Ways you can be more ecological today.

When I was writing the post about minimalism, I was thinking a lot about its ecological side. As I wrote – you buy less, which therefore results off less waste etc. But what can you do to be more ecological in one day, rather than in long-range timeline, with choosing good quality products that last a long time?

A lot of people associate being ecological with a lot of negativity, especially the ones who have never touched the subject even on the surface. People think that ecology is all about vegetarianism, veganism, Green Peace actions (which may be seen as an exaggeration), but the truth is, those subjects are more or less really loosely related to it. The only thoughts that should be correlated with ecology should be definitely positive.

Stick to one or two shopping bags. I always had this problem, when I went to shopping after work or school, I never had a shopping bag with me, which resulted with my having a huge pile of plastic ones in my room. Even my parents do that, they collect all the plastic bags because someday they may use it and this someday never happens. Probably I acquired this habit from them, however, that doesn’t mean I have to stick to it. If you have a similar problem like me, just buy yourself one solid shopping bag (especially from small business, which you can support through that) or carry one or two plastic ones when you go shopping. Problem solved (you just have to remember it).

Buy bigger packages. If you drink your milk quite regularly, buy a bigger one, so you don’t have to buy few smaller ones, and therefore you reduce the general waste. Or if you drink bottled drinks, and you can’t drink from a tap, like in Norway, just go for the biggest ones. Not only you cut your waste, but also time spent on shopping – you go less often to the shops.

Try to walk everywhere. Even if your university lays three kilometers from your home, try just once to do the walking, for example, if a day is blessed with good weather. That’s quite a problem that I noticed in Norway – people here use cars everywhere. But on the opposite – they do a lot of sports, and when the Sun is shining, you will meet tons of people outside. Try to combine sports with avoiding using a car, and you will be thanking yourself later. And the environment will be thankful later too. Or just try to be a poor student like me, who can’t afford any sort of transport anyway (besides occasional trips to nearby towns, or Oslo).

Try local coffee shops, breweries or bakeries. If you have a habit of going on a break or after work to popular, busy coffee shop (like Starbucks or Costa) to grab some coffee, try to do something different and choose a local business. The price may be a little bit higher, but you support the local business and you get the quiet atmosphere, which is quite unlikely in busy shops (not to say that you can get better coffee).

Try to go out and enjoy nature. To fully understand ecology and its importance, one must go Into the wild (really recommend this film, amazing story) to see the true beauty that nature has. Usually, when people live in the cities, especially the bigger ones, they forgot how amazing is to go to the forest and just chill out. What comes within, is that they don’t feel so obligated to take care of the environment.

Those are definitely the tips you can take and start using today or tomorrow, for example when you go for the nearest shopping trip. I hope you guys liked it, because it’s little bit different to what I usually write about.

Have a lovely rest of the week.