Sustainable lifestyle tips | A Guide To Eco Living

Sustainable living is becoming increasingly popular as we as a society are now more than ever aware of the importance of protecting our planet for future generations. You can live a more eco-friendly and sustainable lifestyle in a variety of ways. We have created this guide to eco living full of sustainable lifestyle tips. Everything you do in your day to day life has an impact on the planet including the food you eat and your method of transport. Find out how to become more sustainable, eco friendly and discover some of our favourite products that you can buy to do your bit for our planet. 

Why Are Our Sustainable Lifestyle Tips So Important?

Human behaviours are threatening environmental sustainability due to earth's growing population and the depletion of natural resources such as water, animals and fossil fuels. Now we are at a critical point where we need to start making a change before it's too late. Some of the problems humans cause for sustainability are pollution and climate change. These then have a knock on effect leading to melting ice caps, rising sea levels, forest fires and more. All of these environmental impacts are damaging for not just wildlife but for humans too. 

According to the world counts, there are some worrying statistics that more people need to be aware of regarding the future of our planet:

• Approximately 26 years left until there are no more fish in the sea if nothing changes
• 78 years left until the end of all rainforests if current trends continue
• By the year 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the world's oceans
• By 2070 all coral reefs could have gone all together
• 1 in 4 species on earth face extinction, by the end of the century this could rise to 50%.

These eye opening statistics are shocking, suggesting that the world could run out of rain forests in 2100, food in 2050, fish in 2048 and water by 2040. 

Our Sustainable Lifestyle Tips

If you want to live a more sustainable lifestyle and do your bit to help our planet, here are some of our sustainable lifestyle tips to help:

Eat less meat

The meat production industry is one of the biggest contributors to global warming with agriculture causing almost 30% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. There are multiple reasons why meat production is so bad for the environment. 

First of all, 3.8tn cubic meters of water is used by humans with 70% of that being consumed by global agriculture. Secondly, forests are destroyed across the planet to produce meat and as a result billions of tonnes of CO2 is released into the atmosphere as a result. Finally, what people don’t realise is that ⅓ of food is wasted, ending up in landfills and decomposing which then releases methane into the atmosphere. Methane is a known greenhouse gas. 

Save Energy

Energy production leads to a number of environmental issues including affecting pollution and climate change. The energy supply sector is the largest contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, responsibility for approximately 35% of total emissions. 

Saving energy is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint and it can be done in a number of ways. At home we suggest switching your lights off whenever possible, turning your heating down or off when possible, hanging clothes to dry rather than using a clothes dryer and not leaving appliances on standby. 

Buy Eco Friendly Products

Consumer habits are another key driver of climate change. The production industry and consumerism are not always sustainable from the production process to the transportation of the goods to even the chemicals they give off. We’ve created a list of some products that can be damaging to the environment and some alternatives you could switch to in order to become more sustainable. 

• Clothes are a major pollutant contributing to 10% of global carbon emissions. Fast fashion brands are a main culprit. To put it into perspective Buying just one t-shirt produces the same amount of emissions as driving 35 miles in a car. A sustainable fashion brand that we love is Elvis & Kresse who create luxury, sustainable fashion that is handmade using ethically sourced reclaimed materials. 

• The next product that isn't as green as it may seem is toothpaste. This product is an essential yet creates a significant impact for the water wildlife. Toothpaste contains microbeads which two animals can very easily mistaken for fish eggs. This often leads to sea creatures eating the microbeads by accident, thus consuming the toxins within them. Furthermore, toothpaste tubes are difficult to recycle and often end up in landfills. Luckily, we have stumbled upon a great solution to this problem with a brand called wesmyle. Their toothpaste avoids microplastics and plastic tubes.

• Finally, the last product we wanted to make you aware of is paint. Standard paints generally contain ingredients known as VOCs. These VOCs are released from the paint as it dries to your wall and also whenever it is subjected to heat from sunlight or radiators. When released these chemicals are toxic and create a ground level smog that also contributes to the ozone layer. The VOCs in paint are also what cause that nasty chemical smell leading to headaches, nausea and dizziness. Fortunately Victory Colours is at hand to help. Victory Colours have created a brand born out of a desire to make a difference to our planet. We provide low VOC, eco friendly, non toxic and vegan paint and of course switching to Victory Colours paint is our favourite out of all of our sustainable lifestyle tips. 

Drive Less

The next of our sustainable lifestyle tips is driving less. Vehicles have a huge impact on the environment from their construction to their use and even to their eventual disposal. On average, in the UK, cars produce around 27% of the country's total greenhouse gas emissions each year.

Our tip is to invest in a bike and use that as your method of commute wherever possible. However, if it's not possible to commute via bike or by foot, public transport is better than driving. This is because although it may not be as comfortable as traveling via your own car, it is a great way to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions. Plus, they’re are developments in public transport for instance buses powered by electric and improved tram systems which are also powered by electric therefore not emitting any fumes, this is especially important in busy towns and cities. 

Overview of Living a More Sustainable Lifestyle

There you have it, our quick list of simple changes to live a more sustainable lifestyle. We’ve covered everything from food consumption to paint but hope this has given an eye opening insight into the importance of eco friendly living. You can read more in detail about the benefits of switching to Victory Colours eco-friendly paint in one of our previous articles or contact us to find out more.