Impactful Ways To Help Our Planet

Finding ways to help the environment thrive and help save our planet is becoming ever more important. In the fall of 2021, we had a large unprecedented storm that dumped a month’s worth of rain in two days. We get a lot of rain in these parts, but that was crazy and caused mass damage to highways and cut southern BC off from the rest of the country. That is not an over-exaggeration.

When that storm hit, I personally think that people started to see how climate change is affecting all of us. There is a sense of urgency to find ways to help our planet, but we can all start with small changes instead of putting pressure on ourselves to be perfect.

Progress, NOT Perfection

Some of these will be easier to implement than others. Not all places have recycling or composting programs. The world of electric cars is still in its early adoptive phase and infrastructure is limited. You don’t need to do all of these things. Honestly, any changes – big or small – that you can do consistently, helps our planet continue to thrive.

We can’t do everything ourselves, and there is a lot of change that needs to be at the government level. But, any change is a positive change. If we all do small things, we can make a greater overall impact over time.

Reusable Water Bottle/Coffee Mugs

This is something that lots of people were getting really good with before the pandemic. Throughout the pandemic, you couldn’t use your own cups in coffee shops and we were forced to use their takeaway cups. Some coffee shops have made the switch to more eco-friendly takeaway items, but it’s still wasteful when we have our own mugs.

Now that we’re on the other side, community water fountains and coffee shops are back to allowing you to use your own containers for takeaway. Take advantage, and help eliminate unnecessary waste. Especially if you get takeout coffee a lot; this is a great way to help our planet!

And hey, if you’re looking for a way to save a little coin, make your coffee at home and bring it with you on your commute to work/school.

Glass Containers – Lunches, Leftovers etc.

If you’re using plastic containers to shuffle lunches to and from school/work, you’re on the right track! Plastic containers don’t last as long as glass containers, so you may find yourself having to replace them more often. Plastic isn’t great for our planet generally.

In 2019 we began to migrate over to glass containers from our plastic containers.

They’re easier to clean, they last far longer than plastic, and reheating them is a breeze. Depending on the ones you get, they are oven safe. I hate reheating food in the microwave and prefer to use the oven (or toaster oven at the office).

We make a lot of spaghetti, lasagna, and chili throughout the fall and winter months, and our containers are sparkling clean. Our plastic ones, not so much. This is a super easy way to help our planet and can be done over time.

Reusable Bags

Here in Vancouver, plastic bags are now banned. You can’t find a plastic bag anywhere; only paper is offered. Granted, when a bag is forgotten, or I have to grab groceries at the end of a run, I’ll happily pay for a paper bag which we then store and use during camping season as a fire starter.

The fees for paper bags are fairly hefty, and while they are better than plastic, if you can avoid using them at all, that’s the best-case scenario. We’ve been using reusable bags for a long time now, except for a brief time during the pandemic when we couldn’t use our own bags, and it’s such an easy switch to make. Don’t do consistent weekly grocery shops? Keep some of the reusable bags in your car so you always have them if you’re whipping into the store on your way home.

I also prefer to bring mine with me for any shopping. So even if I am popping into Nordstrom or Lush, I have my own bag. The more I use mine, the less waste I am participating in.

I’m not perfect with this, and there’s always room for improvement. But it is such a small change that makes a big impact on our environment in the long term.

Start Composting

This one may not be as easy for those that live in highrises unless your city and building participate in a composting program. But, this is a super easy one to start. You can use your compost to feed your garden soil, so if you have a vegetable garden, this is easy to do.

When you’re composting scraps of food, you’re helping to eliminate waste. You can compost your coffee grounds, fruit and veggie scraps, egg shells and tea bags to name a few. You can learn more about the composting process here.

Reduce Fast Fashion

It can be easy to get sucked into trends, but fast fashion is not a way to help our planet thrive at all. Look into clothes that may be made with more sustainable products or higher quality materials which means they’ll last longer. Having classic timeless items in your wardrobe means you are spending less on the lesser quality items we tend to pick up because it’s trending or in season.

