As the New Year arrives, you might have some less-than-traditional resolution ideas on your mind. While typical resolutions are generally related to personal goals, health and aspirations, you might find yourself wondering lately how you can help protect the environment. Environmental resolutions may not be particularly common or widespread, but that doesn’t make them any less important. In fact, if you want to continue to enjoy the great outdoors with your friends and family for decades to come and dream of someday taking your kids San Diego whale watching, it’s imperative to take environmentally conscious actions now. Not sure what exactly you can do to help? Try making some of these unique New Years resolutions that could have a bigger environmental impact than you think.
Support Local Activities and Go Green When Choosing Transportation
One way you can reduce your environmental footprint is by taking more of your vacations locally and choosing green transportation methods, like public transportation or bicycling, whenever possible. For instance, if you live in Southern California, you can take bike trips down to tide pools in San Diego instead of getting on a jet and flying abroad.
Ramp Up Your Current Recycling Efforts
If you’re considering making environmentally focused resolutions, you’re likely someone who already recycles at least sometimes. However, this year, you can focus on ramping up those efforts. Some steps you can take are:
Try Switching to Reusable Bags and Other Multi-Use Products
Another great way you can go green in your everyday life is by switching to reusable and multi-use products. For example, when you go grocery shopping, you can take reusable cloth bags instead of picking up plastic ones from the store, which will likely sit for years and years in landfills before finally decomposing. You can also make easy switches to other multi-use products as well, such as using a thermos or other travel bottle instead of buying plastic water bottles. A fun tip is to try taking your travel mug to coffee shops and asking the employees to pour the coffee directly in the travel mug, so you can avoid using up another paper cup.
Taking care of the environment is something a great many people care about, but when you’re sitting down to make your list of New Years resolutions, it might not be the first item to come to mind. However, making a concerted effort to be more environmentally conscious can have unforeseen positive ripple effects and could help you to make a significant difference. If you want to help but aren’t sure what exactly you can do in your everyday life, consider adding some of these items to your list of resolutions. You might find that your efforts pay off this upcoming year and in the years to come as well.
