Eco living is becoming a new buzz phrase in circles it didn’t exist in before. If course this isn’t a bad thing, but what is Eco Living? Who does it pertain to? Can anyone do it? What is the goal?
If I am being honest I wasn’t always a proponent of the cause. Don’t get me wrong, as long as I can remember I have had concerns about the environment. This is mainly due to my love for animals, but it wasn’t until later in life that I realized not everyone shares this sentiment or lives in a way that glorifies it.
What is eco living if everyone is doing it? That is the question I had to ask myself when I was a child because if everyone is doing it, it would just be considered living. The idea of a group of socially conscious individuals making decision that would make the world they live in better than it was the day before is a concept so foreign it wouldn’t be able to get a passport to this planet let alone live in the minds of the people who inhabit it. Luckily that is all changing. Your search for illustrates that.
What is Eco Living?
Eco the word itself simply means not harming the environment. This makes eco living is a state of being. I know that seems obtuse at first glance but really think about it. Someone that is living lavishly doesn’t give it thought, it’s automatic. They don’t check price tags, or concern themselves with coupons and savings. Their lifestyle is based on opulence and they exude that. Eco living is similar, daily you make decisions that allow the world to prosper. It is a lifestyle that elevates the environment.
The key aspect is elevate. That would mean raise it higher, not just do enough to keep it stagnant. Think about your house or car if your a collector. You want that property to increase in value overtime, not decrease or remain the same. If you got a 1960’s corvette out of some barn for $3,000, fiberglass cracked, paint peeling, windshield cracked, engine stuck, tires flat, rims scratched etc. You wouldn’t want to drive it around as is. I imagine the goal would be to restore it at a pace you were comfortably with making the necessary changes to bring it back to it’s former glory and possibly take it beyond that. This is eco living in a nut shell.
Earth is a wasteland compared to the past. Every action human kind takes to further it’s reach the planet suffers tenfold. Even to make things that play a role in eco living like clean energy, electric vehicles, solar generators etc lithium needs to mined. It is the ultimate paradox. To acquire clean energy one must actively scar the planet.
Eco living is protecting the planet and it’s inhabitants so that it remains viable for future generations. This includes human beings. You want the planet, similar to the corvette, to be better when it is time for you to part ways than when you received it.
Who Does It Pertain To?
This is where you come into play. Standard companies will always have one main goal in mind making money. It is the blood of the economy, so progress will always move in the direction that makes the most money. This makes the end user (consumer) the party responsible. That is how supply and demand works. Things are supplied that there is a large demand for, this is the market place. It’s not the consumers fault, but eco living only action available for them to take to offset this cycle.
You can only control yourself.
Can Anyone Do It?
Everyone can play a roll in protecting and stabilizing the planet we live on. There are individuals out there that dedicated their lives to the work. Jadav Payeng for example single handedly created a forest on Majuli Island. His efforts not only restored wildlife to the region but will also play a roll in keeping the island from shrinking. This has been a concern due to the catastrophic soil erosion on the the islands sand banks, which is exactly where the man made forest was planted.
This information was only given to show you the impact one person can have in terms of restoring the environment. Your role doesn’t have to be this grandiose, his goal was to plant a tree a days yours can be to recycle all your old electronics, or compost all your uneaten food. It is about doing something sustainable, a lifestyle choice, not making sure that something will have a large impact.
What is the goal?
Eco living is the goal of course. Living in a way that prevents or removes man made damage to/from the planet. You have to shoulder the burden of your species. The people who damaged the environment religiously without qualms. The ones who left seas contaminated with plastic that cause undue harm on the species that inhabit the area. Or the ones who spilled crude oil in oceans covering that entire ecosystem in toxic sludge. The others who cut whole forests down to the last tree, increasing the surface temperature in that area, extinguishing the wildlife and diminishing the oxygen.
You don’t need to save the world but eco living means doing your part.
How
Composting- saving old food stuffs from going into landfills and turning them into fertilizer for the soil from which they came. You can even do this in the city read Urban Worm Composting.
Recycling- the reuse of man made materials to ultimately prevent the need to make manufacture more.
Refusing- Limit excess. Excess clothes, excess food. Don’t buy things for the sake of buying them, remember supply and demand
Avoiding- One time use plastics, like water bottles, straws, very cheap clothing, this is just landfill fodder
Repurpose- Try and up cycle (find new uses for items rather than throw them away) when the opportunity arises. I’m not saying turn your place into some kind of recyclables shrine but, reuse glass jars if you can, instead of throwing away that old table, sand it down and stain it to match your new decor etc.
Simplicity
Remember that on person cannot do everything but everyone can do something. Eco-living is a choice and a combined effort of many people playing their role in making the difference. If you think to big or try making an impact you may find yourself overwhelmed into never starting. Do something small and simple and build from there.
What is eco living for you? What ways do you think you can practice it? Let me know in the comments below.
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