Everyone wants to be happy. Growing up, that was always my goal in life. If at 90-something years old I can say I lived a long, happy life then I have succeeded in all the ways I want to succeed. Happiness means something different to everyone, but for me it means finding true love, having a family, finding moderate success in my career, generally being a good person, and living a life filled with fun and laughter.
I feel like I’m a generally happy person, largely because I’m grateful for very basic things. Am I alive? Yep. Cool, I’m happy about that. That said, I’m always looking for ways to improve my happiness. I was pretty shocked recently when I came across a study by Tetra Pak that found that those that make renewable, sustainable, eco-friendly choices find happiness from those choices. After thinking about it for a few minutes I realized it wasn’t all that shocking. Humans find great happiness from doing good things for others. Why wouldn’t we find that same happiness doing good things for our planet?
In that spirit I wanted to share four easy ways to live a more renewable life. These tips are seriously easy to implement, will do some good for our planet, and will bring you a little happiness along the way!
1. Walk more
I am constantly in a car driving somewhere. Omaha is known as the 20-minute city. Whether it’s to work, out running errands, or to catch up with friends, it will take you just 20 minutes to get anywhere, but that’s when you’re in a car. That said, I live downtown so I can definitely prioritize walking to the local events, restaurants, and stores by me. It’s good for the environment and let’s be real, it’s good for my waistline.
2. Conserve water
Conserving water is one of the easiest things to do that has one of the biggest impacts on the world. Cut your shower time by a few minutes in the morning, turn off the sink while you brush your teeth, and be conscious of how much water you’re using when you’re doing dishes or cleaning your car. There are so many people who don’t even have access to clean water. We are blessed and we have a responsibility to use the water we do have well.
3. Choose renewable packaging
This was a new one for me, but I realized that much like I use my dollar vote when buying organic, healthy products, I’m also using my dollar vote for that product’s packaging. Buying products in biodegradable or renewable packaging (like cartons) helps me shrink my global footprint a little bit. Living in the country that I do, with the privilege that I have, my global footprint is pretty freaking big. I’ll take any opportunity I can to shrink it even a little bit.
4. Try to opt for reusable products
It is truly ridiculous how much trash humans fill landfills with. Do our planet a favor and chose reusable products when possible. This is your perfect excuse to buy that cute mug or that gorgeous plate set. It’s good for the environment! 😉
Questions of the Day: Do you consider yourself a naturally happy person? (Take the Tetra Pak happiness quiz!) Do you care about reducing your global footprint? How do you live a more renewable life?
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
Beautiful pictures
All these ideas have been around for awhile, still we don’t get it. Get out and walk more, stop wasting water, and recycle and plant a garden.
A nice part of living in Chicago is that walking and public transportation are so easy, and they are so much better for the environment. I could be a little better about buying products with less packaging, though.
I walk everywhere in NYC, it’s the packaging on all the food here that’s tough! In the country with farmer’s markets it’s the opposite. Here, those Styrofoam containers, plastic bags, etc are the bane of urbane existence.
Great tips! I think we often forget that we can walk places…I live right by a fairly busy road and while I can’t walk everywhere, there are some places that I CAN walk (like to my second job or the coffee shop) and that I do need to do more often! It takes me just about the same time as if I drove anyway, it gets me some extra fresh air, exercise and I truly ENJOY it! All the more reason to do so!
Some of these things may seem self explanatory to some, but people still struggle to understand them. Having reminders like this really brings it out into the forefront. Thank you!
thank you for sharing these!
These are such great tips- and for suuuuuch a worthy cause. Renewability/sustainability is so important!
You can also make sure the things you DO buy were made in sustainable/renewable ways that don’t deplete the soil! So many great options out there these days! And we get the added benefit of our minds and bodies being less cluttered.
I try to walk whenever I can. When we lived downtown it was a lot easier!
Wonderful post Erin! I know we often make the mistake of taking for granted the small things but the second we lose them we notice. I start walking on lunch with a coworker and it’s such a soothing thing.
Love your post! So inspiring. 🙂
xx
Mademoiselle Coconath
http://mllecoconath.com
Haha I’m totally going to use that the next time I see a cute coffee mug I want! Hopefully my boyfriend agrees 🙂