bookmark_borderLiving a Lower-Waste Lifestyle 101

Hey earth muffins! As I said in my Book Review: No Impact Man post, I have been inspired to live a low waste lifestyle. Living low waste or zero waste is something I have been thinking about for quite some time now, but I know it will be a difficult transition. Therefore, I thought a “lower waste lifestyle” would be perfect for me! 🙂 Maybe if I end up really liking this, I will transition to zero waste, but as a college student with a tight budget this makes the most sense for me. If you would also like to live a better life (for both yourself and the planet), join me by doing some (or even all!) of these things:

1. Take quick, 15 minute showers – If you can, don’t wash your hair every day (because that will cut down your shower times by a ton!). This saves a lot more water than you’d think, and I don’t find it that difficult to do. Usually people sing or think or even sleep in the shower, so do that during other times when you aren’t wasting water!

2. Turn off the TV – I hate when people leave the TV on when they leave the house or sleep. Turn off the TV as much as you can (and even cut out lots of TV watching time in your life to find alternative less-waste activities!).

3. Walk/bike to work – Even carpool if you can! Try to reduce your car usage when living low waste! 🙂

4. Buy groceries at bulk stores – I can’t wait until my internship starts, because there is a bulk store only 15 minutes from my apartment! This allows you to cut out plastic packaging, and I plan on having a whole pantry of glass (sustainable!) mason jars when I get my first real apartment in a couple of years.

bulk food whole foods
Places like Whole Foods or health/organic stores usually have bulk sections! 

5. RECYCLE – Please. Recycle. Everything. While recycling isn’t the most sustainable alternative, it is still a start to get in the habit of recycling plastic, glass, metal, etc. 

recycling symbol

6. Compost (if you can) – I personally won’t be able to do this until I get my real first apartment, but if you have the means composting is super awesome!! 😀

7. Go to the thrift store! – Lots of clothes at the thrift store are perfectly fine, so buying second hand saves those products from ending up in the landfill. It also takes a bunch of water to create new clothes, so switching to second hand ensures that you aren’t making any extra waste. 🙂 I have been hitting up the thrift store a lot in the past weeks and have found some awesome clothes (let me know if you want a haul)!

8. Stop using disposable products – Our society is very much a “one-use” type of culture… Try to avoid any disposable products to prevent the landfills from being filled to the brim with them. Here are some simple switches for anyone living low waste:
                 -Lunch box instead of Ziploc bags
                 -Dryer balls/buddies instead of dryer sheets
                 -Metal/glass straws instead of plastic ones (or order drinks without the straws!!)
                 -Reusable water bottles/mugs instead of plastic ones (THIS IS SO EASY)
                 -Reusable bags instead of plastic: I carry a bag with me in my purse for the grocery store and other stores too!
                 -Reusable produce bags instead of plastic ones (these can be used for bulk food too!)
                 -Beeswax wrap instead of plastic wrap
                 -Ear picks instead of Q-tips
                 -Metal safety or straight razor over plastic ones
                 -Bamboo bath wands/dish wands instead of loofahs/sponges
                 -Menstrual cups over tampons/pads

zero waste alternatives

What do you do to live a more sustainable life?

Love,
Jenna ♥

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bookmark_borderBook Review: No Impact Man by Colin Beaven

Hey earth muffins! I have been going to the library and doing a lot of reading recently (yay!), so I thought it would be fun to write short book review posts to share what books I have found interesting (in case you are looking for something to read). 🙂 If you like these posts, please let me know in the comments, so I can decide if I should continue them!

no impact man book

So, the first book I decided to read was No Impact Man by Colin Beaven. Some of my friends are environmental science majors, so I have learned a lot about sustainability through them. The topic of saving the planet and being more sustainable is something I am also pretty passionate about, so one friend recommended that I read this book.

To put the story into a two sentence summary: Colin realizes that he wants to do something to help the planet so embarks on a one year journey of zero waste with his wife and kid. The book shares his reflections throughout that whole year. 🙂

Overall, I thought this was an eye-opening book!! As I mentioned before, I have always tried my best to recycle, conserve water, turn off the lights, etc. but this book made me realize that there are so many other things to do. Just looking around at our society shows that we live in a “one use only” and “throw-away” culture where everything from coffee cups to Q-tips to plastic wrap is just thrown away after one use. Did you know that China and the USA produce the same amount of fossil fuels in a year? Doesn’t sound too bad until you realize that China has about 5 times more people than America!

The stats used in this book were easy to understand and truly do open your eyes to how awful we are treating our planet. Because of this book, I am going to try to be more sustainable by trying to avoid plastics and “one-use only” products (more to come on this in a later blog post!!!!). Even though the topic was pretty deep, No Impact Man had a good mix of seriousness and humor that made the book a really great read!

If you are even remotely interested in the environment or saving the planet, I would definitely suggest this book! 🙂 What book have you read recently?

Love,
Jenna ♥

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