Environmentalism used to be reserved for hippies, but as fears of global warming and dwindling resources start to become increasingly prevalent in the media and in our day-to-day life, it’s becoming a necessity for most people to live a sustainable lifestyle. You most likely already recycle and turn off lights around the house to help do your part, but maybe you want to do more to live a green lifestyle. This DIY guide to life should help you… well, do it yourself. Living independently is a great way to reduce your environmental impact if you do it sustainably.

Energy.

Energy is expensive in terms of both monetary and planetary costs. It makes sense to try to cut down on how much of it you use if you want to start living more sustainably. Go from room to room around your house and take a look at the things you use energy for; appliances, gadgets, and lights will be the main culprits, and it all adds up on that energy bill at the end of the month. You could make some changes, however, without cutting electrical items out of your life altogether.

Replacing old appliances (once broken and useless) with energy-efficient ones will cut back on energy costs. You might also want to consider the source of your power if you want to go a step further; fitting solar panels is a great way to stop relying on harmful and costly energy sources altogether. Off grid living isn’t quite as scary as it sounds, and you could read more about how to get started if you’re not sure how to tackle that task. When it comes to sustaining yourself then relying on your own power source is the best way to do it; it obviously reduces your carbon footprint as well as helping you live independently.

Paper.

As you know, our forests are rapidly shrinking and that has a huge effect on the earth’s ecosystem. Reducing your paper usage will help to stop to stop this mass destruction of nature. You could start borrowing books from the library rather than buying new ones or buying paper (only when you need it) from companies which only use recycled paper within their products. There are so many ways to do your part to create a more sustainable world without massively impacting your lifestyle. You don’t need paper towels; you can use a cloth. Think about your daily routine and how you could change it.

Diet.

You might be surprised to see this on the list, but a sustainable diet can have a far bigger impact on the world and reducing your carbon footprint than cutting out transport from your life (that’s not a joke). Reducing your meat consumption, either partially or altogether, could help reduce the meat industry’s mass manufacturing process which is massively polluting our planet. It’ll help your health too, and you could see this as a chance to start growing your own food in the back garden; vegetables, fruits, and other things that you could plant yourself.

Think carefully about your consumer behavior.

Unless you’re going to cut ties with society completely then you’re going to have to accept that you’ll create some form of carbon footprint on the world. What you need to do is think about how great that footprint is going to be. As a consumer, be smart about your shopping decisions. Pay attention to labels on goods that you buy and figure out whether there are environmental benefits to buying that good or harmful environmental consequences.