Although beaten some records, others are better off alone.
Example: Last year was the warmest year on record. Global temperatures in 2024 were 2.3 degrees Fahrenheit (1.28 degrees Celsius) higher than NASA’s 20th-century baseline (1951-1980), which set a record in 2023. The new record was set after 15 consecutive months of monthly temperature records.
We need to do more to stop this number from rising because it affects our daily lives. For example, there is a $27 billion climate and weather disaster in the United States in 2024 (meaning that 27 of the country’s several climate-related incidents have exceeded $1 billion in damages.)
Mathematics is very simple: many modern amenities produce excessive carbon in our atmosphere, which affects our health while causing meteorological damage. This Earth Day, the promise of making only some adjustments to your lifestyle is not a fundamental change, it is also a practical change.
“Talk to other people about your efforts to be more sustainable. Ask your friends what they are doing. Ask what businesses are doing often. Ask them where they are purchasing food or wine in restaurants. Promote more sustainable policies in your workplace.” “Talk about what you are doing to be more sustainable, ask about other people’s practices, which is a key part of making these efforts a collective cause and then a cultural shift.”
With that in mind, here are five starting points.
Cut fast fashion
Fast fashion or cheap, quickly produced clothing from companies like Shein, H&M, and Target Leveragern’s cheap synthetic fibers to capture the latest trends.
This is the problem: they are often produced using exploitative labor practices and production methods of carbon emissions and water pollution. Whenever you wash one of these garments, their microplastics drip into our water system. This is not good for the environment and for you. When you are ready to throw them away (these clothing are designed for short lifespans), they don’t degrade like natural fibers.
Technically, the best thing you can do is to stop buying new clothes (or repairing and recycling old clothes) and use your new purchases for used clothing stores and ruins. But if that doesn’t feel possible, it’s just Avoid fast fashion chains and invest in brands that offer more sustainable clothing. Breathable fabrics (such as cotton, wool, linen and jute) can breathe easily and avoid bacterial growth. (Bacteria love synthetic fabrics.)
Avoid microplastics
From fast fashion (see above) to toiletries (such as toothpaste) to beauty products, to single-use plastic bottles, to detergent pods, micro plastic or particles smaller than five millimeters can be found. Shockingly, they do not degrade, so they end up in land, oceans and air and the entire human body. Some studies have shown that they can cause DNA and cell damage, ultimately increasing the risk of cancer and fertility problems.
While it is nearly impossible to completely eliminate microplastics from your life, there are a variety of ways to minimize their presence by reducing plastic products in your life. This means you should store your food in a container made of glass or silicon. The same goes for water: Avoid plastic water bottles, then switch them to glass or aluminum bottles and fill them with filtered water. Use wooden cutting board instead of plastic cutter board.
As far as the food you eat, cut down on processed foods as well as shellfish (also known as filter feeders), because both are known to contain more microplastics. Outside the kitchen, stop using the laundry and dishwasher pods. Find alternatives to beauty products with microplastics. Finally, if you can, invest in a HEPA air purifier to help eliminate microplastics floating in the air.
Eat less meat
One-third of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions come from food, most of which come from agriculture and land use. Due to emissions and deforestation, they pointed their fingers at red meat, dairy products and farmed shrimp were the biggest culprits.
In the United States, researchers are particularly concerned about the amount of methane cows excreted when they digest food, excess nitrous oxide produced from animal feces, as well as the demand for water, pesticide contamination, and other industrial emissions using corn and soy (used to feed animals). Meanwhile, factory farm chickens can bring many concerns, including the spread of airborne diseases and other dangerous pathogens associated with climate change.
No, you don’t have to be vegan (unless you want to). But swapping your meat consumption (especially red meat) (even a few times a week) for a rich meal of fruits and vegetables, whole grains and beans can have a significant impact on the environment. It’s also important that, like the expansion of climate change, the epidemic of zoonotic diseases and pollution can affect your health.
Composted food fragments
We threw away a lot of food, which caused more harm than you might think. EPA estimates that food waste accounts for 25% of the landfill we already packed, except when the methane gas is released burst. Methane captures 28 times more heat in our atmosphere than carbon dioxide.
Composting is one of the things that sounds complicated until you realize how simple it is. Essentially, you add organic waste (discarded/spoiled food, yard waste and even certain paper products) to an optional decomposition agent (such as worms or wood chips) or a compost microbial activator (you can buy it in the store) and then let the magic happen. The final compost is rich in nutrients and helps fertilize crops and home gardens.
Meanwhile, states including New York, California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington have taken additional steps and enacted mandatory laws in some communities. This makes compost easier, although under the threat of fines. Typically, you will put organic waste in a specific bin that you pick up during regular garbage collection.
Plant your own garden
Although the reason for the high grocery prices is the same as turning to gardening, growing your own home garden also brings many other benefits.
Our planet is partly due to deforestation. Growing your own personal forest is ambitious. Nevertheless, the advantages of planting trees in the yard are multiple. Strategic plant cultivation can reduce your energy consumption by providing shade in hot weather and protect yourself from wind during cold times. Trees are carbohydrate tanks and raise wildlife. They also absorb more rain. Meanwhile, local and diverse plants cultivate pollinators, such as bees, regulate pests, improve soil and prevent erosion.
There is also a case of growing fruits and vegetable gardens, as our unpredictable weather patterns make crops less reliable. Growing your own heat-resistant fruits and vegetables will reduce the carbon footprint associated with the agroindustrial complex and leave your body free of unnecessary or unknown pesticides. (Also, it encourages you to eat vegetables.)
