In honour of World Environment Day this Sunday, I thought it would be a good time to give you some tips on how to live a sustainable lifestyle. I know what you’re thinking – ‘Faith, I am pretty sure I’ve already read something like this on the Charlie Blog’.
Well, you have!
My friend Sophie Watson did an awesome post a few months ago on how to live sustainably on campus, so I thought, why not talk about attainable ways we can live a sustainable lifestyle – no matter where you are!
What is environmental sustainability?
Let’s get the basics down first, what on EARTH is environmental sustainability? (Pun 100% intended). Environmental Sustainability (ES) is the responsibility of every single person to try and conserve natural resources, as well as protect global ecosystems in order to support the health and wellbeing of the current and future world. Sounds pretty important huh.
To pretty much summarise it: ES is everyone’s duty to look after the environment we live in, in an effort to keep our world healthy and essentially liveable for us.
Now that you know what it is, what are some things we can do to fulfil our duty as someone who happens to live on earth? Here I’ve listed three tips on sustainable living:
1. Saving energy
Saving energy is a quick and easy little hack to do your part in helping the environment. It’s as simple as ABC, well, more like TOYES (Turn Off Your Electrical Socket). Maybe it doesn’t have a nice ring to it, but it is important. When you leave your house for the day, TOYES! If you’re not using your phone charger, turn it off, if you’re not charging your laptop, turn it off, if you’re leaving a room, turn those lights off. Other simple changes include hanging clothes out to dry instead of chucking them in the dryer as well as turning the heater/aircon off when you leave your house.
2. Using reusable alternatives
Using reusable alternatives is starting to become more and more common in Australia, something we love to see; and every time someone uses single-use/non-biodegradable items such as plastic cutlery, straws or bags, the Earth cries.
If you’re like me, I try to do my best at caring for the environment, but the thought of wooden cutlery or straws makes me SICK. To avoid my hatred of wooden cutlery and harming the environment, I keep a little set of reusable cutlery and a straw in my bag for whenever I need it. Not to be dramatic, but when I say it’s saved my life, it has. I also like to keep material bags in my car and in my bag for when I go shopping. (I’m starting to think I need a bigger bag).
3. Drive less
My one last tip to share is to… DRIVE LESS! Yes, I understand sometimes that can be really hard – maybe you live out of town, or the weather is terrible (looking at you, Bathurst), but there are little things you are still able to implement to help out.
If you’re in a prime position in town, you could always walk to work/uni, or maybe even ride a bike. Not only is this helping the environment, but it’s giving you your daily dose of exercise too! If it’s too unattainable to walk around (I feel that – I am lazy), simple things such as parking a block away from where you’re going is an easy way to, again, help the environment and get those steps in. Any time you drive somewhere, just think, would I be able to walk there instead?
World Environment Day is Sunday June 5, 2022!
For what it’s Earth, I hope this post gave you some ideas on how to live an attainable sustainable lifestyle (and that you laughed at my pun). Sometimes it can be hard putting in the effort to make these changes, but in the long run, you are helping build a better future for us to live in.
If you would like to find out more about sustainability at Charles Sturt University, visit www.csu.edu.au/sustainability.
HAPPY WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY!!!
