Sustainable Living & Caring for Our Most Precious Gift: 🌎Earth

[Editor's Note: Occasionally our friends express an interest in contributing an essay to the Wellbeing Elixir. This post was written by Dana Hammer - a dear friend and colleague who's on faculty at the University of Colorado Anschultz Medical Campus. Not only does Dana have an awesome sense of humor and has probably added 5 years to our lives with laughter (see the previous essay entitled Laughter is the Best Medicine to learn why), she's a passionate advocate for living sustainably. We are releasing her essay on EARTH DAY to remind everyone what a precious gift our planet is.]

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The greatest threat to our planet 🌍 is the belief that someone else will save it.
- Robert Swan

My friend and I had just crested a ridge with our dogs during a beautiful, crisp, fall hike in the hills a few miles from town. As we were admiring the view of mountains and valleys around us, we were struck by a disturbing scene in the valley below: a garbage landfill. It seemed to stretch for acres and felt so out of place in this natural, picturesque landscape. As we traversed the wooded switchbacks down the hill, my friend and I discussed actions that we could take to reduce our contributions to landfills and our carbon footprint. We vowed to live more “sustainable” lives.

Here are just a few reasons WHY sustainable living is important:

the world’s population continues to increase
people need the earth’s resources to survive
increased population → increased use of the earth’s resources

In addition, humans decrease and destroy natural resources by:

over-consuming things that they really don't need (e.g., large amounts of lumber to build big houses, wasting food, cramming lots of unused stuff into storage units)
creating toxic, inorganic trash and pollution that negatively affect air, water, and soil
destroying and accelerating the extinction of certain animal and biological species by depriving them of their habitat (or polluting it, see the previous bullet point)
enabling invasive species (e.g., rats, crows, toxic algae blooms, Burmese pythons!)

While many sobering statistics about our planet's health can be found from sources like the World Health Organization or the US Environmental Protection Agency, even small changes in your habits can have a positive influence. And many small changes, made by millions of people, implemented every day, can have a BIG impact.

My own journey into living sustainably began in the mid-’90s. I had grown up and worked in the Pacific Northwest of the United States but moved to a different part of the country for graduate school. As I settled into my new study and work environments, I remember feeling quite surprised when I saw soda cans in trash bins. Where I was from, not only were aluminum cans easily recycled, you could earn 5¢/can if you returned them (my dad still does this for his poker money 😉). Around the same time, a friend loaned me then-Senator Al Gore’s book “Earth in Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit”. I was deeply moved and motivated by the evidence and his arguments. I began my personal quest to “Be the Change” (Gandhi) and live sustainably by example.

Earth in the Balance was published almost 30 years ago but the central messages and recommendations remain relevant today.

Before I share some simple tips for how to increase your positive planetary impact, here are four philosophical underpinnings for living sustainably:

Live Sustainably = Mindful Living

You might recall Stuart’s thoughtful post from October 2020 about Mindfulness and its positive effects on our health and wellbeing. At its core, mindfulness is “a state of being conscious or aware of something.” – Oxford Languages

It is SO easy to damage the environment without even thinking about it. Idling your car or driving above the speed limit on highways. Throwing away packaging or leftover food in the trash. Unnecessarily running water while brushing our teeth or washing dishes. All too often we don't think about the consequences of our behaviors. This is where mindfulness comes in – if you simply bring your conscious awareness to the potential environmental impact of your behaviors, you are more likely to make choices that can have positive planetary consequences!

Live Your Values

Some experts say if you want to know what your values really are, observe how you spend your time and money. We “vote with our dollars." In essence, how and where you spend your money supports specific products and services ... which have a (positive or negative) impact on the environment.

Every dollar you spend or don't spend is a vote you cast for the world you want to live in.
-LN Smith

Live a “Depression-era” Lifestyle

One of your parents, grandparents, or (perhaps) great-grandparents likely lived through the Great Depression in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The average person’s behavior during those years changed dramatically as there was little or no money to purchase goods and services. Perhaps those austere ways of living were passed on to you from your grandparents or parents. I know it certainly was in my family! There was a big focus on not wasting ANYTHING: food, money, electricity, water! They remembered a day when these were considered scarce resources. In my family, it was considered irresponsible and selfish to waste or over-consume. Times have changed, and many of us enjoy a “high” standard of living; we can afford nearly everything we desire and don’t worry about a limited supply of resources ... until a natural disaster occurs. Waste and over-consumption are very destructive to the environment. Before you buy something, ask yourself, is this something I really need?