Less waste of the product overall as the less we buy into fast fashion, the less will be produced over time which helps reduce emissions from production to shipping. Find unique pieces by thrifting, and when you’re going through your closet, make sure to put pieces aside for donation instead of throwing them away.

Fast fashion is cheaper but not as good for our planet.

Reduce Food Waste With Meal Prepping

It’s a well-known fact that food waste is higher than it should be, worldwide. According to earth.org, the US is 2nd in the world for food waste, while Canada comes in at 12th. Surprisingly, Australia takes the number one spot. For the US, that equates to approximately 103 million tons of food waste every single year. That’s insanity!

All this wasted food would have been enough to provide nearly 130 billion meals. (Earth.org)

We find that by planning out our meals for the work week, and our lunches, we buy what we need and stick to the plan. Sure, things come up and we may shift that to a different day, or freeze it if need be. Planning out and meal prepping means we’re only purchasing what we need, therefore consuming what we purchase.

When we get off track and aren’t meal-prepping, we do tend to waste food as we may have purchased things we didn’t actually need.

Incorporate More Vegetarian/Vegan Meals

You don’t have to cut out meat and dairy altogether, but just by incorporating more vegetarian and/or vegan meals, you’re helping to reduce emissions. Reducing meat consumption not only reduces greenhouse gas emissions but also deforestation and soil degradation.

Other benefits include saving on water use and increasing biodiversity. Not to mention, there are a ton of tasty vegetarian and vegan alternatives out there, and you never know what meal will become your next favourite.

Carpool When You Can | Transit

Reducing your carbon footprint by carpooling when you can is a super easy way to help our planet out. Do you and your partner work close in proximity? Or live close to a friend who works close to you, or live close to a colleague? Consider carpooling even just a few times a week.

Another option is to take advantage of transit in your area. Some people tend to look down on transit, but if you want an easy way to help out the planet and your pocketbook at the same time, I would highly recommend it. Instead of sitting in traffic for 45 minutes to drive home, I could sit on a bus and a train for just under an hour and read a book, watch a show, listen to a podcast or watch YouTube. Heck, I’d even nap on occasion. Can’t do that when you’re driving!

Both of these are great ways to help our planet continue to thrive.

Consider An Electric or Hybrid Vehicle

This may be the most expensive, and currently difficult option to achieve. Over here, my husband & I have been talking about making the switch to EV for a few years. However, the options a few years ago were quite limited, and Jason was intent on waiting for Volkswagen to release their line of EVs.

We finally got the chance to see the Volkswagen id.4 in person last summer, and we fell in love. We immediately put our names down and a deposit, and knew we were in for a long wait. The wait wound up not being that long, and we’ve been an electric car household since the end of February.

Even accounting for the manufacturing of the battery for EVs & PHEVs, the overall greenhouse gas emissions are far lower than your standard gasoline vehicle.

Additionally, EVs are easier on your wallet overall. The initial investment may be higher, but there are rebates that can be claimed dependent upon where you live, but with the price at the pumps and how much we spend to maintain vehicles annually, you come out on top with the EV over time. Yes, you do need to plan accordingly when taking road trips, but honestly, it’s nice to stop, stretch + and grab a snack/coffee.

Which Ways To Help Our Planet Thrive Will You Do?

Which of these things do you already do? Is there anything here that you didn’t realize would help lower emissions and help our planet?

I’m still working on remembering my reusable coffee cup in the post-pandemic world. I have been working on not getting coffee out as much as I used to, and when I do, I tend to be going for a run. I don’t run with my coffee mug, but if I’m with our run crew and someone has their car with them, I’ll bring my cup and store it in their car.

Making the switch to an electric vehicle has been amazing. It does take an initial investment, but I feel better about driving places now. I still am a little hesitant on the transit with the pandemic still being a concern. But, I do love that we’re investing in electric buses and incorporating those into our local transit fleet.

Every little bit helps!