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Don't Just Walk The Eco Talk, Live It
It's nice to say that at work you're environmentally friendly, but what do you do when you go home?
Are you 'playing' at it?
The other day I was having a conversation with a coach I know and explained that I had met this group of people that I thought matched my values, but it felt like I was watching children play house instead of real adults doing real things. The statement from someone in their late 30s/ early 40s about how 'They gave me a drum. My parents just can't keep up with all the interests I have.' reinforced that. It felt like none, at least very few, were actually serious. They would come there, do a few things and then go back to their lives.
I can tell you, I never went back there again.
Are you doing the same in your business? Because your customers look for those things as well. It's nice to go for a walk and do the things you said you do. But what about after you're done walking? If your goal is to lead an active life, walking 30 minutes and then taking the subway back to go rest on the coach while watching TV is not very inspiring nor consistent.
Which brings me back to travel. It's one thing to say you want to see all of the beautiful nature that the world has to offer. But did you ever consider the damage you're doing by going to see it? Most tourism is set up in a way that actually damages the environment. Forests are destroyed to build big hotels, tourists leave litter everywhere that causes problems for nature as well as the animals that live there.
For anyone who wants to make a difference, I doubt that's the difference you wanted to make. But there is an alternative. Ecotourism is defined as "responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people." (TIES, 1990)
The organizations that promote this use all different tactics to minimize their impact on the environment. If a lot of people started using those practices in their daily lives, imagine what a difference that would make. Some of their tactics which I really liked, are also easy to incorporate within your life.
# 1: Biodegradable Self-Care
One of the whale watching tours which also actually offers swimming with whale sharks (they don't eat you, they're more whale) advises that you have to use biodegradable sunscreen because otherwise the substance will get into the water bringing harm to the animals.
A resort on Vancouver Island uses biodegradable soaps and shampoo among other things to minimize their impact on the environment.
# 2: Recycling
With this one you can get quite creative. It's more than minimizing your use of plastic (though I do believe they have biodegradable plastic now) or throwing it in the recycle bin.
One resort reused materials from a building that was torn down to build their own lodge so they wouldn't have to get more.
Another practice was using wood from dead trees instead of cutting down healthy ones.
# 3: Anti-Littering Policy
This is something that drives me absolutely nuts. You go for a nice nature walk and people have left crap everywhere, ruining the experience. A lot of the times they drop stuff five feet from a garbage can. Really? You couldn't make the extra five feet? According to my mother I started my own anti-littering campaign at the age of two involving reprimanding people and picking up after them (which amused her and worried her at the same time because she didn't know what I was picking up).
So for all of you that go on nature hikes, you have three options. Garbage can, pocket it until you reach a garbage can or buy reusable items.
I understand, sometimes stuff falls out of your pocket. It happens to me too. But guess what, I pick it up then throw it out. Use that bend and snap technique from Legally Blonde if you want to pick up guys while doing so ;)
# 4: Buyer Be Aware
The consumer market is full of material hogs.
Our market is set up like a pig that devours everything it comes across. In the end all you're left with a pile of crap. At least with real pigs you can still use it.
The way it works is that everything is built to break down instead of last. That way consumers have to buy more. Case and point: my dad bought a dresser from a garage sale that was about 80 years old. He's had it for a minimum of a decade and it works like a charm. He bought a dresser from Sears that fell apart in three months. The result? He would have to buy another dresser for the other room because 'they're not made like they used to be'.
This is true for almost everything we buy now. They are not made to endure so that they make more profit. By doing so we produce more and more which drains our natural resources to fill a 'need' that technically shouldn't exist.
Shop around for things that will last. Whether it's a big thing like furniture or smaller things like a refillable pen. It will be an investment that ends up not only saving you money but helps save the environment as well.
The next items are more on the personal side rather than organizational, but equally useful.
# 5: Air Dry
One of the big items that uses a lot of electricity is a dryer. You really don't need one. In over a year, I've used the dryer once.
It's quite simply really. You wash your clothes then hang them to dry inside the house. You can do this in a separate room but you really don't require anything fancy for it. A Filipina lady got me into the habit of not needing one when we were roommates. She had a washer but not a dryer. All of the clothes were hung up on rails above the washer, or if there was no space you grab two dining chairs spanning a plank across it (just a thin long piece of wood). Now you have your makeshift reusable rail that hardly take up any space at all.
Leave them overnight, make sure they're not too close together and most of your stuff dries while you sleep.
For all you people worried about your underwear getting wrinkled, well go iron it if you have to. Though I really don't see why. Most people won't see it, guys normally don't care and for the women I highly doubt your man is concerned about wrinkled underwear. Usually by the time he sees them he's preoccupied with other thoughts.
# 6: Natural Foods
Employ a simple strategy: if you don't know it, don't eat it. By that I mean, if you read the ingredient list and still don't know what's in there, put it back on the shelf.
Would you pour coke in your gas tank?
Be equally picky about what you put in your body. You'll suddenly find you have a lot more energy than you thought and feel a lot better.
One of the most disturbing things I've found is our sugar intake. Did you know that regular high sugar intake not only causes diseases (you don't find out about them until the worst damage is already done) but also destroys your energy levels. I should know, I ate that stuff by the buckets. Normally I used it to pretend my stomach was full so it would tie me over until I got something to eat later.
It got to a point where my body quit on me. On day I just couldn't eat any of it and even the sight of candy would make me feel ill.
I had been dealing with chronic fatigue for years. No matter what I did or how much I slept, I was tired. After I quit, I had 10 times the energy.
# 7: Oh Christmas Tree
This one put me between a rock and a hard place. I love Christmas trees. I love the look, the smell and everything about the season it represents. It's my favorite holiday of the year.
But every year, I watch all these people buy a tree displaying it in their living room only to throw it out once they're done. All these beautiful Christmas trees are just casually thrown out to die in the garbage. In fact they have entire farms where you can go pick your Christmas tree and cut it down yourself.
We do this every year. Despite a company proudly boasting that they've 'planted 3,000 trees', how many millions have we just destroyed in a single month?
There is the plastic alternative, which while reusable still doesn't leave me feeling like I've contributed to nature. This issue still has me quite confused so I've put having a tree on hold for now.
Ideally, I would like to have a yard to plant my tree in. That way I could have a live tree and reuse it every year. I'd just have to get more creative with eco-friendly decorations.
No one ever said being true to yourself would be easy. But then again a challenge is fun. So why compromise when you can challenge yourself to have it all?
Author's Bio:
Melissa Therrien is a writer, entrepreneur and group travel organizer.
