We all agree (or should agree) that we need to do better for our earth.  Environmental wellness is one of the six areas of wellness and that means not just your living quarters but how you interact with the environment around you.  Does it make you angry to see someone litter, or is it upsetting when you’re walking through a nature area and a sticky bun wrapper blows across the way?  Other people might be more active in their littering than you, but what is your environmental impact?

Often I see people who are loud about corporations affecting the environment while they are still buying their products.  Do you have to have the newest phone while your old one works just fine?  Are you supporting businesses that use single use plastics, Styrofoam, paper products that are not ecologically sourced?  Are you not willing to change your ways, but think that companies should change their ways so you can continue your same life?  Then how much do you actually care?  Or do you just care because it’s a hot topic and you feel like you should care?  Caring alone isn’t enough.  Actions.  We need actions.

Now, I am not expressing that everyone should use a clothesline or have composting buckets like I do, however there are many small ways that you can make an impact.  Reuse dishwater to water your houseplants, wear your clothes more than once before washing them (it’ll make them last longer anyway), cut down on your single use plastics by supporting businesses that package products with environmentalism in mind or who offer bulk items, and reuse as much as you can.  A yogurt tub can become a flowerpot.  An old t-shirt can become a dog blanket or bed.  Walk to work or take the bus- stop thinking the bus is only for poor people (personally I enjoy not having to experience the road rage of driving, and I can hit happy hour).  If we all did a little bit more we could make a huge change.  And if you’re expecting companies and corporations to change but unwilling to change your own ways then you’re just simply a hypocrite and you don’t actually care.

It is estimated that the average American produces about 4.4 lbs of trash daily.  Our population is 328,000,000.  That’s 1.44 billion lbs daily. 263,384,000 TONS yearly, in case you thought we can’t make a difference.  If we all cut one pound of trash daily, about 20%, then we could reduce 59million tons of trash a year. So buy reusable packing (a third of all trash in landfills is packaging products), cut down on paper use, recycle and compost more, and we can actually make a difference if you’re willing to change your own life too.