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Non-environmental reasons to change your environmental habits.
Let’s face it… most of us want to do the right things to protect our environment, but it requires that we change some of our ingrained habits. A habit is an acquired behavior and usually develops because the rewards of that behavior outweigh the consequences of not acting on it.
The rewards for good environmental habits are obvious – reduce carbon footprint, better health for the family, decrease landfill, and chemical waste, lessen our dependency on foreign oil, etc. These are all logical reasons to change our behavior; however, we all know that logic by itself rarely changes our actions. (How many of us know someone who smokes, knows how bad it is for them, understands they should quite, however continues to smoke)? Most often, there has to be other reasons such as feeling better about yourself, or saving time or money to change your habits.
I looked at the seven most important environmental habits I have developed and refined over the course of 2010 and realized that each one of them had very real benefits that did not have any logically environmental rationale.
Here is a quick rundown of my 2010 Seven Habits of an Ordinary Environmentalist.
Habit #1: Two Reasons for Every Trip
Always try to think of what errands you have to run that are on the way to or from your primary destination. Plan and schedule your time out in advance of every trip. If, for example, you are meeting a friend for lunch, stop and get your groceries on the way home. My grocery store is only 5 minutes away, but if I make that solo trip twice a week, it takes up 17 hours a year in driving time. Yes, it requires a bit of planning, but it will:
• reduce your carbon footprint,
• save on gas costs, and
• save you lots of time.
Habit # 2: Use Cloth Shopping Bags
“Oh I have those things but I always forget to take them into the store with me.” Sound familiar? Habits take time to develop. I purchased my first cloth grocery bag in 2006, and only remembered to take them along about 10% of the time. Four years later, I remember 95% of the time, and I love to use them because:
• It is environmentally smart: less plastic and paper in landfills, less carbon footprint from manufacturing and shipping, fewer trees cut down, etc., etc.
• It reduces clutter in the house from stored paper and plastic bags (really it does make a difference), and
• They have much better handles and are easier to carry then paper or plastic.
Habit #3: Line Dry Clothes
Right now, I have two feet of snow in my backyard and cannot dry my sheets and towels outside. I miss the habit of line drying my linens outside for a number of reasons:
• Less electricity used, saving money and reducing carbon footprint,
• Reduce wear and tear on my dryer,
• A break now and then to go outside in the fresh air and sunshine is good for me and,
• My sheets and towels smell amazing!
Habit #4: Compost
I started composting on a whim a few years ago, and today I am a bit upset because I can’t compost with two feet of snow blocking the door out to my compost bin. My whim developed into a composting habit because of the immense benefits I found with:
• Surprising less garbage sent to the landfill, and
• Fantastic mulch for my garden and potted plants.
Habit #5: Twice is Nice
I like a good challenge, and this habit of trying to look for a secondary use for packaging and other materials has stretched my imagination. This has been, in fact, my most difficult habit to develop, and the most interesting. I now seek out Styrofoam to replace some of the dirt and lighten up my big flowerpots, use plastic mushroom containers for little disposable paint containers and convert bread bags into pet pooper picker uppers. This is a good environmental habit because:
• Less landfill waste and contribution to floating plastic islands in the Pacific ocean,
• Save money by not purchasing plastic disposable food and other containers,
• Helps me think inventively.
Habit #6: Use Recycled Packaging
We all know about the reduce, reuse, recycle stream and there is one more thing you can do to really help; use recycled paper and packaging when possible. Make it a habit to check out those shampoo and cleaning bottles and see if they are made with recycled materials. The more we use recycled materials, the less new plastic and wood has to be used, which means:
• less landfill waste, less virgin wood use, and less dependency on oil,
• reduce demand for oil, which can reduce fuel prices,
• reward, through increased sales, the companies that are making a stand to protect our environment.
Habit #7: Something In, Something Out
A friend of mine gave me this tip a number of years ago as a philosophical way to help determine what ‘things’ are most important to me. The basic principal is that if you bring something into your house, like a new pair of shoes, something similar, like an old pair of shoes, has to leave your house. With this habit, you need to decide that what you want is better then what you have. This habit really helps:
• Reduce waste with less packaging from new products,
• Saves money on buying items you don’t really want,
• Eliminates clutter and things you don’t want in your house,
• Helps charities who need used clothes and household items,
• Philosophically helps you understand and prioritize what is really important to you.
These seven habits of an Ordinary Environmentalistreally benefit anyone who is interested in saving time or money, with the added benefit of making a difference in the future of our world.
