10 easy ways to reduce our environmental impact

Hi, my travel family! In this post, we talk about the protection of the planet and how to reduce your environmental impact. As you already know, we are scuba diving lovers and during our dives, we have constated the degradation of the ocean floor, the huge plastic pollution and the impact on marine flora and wildlife. The earth is too beautiful to be responsive by human madness.

Today I will give you 10 easy ways to daily reduce your environmental impact! There are many other ways but these 10 are for me a great beginning!

These tips are also generally better for your health and your money, therefore it’s a good balance!

Let’s go for our 10 easy ways to reduce our environmental impact

The 1st: Try to buy local and organic products

I think I’ll do another post about this but the consumer society is based on a global delivered system who produced huge pollution. If you try to buy your food with a local producer it is better for the planet. It will be perfect if these products are also BIO labeled. Firstly, for your health and secondly for the earth because the produces used by the agronomic industry (pesticide, fungicide, GMO etc) are poison for us and the Earth.

The 2nd: Stop food waste

10 million tones are the annual food-wasting if France. I let you imagine the number for the word! The main problem comes from mass distribution, which really is a shame. They prefer wasting food rather than giving to associations. 1/8 people suffer from hunger and malnutrition in the world. The second problem is us. If we try to buy only the necessary quantity, we will avoid waste. When shopping, be careful to only buy what you will consume, you can avoid buying grouped products. Also, be careful with the promotions, they are selling a huge quantity to “reduce the price”.

The 3rd: Turn off the light

It seems easy to say, but most of the time the lights are not useful. Many people don’t switch off the light when they leave a place! Using the natural light or switch off the light when you’re leaving a room is an easy way to reduce your environmental impact and save your money! 😉

The 4th: Make your own household products

Many people are using a household product with bleach. Nevertheless, bleach is a poison. Indeed, bleach kills bacteria but it kills all bacteria and this is the problem. Our ecosystem is composed of a balance between “bad” bacteria and “good” bacteria. Use bleach breaks this balance. Futhermore, if you look at the pictograms behind the bottle you will be convinced! (danger for the environment and can cause breathing problems for children).

If you want to use another product you can easily create your own household product. For example, you can mix white vinegar and sodium bicarbonate or use black soap!

The 5th: Stop or reduce your meat consumption

There are many reasons to become vegetarian or vegan. The first one is the love for animals and the willingness to stop animal cruelty. The second one is the environmental cause. The third one concerns your health. If you are interested to become vegan you can read our post about how and what we became vegan.

Why stop eating meat and drinking milk will help the planet?

In France, 22% of our CO2 emission is due to farming (48% for milk production and 30% for the meat). For 1L of milk, 1kg of CO2 is produced. A study shows that it can be increased to 4kg in several cases. Indeed, the cows produce a huge quantity of methane who is a dangerous pollutant responsible for global warming. In addition, the overconsumption of milf, cheese and other product based with milk are very dangerous for the health. Indeed, cancer can be provoked by the overconsumption of calcium (check this out).

However, milk is not the only problem. Indeed, in France, meat consumption is 86kg per person per year. The meat industry produces 11kg of CO2 for 1000 kcal. However, for 100g of meat (beef) there is 276 kcal. Therefore, when you go to the restaurant and you take the double burger you cause 6,7 kg of pollution.

The 6th: Use a reusable bag/straw

 It is estimated that up to 12 million metric tons of plastic enter our ocean each year. Our oceans are turning into disgusting and horrific plastic trash. The first victims of this are marine animals. 90% of plastics are not recycled. If you want to be sure to not cause pollution, you can use reusable bags or straws for example and always take this in your bag! Straws and soda bottles are the most waste found in the ocean. You can also buy a wood straw and take it everywhere. When you are going shopping or to the restaurant/fast food, always take your reusable bag with you and refuse the plastic/paper bags, straws!

The 7th: Put a pullover and decrease your heater

During winter, you can put a pullover and don’t increase your heater. Because when you turn on your heater, you are using nonrenewable energy. Put a pullover, you will save your money and also the earth!

The 8th: Repair or give

This 8th is a tip for clothes. In France, we are buying in average 30kg/person/year of clothes. The quality of clothes is decreasing more and more year after year with low-cost stores. They are selling new collections every week and all the clothes not sold are burnt! You can live consciously in buying only the necessary clothes.

Also, it is sometimes easier to waste something and buy another one. But you can try to repair your clothes ( or phone, bike, etc.) or give them to someone 😉

The 9th: Save water

The water will be a limited ressource in few years. Several people forget that 70% of the earth is composed of water but only 0,01% can be consumed. Many people in the world have no access to potable water and there is so much waste! The principal waste comes from agriculture and especially the cow breeding (meat and milk productions). The second problem with agriculture is the use of pesticides and nitrates who are junk directly in the river. The final problem is global warming who induce huge evaporation of soft water.

In order to avoid a waste of potable water, you can think to stop water when you are washing your hands or during the shower. You can also put the eco mode on your dishwasher and your washing machine. Also, you can also reuse the rainwater for your plants.

The 10th: Don’t overconsume

Last but not least! We have seen an interesting report about industrial wasting (here a resume). During this report, we have seen that the problem of waste in the clothes industries and fast fashion is covered. The brands are creating constantly new clothes. However, a study shows that we are using only 1/3 of our wardrobe. Some brands are promoting overconsumption. The cheap clothes are quickly bought, quickly worn and quickly wasted. The quality decreases and clothes are not recyclable. The biggest brands waste a huge quantity of unsold clothes. We can buy fewer clothes with better quality!

You can help associations and join them! You have for example Greenpeace (HERE) but there are many others.

We hope you will like this post and that all these tips to reduce your environment impact will be helpful for you 😉 let us know in the comments! We will be happy to discuss this with you! Have a great day