In the modern world, the questions that people might regularly ask themselves pertain to how they can lead a life that makes a positive impact. There are several ways to do this, you might look to gear your career around something that specifically looks to help people, or you might even just make a conscious effort to do so in your personal life.
However, one way that you can do more in a day-to-day way is to aim towards a more sustainable lifestyle – making small differences in the way that you live in order to minimise the negative impact you make on society, the environment, or people around the world.
Change Starts at Home
The quickest way that you can start to make a difference is by looking at what you eat, and how you can make changes in that department that might net an overall positive result. While your mind might first go to examples such as ditching meat, the actions that you take don’t always have to be such dramatic overhauls to make a difference.
Instead, researching topics such as why is fairtrade important, can make you choose possible alternatives that you can look out for on your next shop. Knowing the options to avoid and the ones to veer towards can help you to make small differences which build up over time. Another example is looking to avoid foods that use palm oil (or at least ones which do not use grow it sustainably), due to the damage that it can have areas with high conservation value.
Public Transport
The convenience of driving your own vehicle from point A to B is clear to see, and if this is the way that you’re used to getting around, you’re likely going to encounter a bit of a transition period if you looked to taking public transport full time instead. Obviously, this isn’t always going to be convenient, but it can make a big difference to the environment if you decide to opt for it more regularly, due to the damage that so many cars on the road can do.
It’s not always going to be convenient to do so, if the train or bus doesn’t go where you want to, for example. You should consider moderating the time you spend driving your own car rather than a full transition – for instance, can you use public transport 3 days a week?
Moving Away from Fast Fashion
The idea of fast fashion is something that’s so ingrained into general shopping culture that it might not even be something that you find yourself massively aware of. With so many shops promoting cheap clothes that don’t last, as well as encouraging new styles and trends, the end result is that people just go through clothes far more quickly than they need to. Finding yourself high quality clothes that stick around can save you money, but when it does become time to swap them out for new clothes, considering giving your old clothes to charity shops or selling them through services like Vinted can keep them circulating and providing value even after you hand them off.