Creating a sustainable lifestyle is all about taking it slow and making small changes one at a time. It would be too much to expect everyone to entirely shift how they live their life, but its definitely possible to start by doing little things like decreasing the amount of electricity you use, recycling, and decreasing the amount of plastics and material goods you buy. If you want a few crazy ideas for increasing sustainability, then here are few more extreme, unconventional options.
Get Rid of Your Car
Cars are one of the most resource-exhaustive and expensive possessions that we can own. Getting rid of your car saves you money, decreases your carbon footprint, and may contribute to a healthier lifestyle. Getting a bike, using public transportation, and walking are all great, more-sustainable alternatives.
Plan an Eco-Friendly After-Life
While this is more of a post-living sustainability idea, its important to think about your impact on the earth even after you die. Cremation products aren't eco-friendly, the traditional burial process takes up quite a bit of energy, and the embalming process uses harsh chemicals that can be harmful to the soil and air whether you are cremated or buried. However, there are a few more sustainable options.
Some cemeteries are now focusing on sustainability by using biodegradable burial materials and shallow graves to preserve local ecology, but these cemeteries are few and far between. There are also a few other up-and-coming options. The first is to be freeze-dried and turned into powder using liquid-nitrogen, and the other involves being liquefied through an alkaline hydrosis so that you can turn your remains into a bio fluid to be used on houseplants. These options are said to have a carbon foot print up to 18 times less than that of cremation or burials. Because these options are still being developed or not universally accessible, they may still be quite expensive.
Build a Tiny Home or Shipping Container Home
Many people these days are building small homes out of recycled materials and cutting down on material possessions to live more sustainably. One option is to build a tiny home with a customized layout, and the other option is to build a home out of recycled shipping container. There are plenty of designs and layouts to work with! Either way you do it, building these homes cuts down on your housing expenses, encourages you to use recycled materials, and makes you think about limiting your carbon footprint in the future.
Start Using Batteries Made with Human Urine
We use a lot of batteries for our electronics, but batteries are difficult to dispose of and contain harmful, harsh metals that seep into the soil when thrown away. Some scientists have found a solution by creating a product that creates the strength of a AA battery by adding a drop of your urine to sustainable battery made of copper chloride, magnesium, and copper. They're not in your local electronics store yet, but in the meantime, you can try to just use your electronics less often to save energy!
Stop Washing Your Hair
Did you know that washing your hair isn’t actually a necessity? We’ve become accustomed to washing our hair almost everyday, but if we didn’t, eventually our bodies would produce a normal oil schedule, and our hair wouldn’t look greasy the way it does in between washes. It’ll take a few months for your hair to get back to its natural cycle (since you’ve probably been using shampoo your whole life), but in the long term, you’ll cut down on the expense of using shampoo everyday, reduce the amount of water you use in the shower, and cut down on buying plastic bottles that can’t be recycled due to the left over shampoo and conditioner inside the bottles.
Have Eco-Friendly Protected Sex
Most people enjoy having sex, and of course, it’s important to make sure your protected. Unfortunately, latex condoms and some lubricants can be harmful to the earth because of the chemicals that are in them. However, there are condoms and lubricants that are better for you and better for the earth. For instance, Good Clean Love sells lubricants that are made with all-natural, organic ingredients, and Sustain, a condom company, makes Fair Trade, Vegan-certified, sustainably produced condoms that do not contain harsh chemicals that name-brand condoms typically contain. It may seem quirky, but it’s the little things that add up. Plus, experimenting with different products can be fun! These options may be a bit more expensive than name-brand condoms, but sometimes investing in your sex life is worth it.