Live the 8Rs of Sustainability

Rethink Reduce Reuse Recover Repurpose Repair Recycle and Rot*

*(Rot = composting)

Here are some very simple strategies you can adopt to live the 8Rs:

✅ When ordering take-out, say no to plastic utensils and napkins. Consumption of these items have skyrocketed during the pandemic ☹️

✅ Use cloth napkins at home. Save lightly used paper napkins to reuse for things like emergency toilet paper or tissues in your car

✅ Purchase products that are made or sourced locally to support local economies – your neighbors! This reduces the need to transport food and other goods long distances

✅ Use rechargeable batteries

✅ Bike, walk, run, or use a scooter instead of driving a car whenever possible (better for your health AND the environment!). And use public transportation for your daily commute!

✅When parked someplace for more than a minute, turn off your car! And if it’s not too hot, get some fresh air instead of turning on the AC

✅ Wear clothes more than one time before washing. Ok, if you working in the yard all day or go for a 3-mile run, you might want to wash those clothes after one wearing ... but don’t just automatically throw all of your clothes in the hamper at the end of the day

✅ Shop at thrift stores and buy used clothing. It's fun and you'll give some gently used items another life!

✅ When spending a day at home (can you say remote work??) use just one dish, set of utensils, and cup for snacks and meals (that aren’t too messy).

✅ Buy bulk containers of products instead of individually wrapped or products packaged in small quantities (aka individual servings)

✅Bring your own reusable bags (made of recycled materials!) when shopping at stores

✅ Take “sailor showers”. Ok - this one might not be so easy to implement for some us but take short showers and turn off the water while you soap up. They say cold showers are invigorating and add years to your life ... or, alternatively, you could turn down your hot water heater a smidge

✅ Reuse gift wrap/gift bags ... and that fancy tissue paper

✅ Plan your errands to reduce the number of trips (e.g., post office + drug store + library + groceries + pick up take-out on your way home)

✅ Save discarded boiled water from pasta, potatoes, and other starchy foods to water your plants

✅ Purchase products from sustainable sources (e.g., sustainable seafood)

✅ Reuse foil, saran wrap, baggies – better yet, use recyclable or compostable containers

✅ When you’re cold, put on a sweater and hat! Don’t turn up the heat. There is only so much you can take off when its hot but be sure to use ceiling fans instead of cranking up the AC

✅ Unplug chargers and any unused cords. Completely shut down devices before bed

✅ Use reusable beverage bottles and travel mugs instead of disposable containers

✅If you buy stuff online, have everything shipped and delivered on the same day to minimize the number of packages and reduce the need for transportation

And, over the next few years, when you go to replace appliances - buy the most energy-efficient ones that you can. Buy a car that fits your needs and gets the best fuel economy. Greenscape your yard with native plants that are low maintenance (i.e., they don't require watering and lots of fertilizer). Check out the resources below to learn about all sorts of ways you can up your green game.

I like to envision the world as a jigsaw puzzle .... if you look at the whole picture, it is overwhelming and terrifying, but if you work on your little part of the jigsaw and know that people all over the world are working on their little part, that's what will give you hope.
-Jane Goodall

With a greener planet, you and I can look forward to a cleaner environment and a brighter future. With better quality air, water, and food, we are more likely to be healthier and happier. And our planet and all her inhabitants will be here for all of us to enjoy for years, decades, and centuries to come.

If you are inspired to do something to live more sustainably, pledge to do at least one thing this year to reduce the waste you produce and your carbon footprint.

Cheers-

Dana

Here are some reputable resources about sustainable living:

Unicef Sustainable Living Guide: A Guide to Sustainable Living
CDC Sustainability https://www.cdc.gov/sustainability/lifestyle/index.htm
US Environmental Protection Agency Sustainable Living Resources Greener Living | US EPA

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