An entirely new, untouched decade has just arrived, and with it a palpable spirit of wanting to create new beginnings for ourselves. That spirit time and again manifests itself through the new years resolutions that we make each year. Whether we decide to hit the gym more often, eat cleaner or greener, read more books or generally improve our self-care, resolutions more often than not revolve around our own personal prosperity. But, what if we decided to make changes that would have rippling effects both for ourselves, our communities and the planet?
That is where green resolutions come in! When we fixate our energy in the new decade towards caring for the environment, we can begin to feel more connected to our earth and grounded in our decisions. We find entirely new, intimate relationships with our ecosystems, the people around us, and even ourselves through strengthening our empathy and our sense of global community. 2019 was a year of unprecedented climate activism across the globe. With more media coverage on fires in the Amazon or record-setting high temperatures, a greater percentage of the population is seeking out ways in which their individual choices could factor into our global impact. Setting new goals for the decade should reflect that sense of urgency and action. Here are just seven small changes that, when unwrapped, hold serious meaning for the future of ourselves and the planet!
1. Try Just One Vegan Meal a Day (then, see where it takes you!)
Sometimes shifting our diets can feel like a monumental change in our lives. However, when you break it down into individual meals, taking on a new way of eating can become incredibly simple. Trying just one plant-based meal a day as part of your new year’s resolution can have profound impacts on your own health and the planets! According to an article in Live Kindly, just one vegan meal can save up to “200,000 gallons of water and reduces as much gas equivalent to a road trip from LA to New York”,. That can make all the difference for a world which is constantly losing unnecessary amounts of water for agriculture and industry, and is plagued by overwhelming amounts of car emissions. That meal could also kickstart your health journey in the new decade and force you to have a closer connection to the ingredients in your food that you may have otherwise disregarded!
2. Shop Second-Hand and Read Up On Labels
We have become all too accustomed to shopping fast-fashion and writing off second-hand as either too complicated or too expensive. However, I am here to tell you that changing your wardrobe to reflect a more ethical and sustainable fashion approach is actually extremely easy and will not break the bank! Hitting up your local thrift shop might seem like a task, but it just takes some rummaging through the bad to find the great. Living in a city like Los Angeles, good second-hand shops seem to pop up around every corner giving ample opportunity to revamp your wardrobe! I personally love using apps like Depop or Poshmark to find all my vintage statement pieces, and they never cost me more than $50! You can also shop labels that dedicate themselves to using sustainably-sourced fabrics and production methods, along with ethical labor resources. The app Good On You allows you to search for any clothing line and gives you ratings on their impact on the planet, workers and if they use animal products! It also suggests stores that align with your morals and help you feel more grounded in your clothing decisions. Making the change from fast to slow fashion is not at all difficult or pricey, it simply requires you to reflect your own ethics onto the clothing you wear every day!
3. Join Your Campus Environmental Action Group
With more urgency in environmental action across the globe, nearly every college campus has an organization dedicated to making both on-campus and local changes that help the planet. Some groups host events such as clothing swaps, community gardening days, lecture series, beach cleanups, volunteering at community events or even climate protests. Every one of these opportunities, no matter how small, could have huge impacts with more involvement! Contacting your campus environmental action group is just one click away and could seriously help to kickstart your eco-warrior journey!
4. Compost, Compost, Compost!
College campuses are a bustling sphere of new ideas and innovations, and new composting programs are no exception. More and more universities across the country are strengthening their compost systems so that they are more accessible to everyone, easier to decipher what goes in and what does not, and valuable to students’ overall environmental awareness. The benefits of these programs are far-reaching. Returning food waste to the earth can help reduce the tons of it that would otherwise be hauled on trucks across thousands of miles to landfills, and it can work to reduce water usage on green spaces! It can become difficult to unravel the do’s and don’ts of composting, but as a general rule you should only put in items that once had a life of its own or came from the earth can be returned back to it (i.e. vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, spoiled milk, eggshells, tea bags, and even paper products). You should look into your specific campus’s location and rules in place for their compost, as each one differs. If you do not see one in place already, this is a great place to start using your newfound environmental activism for real change!
5. Ditch the Waste
Once you begin to realize the heaping mountain of trash we create in our day to day lives from coffee cup containers, makeup wipes, single-use plastic bags, etc., it can feel like there is no escape from our inevitably waste-filled lifestyles. However, the transition to zero-waste is one that can be made easily over time with the right preparation and determination to get it done. I first started to move towards zero waste simply by counting how much trash I had created each day – the results were terrifying. Rather than let this deter you from making the jump, try looking for an alternative route for each piece of trash you create, one at a time. This can look like taking your own coffee cup to the campus coffee shop, shopping only with reusable bags, bringing your own cutlery or eating out less. Buying in bulk and cooking for yourself more often can also help to take a burden off food packaging and offer you an opportunity to try out your new composting program! Zero-waste, while frightening at first, just requires some awareness of how trash is produced at each step of our lives and the careful preparation to prevent that process!
6. Attend a Local Climate Strike
The climate strikes we saw across the globe last year are only scraping the surface of the activism to come in the new decade. As more and more take place in cities from every part of the world and Greta Thunberg’s Fridays for Future campaign soars to new heights, there will be ample opportunities to get involved. There is no excuse not to find one near you, show up with a few friends and homemade signs and USE YOUR VOICE! Your own individual actions may seem small in nature, but when they are amplified by millions of others, local and even national governments will be forced to listen. If you do not live near a city that is hosting a climate strike, starting one on your college campus could be a great way for more campus involvement and education for students!
7. Minimalism is The Name of The Game!
Ultimately, our tendency to over-consume within every sector of our lives has become a significant driver of climate change, the rise in natural disasters and the ever-growing issue of global waste. Especially here in the global north, our insatiable need for new clothing items, technology, makeup, home goods, etc. has only excelled us deeper into environmental crisis. Buying only what you absolutely need and reusing what you can is an incredible way to practice minimalism and encourage others around you to do the same. Also, when you pay for quality items that last, you never have to rebuy and you end up saving even more! There are innumerable minimalist blogs and YouTube channels that can help you along your journey and continue to learn more (I personally love Madeleine Olivia and Pick Up Limes). There is no perfect minimalist lifestyle and over-consuming is bound to happen! The goal here is to maintain an awareness of how our lifestyles impact our immediate environment, and how we can use our buying power to make a statement that aligns with our values!
Finding a place to start your eco-conscious journey in the new decade can feel staggering at first, but any beginning, no matter the size, is a step in the right direction. Rather than attempt perfection, try to look at each part of your lifestyle that has the potential for environmental harm and tweak it slightly! A significant part of doing what you can as a civilian to help our global crisis comes from awareness, education and activism. Recognize that as a college student you have the privilege of participating in a global public discussion around the environment and the agency to act upon it! There is no perfect model to follow or precedent to reach, so take each day as an opportunity to enhance your own knowledge, practice your ethics and offer others insight into how they can be part of the fight too.