To all the eco-conscious friends, have you often found yourself going through a dilemma over choosing the better way or the habitual way when it comes to doing common tasks in your ordinary life? Mostly around how your actions, even when done alone, might be having an effect on the planet – regardless that being 0.0000001%. Doesn’t matter if you picked it up when
– you decided to pursue that career in sustainability or
– become a climate advocate or
– you always were sensitive towards the environment or
– are just merely scratching the surface of all of this.
It feels more like a tug-o-war of having to do the right thing vs. giving yourself some leeway. Because if you want to champion the cause of eco-friendliness, saving the planet, light living etc. YOU should be practicing them first. However, it doesn’t always have to be an uncomfortable decision. And just because you took a shower that lasted 15 mins longer than your usual time , does not make you a hypocrite.
Here are some of those everyday things we all give second thoughts to that you might find relatable.
1. Reading/writing on paper vs on laptop
Hands up if you like reading from books for the feel of it and as mercy on your eyes. But you end up downloading it in pdf or ebook just cause! I gave my finals earlier this year and I used only one book on which I practiced every subject and read all the notes off my laptop. Didn’t write one extra letter that could otherwise be typed. Also, do you too write till the end of the page, going down to the very last line and sometimes even below that? You couldn’t care less about the ‘aesthetics’ cause you are too concerned about saving pages.
2. Long showers
Aah, who doesn’t love a long shower at the end of a day that sucked the last light out of you. While it is completely alright to do this once a while as it can be very relaxing, if you find yourself taking long showers frequently you might want to sit back and find the deeper reason behind it. Maybe your mental or physical health needs some checking-up-on. But if your only reason is that you like to perform concerts and have long drawn out conversations with yourself, turn the tap off and do that while you are sitting on the toilet! It will Still.Sound.The.Same.
3. Long drives or driving around for fun
Again, sometimes – great! Often – nuh uh! But what about when your work or school requires you to commute long distances? When I was in school, I took the bus everyday coming home but now, I either Uber, drive or take a rickshaw. Although Uber in Mumbai is mostly WagonRs which run on CNG (same for rickshaws), they still aren’t the better option. Albeit, the ease of travelling greatly increases when using such private forms of transport. You have more control over your time and less worry over catching that train. But the guilt is real.
4. Shopping
Here the dilemma isn’t what to buy, its whether to buy. You see something you like but assess when, where and how often you’ll be wearing it. Also, do you reaaally need it right now? Plus that Made in India tag certainly looks gratifying. Maybe you should look at those relatively sustainable fashion brands now – are just some thoughts that frequent the mind A LOT.
5. Meat consumption
You might be knowing by now that meat production and consumption releases humungous amounts of greenhouse gases, approximately 10.4bn tonnes every year. No surprise that it’s such a hot topic for debate. As a meat consumer myself…..well I have got nothing to argue with that. This one is difficult. Cutting back consumption when you have grown up primarily eating that – people have a lot of different opinions on this one. Never hurts taking few steps in a better direction though, does it?
Editor’s Note:-
I already had some of these growing up, added a few more recently when I jumped the bandwagon of sustainability. I have a long way to go before I say I am living a sustainable life. But we can all start somewhere, after all, sustainability itself considers a long term view as changes don’t happen in an instant.
6 Responses
Nice thoughts. We all need to contribute towards sustainability
Loved it !
Loved it !!!!!!!!!1
True! I can relate to most of these. I used to love going shopping, but it’s not really the same now. I LOVE charity shops, though, and frequently look in them.
Great job! You’re blogging!!
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