by Clarissa Grunwald
Walk
A walk around the neighborhood is good for your physical and emotional health. Walking to work, to school, to the grocery store, or to your favorite restaurant is good for all that, and the environment, too! Figure out what distance you are willing and able to walk in most conditions. Then, look at a map. Is there anything within that distance from your home? What about your workplace? Make a resolution not to drive to places within your walking distance.
(You can also bike, jog, etc. But walking is a good place to start. It won’t get you sweaty and doesn’t require any special equipment.)
Learn the Bus Routes
Did you know that Red Rose Transit just updated its bus routes? If the bus never worked for you in the past, it’s worth checking to see if the routes have changed to fit your needs now. You can find the updated schedules at Red Rose Transit Authority.
Do Less Laundry
Turns out college me was on to something after all! In addition to being boring and a hassle, laundry wastes water, breaks down clothes faster, and releases microplastics into the environment. You probably still want to wash your socks and underwear every time you wear them, and, depending on your body and how active you are during the day, shirts may or may not be re-wearable. (I find this also varies by shirt fabric type.) Most people will find that jeans, slacks, jackets and sweatshirts can be worn several times before needing to be washed.
You can track how many times you wear an item of clothing between washings by affixing a small safety pin to the fabric each time the item has been worn. But for most people, the most straightfoward way to figure out whether something needs to be washed is just to smell it and see. If the item has no odor, and no visible dirt, you can put it back in the drawer or closet to wear again.
Quit the Dryer
If you’re doing less laundry, it gets much easier to airdry your clothes, rather than using a tumble dryer. Luckily, you don’t need an outdoor clothesline for this. (And in January, you probably don’t want to use one anyway.) A collapsible indoor clothesrack will hold about a load of laundry and take about a day to dry. Save the dryer for special occasions.
Shop Less
Jeff Bezos hates this trick! In the new year, focus on making what you already have last longer. If you do need something, consider whether you can borrow it, or if you can get it for free via a community gifting group (sometimes called a “Buy Nothing” group.)
Eventually, as the things that you have wear out, you can use the money you saved to buy longer-lasting items, allowing you to shop even less in the future. But don’t rush to this part! The plastic in your jeans will be there whether they’re on your legs or in the landfill. You might as well get as much use out of them as you can.
Tweak What You Eat
There are many ways to change your eating habits to help the environment. One of the most effective is to reduce the amount of meat in your diet, either by designating meatless days or meatless meals, rebalancing your plate to include less meat overall, or completely going vegetarian or vegan. Eating local also helps, because it reduces the amount of fuel needed to transport food and keep it cool over long distances. Lancaster is a great place to eat local, because there are so many farms here! Consider joining a CSA (community supported agriculture) to get regular shares of local products.
Comments are closed.