scale, or completely change how you run your home or even your business, there is always something you can do.

Here is how you can pioneer to save the planet, from a personal level, to a monumental and life changing level as well.

Cut Down on Paper Waste

This could be anything, from not using as much paper, to recycling. A great way of cutting down on paper is switching your bank, bill information to online communication instead. This makes everything much simpler, and often you can receive the same letter five times from any organization. Changing to online also makes your accounts accessible everywhere as well.

This could also mean switching your magazine subscription to an online one, or opting to receive less spam or written information when you get new subscriptions. So instead of opting for a booklet to be sent to you each month about cinema showings and what’s on at the theatre, receive this via email instead. Cutting down on paper will eventually mean less will be needed, and less of these resources will go to waste.

Use Renewable Energy at Home

If you want to improve your sustainable living, renewable energy is the best way forward, and is also a sound investment. Let’s say you’ve got your house, your mortgage with Altrua Financial, and now you’ve been living in your house for a while, you want to know how to make it more environmentally friendly.

One way to do this is investing in good insulation for metal buildings that help make your home more energy efficient. You can employ professionals to come and insulate your home in no time at all. You can also get insulation made from naturally sourced materials, or from recycled materials as well.

Your house can be insulated in either the attic and roof, or in the walls, depending on where your house is least energy efficient. Insulation is a one off payment, that means your central heating won’t have to work as hard to keep your house as warm. This means your home will  stay toasty, and your heating bill will be reduced. It really does pay to be green.

Solar panels are also a great option  as well. They can be installed on your roof where they won’t take up space, or anywhere else you want. Although they will work best in the summer months, they can still function well in the winter too. If you get a lot of sun, this would be a great sustainable investment.

Producing your own electricity means you know it was produced in a sustainable and green way. Often, people end up selling electricity back to the national grid because their panels produce so much. If you have space, a wind turbine will do the same as well, so take advantage of windy conditions if you have them. 

Transport

Now this is a big one, and something many people are reluctant to change. If you need a car to get to work and you live in the middle of nowhere, chances are you can’t use any other transport. When buying a new car though, you can always consider an electric one, or even a hybrid. Not relying on fossil fuels will do the planet a lot of good, and you can easily zip about using electricity if you want to. Places to charge up your car are becoming increasingly popular, making it accessible to many people.

If you live in a city, or a built up area, you might already take public transport as the most convenient option. This can save you some money in the long run, and saves you having to find a parking space too. You could always try car pooling with others from work, or find online communities that can set you up with carpooling buddies.

The greenest way would probably be cycling. This can be a great morning workout to get your blood flowing, and can be a really invigorating start to your day. It can be challenging in the winter months, but using the power of your own body to get you from A to B can be really satisfying. Often cyclists fly by traffic, so using your bike might help you avoid rush hour, and get you to work on time.

Eat a Plant Based Diet

When people think of going green, they think of fossil fuels and transport, but little thought gets given to what they eat. Your food can have many air miles on it, and the amount of resources it takes to rear animals intended for our plate, is unsustainable.

Switching to a plant based diet means that you won’t be encouraging the meat and dairy industry, by buying their products. If everyone in the world cut down on the amount of meat they ate, or cut it out all together, there would be lots of land freed up to feed people. Feeding animals takes up so much space and so many resources, that often the quality of the animal’s life suffers as well.

If you do embrace a vegan diet, you also find so many health benefits that come along with it. A non existent cholesterol, less body fat, and a general feeling of wellbeing is often experienced. Make sure you think about what you put on your plate, and how it has had to travel to get there. Buying local foods, and foods that is in season, can also be greatly beneficial to making our food industry more sustainable.

Support People Who are Green

When buying products locally, or anything online either, try and support businesses that are green. If they are guzzling up oil and going hunting and the weekends, chances are they probably don’t have the wellbeing of the planet in mind. There are plenty of businesses out there that do have sustainable practices, so make sure you support them! Often small independent businesses take it upon themselves to be ethical, so show your love to them. Supporting sustainable businesses will push your area in the right direction when it comes to going green. This can also help develop a great sense of community, when you are all striving for the same cause.

Pass It On

You can pass on loads of your old, or not so old stuff, so others can get some use out of them. This could be anything from donating your unused clothes to goodwill, or a family member. Why not pass on your old magazines or books too so someone else can get some enjoyment out of them. Passing things on means that there will be less of a demand to create new products, which is the crux of capitalism. This also has the added advantage of enabling charities to flourish by selling on your unwanted stuff.

Reuse It

Instead of throwing something away, you can always reinvent it and it give it a new place in your home. Keep all the old glass jars and fill them with pasta, dried beans, or lentils. There are so many things that can be reused in your, and doesn’t have to be thrown away.

Taking your own coffee mug to the coffee shop is also great to avoid takeaway cups that just get thrown away. This is the same for bottled water, which is pretty wasteful as well. If you, ask for tap water, which is cheaper and tastes just as good anyway. So much of our oceans are filled with plastics, and the bottles used for water are always thrown away, and can’t really be used again.

Being aware of what you’re eating is fantastic. So much packaging is wasted around buying and transporting food, which is difficult to decompose like natural matter. Bring your lunch to work, get a reusable water bottle, and a thermos for your coffee as well. This will cut down on so much waste, and the planet will really appreciate it.

Going green is a great way to benefit your body, your lifestyle, your home, and of course the planet and everything in it. Sustainable living can be accomplished on so many different levels, so whether you want to do a bit, or want to lead a completely green lifestyle, there are some ideas here for everyone.

Sustainable Living Is For Everyone

Becoming vegan, cutting back on waste, and recycling on any way you can, are all great ways to get started. What businesses you buy from, are the ones you support, so make sure you support ones who agree with your ethos.

Millennials are so much more keyed on to issues surrounding the environment, the future of our planet is looking a lot brighter. Anything you can do to help will have a positive effect on yourself, and those around you.