Let’s face it… most of us want to do the right things to protect our environment, but it requires that we change some of our ingrained habits. A habit is an acquired behavior and usually develops because the rewards of that behavior outweigh the consequences of not acting on it.
The rewards for good environmental habits are obvious – reduce carbon footprint, better health for the family, decrease landfill, and chemical waste, lessen our dependency on foreign oil, etc. These are all logical reasons to change our behavior; however, we all know that logic by itself rarely changes our actions. (How many of us know someone who smokes, knows how bad it is for them, understands they should quite, however continues to smoke)? Most often, there has to be other reasons such as feeling better about yourself, or saving time or money to change your habits.
I looked at the seven most important environmental habits I have developed and refined over the course of 2010 and realized that each one of them had very real benefits that did not have any logically environmental rationale.
Here is a quick rundown of my 2010 Seven Habits of an Ordinary Environmentalist.
Habit #1: Two Reasons for Every Trip
Always try to think of what errands you have to run that are on the way to or from your primary destination. Plan and schedule your time out in advance of every trip. If, for example, you are meeting a friend for lunch, stop and get your groceries on the way home. My grocery store is only 5 minutes away, but if I make that solo trip twice a week, it takes up 17 hours a year in driving time. Yes, it requires a bit of planning, but it will:
• reduce your carbon footprint,
• save on gas costs, and
• save you lots of time.
Habit # 2: Use Cloth Shopping Bags
“Oh I have those things but I always forget to take them into the store with me.” Sound familiar? Habits take time to develop. I purchased my first cloth grocery bag in 2006, and only remembered to take them along about 10% of the time. Four years later, I remember 95% of the time, and I love to use them because:
• It is environmentally smart: less plastic and paper in landfills, less carbon footprint from manufacturing and shipping, fewer trees cut down, etc., etc.
• It reduces clutter in the house from stored paper and plastic bags (really it does make a difference), and
• They have much better handles and are easier to carry then paper or plastic.
Habit #3: Line Dry Clothes
Right now, I have two feet of snow in my backyard and cannot dry my sheets and towels outside. I miss the habit of line drying my linens outside for a number of reasons:
• Less electricity used, saving money and reducing carbon footprint,
• Reduce wear and tear on my dryer,
• A break now and then to go outside in the fresh air and sunshine is good for me and,
• My sheets and towels smell amazing!
Habit #4: Compost
I started composting on a whim a few years ago, and today I am a bit upset because I can’t compost with two feet of snow blocking the door out to my compost bin. My whim developed into a composting habit because of the immense benefits I found with:
• Surprising less garbage sent to the landfill, and
• Fantastic mulch for my garden and potted plants.
Habit #5: Twice is Nice
I like a good challenge, and this habit of trying to look for a secondary use for packaging and other materials has stretched my imagination. This has been, in fact, my most difficult habit to develop, and the most interesting. I now seek out Styrofoam to replace some of the dirt and lighten up my big flowerpots, use plastic mushroom containers for little disposable paint containers and convert bread bags into pet pooper picker uppers. This is a good environmental habit because:
• Less landfill waste and contribution to floating plastic islands in the Pacific ocean,
• Save money by not purchasing plastic disposable food and other containers,
• Helps me think inventively.
Habit #6: Use Recycled Packaging
We all know about the reduce, reuse, recycle stream and there is one more thing you can do to really help; use recycled paper and packaging when possible. Make it a habit to check out those shampoo and cleaning bottles and see if they are made with recycled materials. The more we use recycled materials, the less new plastic and wood has to be used, which means:
• less landfill waste, less virgin wood use, and less dependency on oil,
• reduce demand for oil, which can reduce fuel prices,
• reward, through increased sales, the companies that are making a stand to protect our environment.
Habit #7: Something In, Something Out
A friend of mine gave me this tip a number of years ago as a philosophical way to help determine what ‘things’ are most important to me. The basic principal is that if you bring something into your house, like a new pair of shoes, something similar, like an old pair of shoes, has to leave your house. With this habit, you need to decide that what you want is better then what you have. This habit really helps:
• Reduce waste with less packaging from new products,
• Saves money on buying items you don’t really want,
• Eliminates clutter and things you don’t want in your house,
• Helps charities who need used clothes and household items,
• Philosophically helps you understand and prioritize what is really important to you.
These seven habits of an Ordinary Environmentalistreally benefit anyone who is interested in saving time or money, with the added benefit of making a difference in the future of our world.
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