Sustainability: How to Be a Better Global Citizen

The day I began writing this article, billowing smoke from wildfires in Canada wafted across much of the continental United States, causing dangerous conditions in cities up and down the Eastern Seaboard. In New York City, the air quality index rose to over 300, into the most dangerous zone. Air quality this bad poses an emergency health risk to everyone who breathes it, including the animals we share the planet with.

The smoke is already receding, the fires in Quebec will burn out, and until a new environmental disaster occurs – another week of choking smoke, or a super storm that causes coastal flooding, or an uncharacteristic deep freeze like the one that felled the power grid in Texas – most people will be momentarily alarmed, then slip right back to their old routines. After all, disasters don’t often happen where you live, and these issues seem too big for individuals to tackle on their own. Government or the private sector will figure out a way to stem the big disasters just in time.

Sustainability takes a different approach. Instead of hoping someone else will come along and solve these problems for future generations, it urges each one of us to be mindful of our individual impact and make choices that preserve resources and environmental integrity for future generations. 

Although our individual actions will never have the same impact as broader legislative initiatives, doing the right thing can help you to have a more positive frame of mind and set a good example for your friends and family to follow. 

What is Sustainability?

Wildfire smoke that drifts across the North American continent is a good example of how interconnected we are, living together on a planet that does not respect national boundaries, just as the fires themselves are a good example of how human actions have set the stage for the extreme weather patterns we now regularly experience. 

Sustainability challenges citizens to find a way to meet their own needs while simultaneously acting in such a way that future generations can also meet their needs. The assumption driving this movement is that resources are finite and must be conserved rather than wasted.

Societal and economic equity play a role in sustainability initiatives as well. Not only do poorer countries stand to suffer worse from the consequences of unchecked environmental degradation, they also may be deprived of the ability to industrialize, and enjoy the privileges that come with greater wealth,  if post-industrial nations continue to use their economic clout to consume more than their fair share. Thus, sustainability efforts focus on finding solutions to achieve a more equitable balance of resources.

6 Tips for Living More Sustainably

Buy Secondhand Clothing

Were you aware that the apparel industry accounts for 4% of all greenhouse gas emissions? Or that only 1% of discarded clothing is recycled? Or that textile production uses some of the most dangerous pesticides out there? 

The global environmental cost of fast fashion is huge and, if unchecked, will continue to get worse as demand for cheap disposable clothing increases in the developing world. Fortunately, thanks in part to online consignment stores like Poshmark, you can purchase gently used clothing as simply as any other form of e-commerce. Others may prefer to scout church sales and thrift stores – resort towns have some of the best deals – to amend their wardrobe.

Don’t like the idea of wearing someone else’s clothing? Another alternative to cut down on the waste created by disposable, fast fashion is to purchase fewer articles of clothing but choose items that are durable and well-made. You will pay more for them, but they will last longer.

Shift toward a Plant-based Diet

Eating meat, particularly beef, is one of the worst things you can do for the well-being of future generations. The reason for this is simple – cattle are high on the food chain and consume all the resources used to sustain themselves and the supplemental feed they eat. In fact, one study showed that beef accounts for 25% of all the emissions the food industry creates. To put this in perspective, all of the vegetable crops combined account for 29% of food industry emissions.

In addition to helping to lower the production of emissions of greenhouse gasses, eating lower on the food chain saves water. Agriculture uses between 70 and 85% of all the water resources, and most of those arable crops are used to produce animal protein. 

Meat is so much a part of Americans’ cultural heritage that it can seem almost sacrilegious to give it up. A better approach is to cut down on the amount of meat you consume 

Use Less Water

The most irrigated crop in the United States might surprise you –  ordinary turf grass. Two percent of the land in the United States is planted in this “crop.” Thus, one of the most effective ways to practice sustainability in your daily life is to xeriscape your lawn, particularly if you live in a drought-prone region. Xeriscaping means using plants that are both native to your region and naturally drought-tolerant. 

At the very least, you can make sure you are cutting your grass high and allowing the cuttings to nourish the soil, which reduces the need for supplemental watering. 

If the idea of giving up your turf grass is too hard to bear, other ways to reduce water consumption are to use a dishwasher, take showers rather than baths, keep drinking water in the fridge so you won’t run the faucet until the water is cold, sweep driveways instead of using the hose, and taking your car to the carwash. 

Avoid Plastic 

As you probably already know, plastic is everywhere – including the bloodstream of most human beings. The manufacture of plastic, a petroleum byproduct, causes pollution. Moreover, some of the chemicals found in finished plastic products, such as BPA, are not only carcinogenic but also endocrine-disrupting compounds that can interfere with normal hormone production. 

Plastic is especially harmful to our planet’s oceans, which are now the depository of some 15 - 51 trillion pieces of plastic. The substance poses a threat to over 700 species of marine life, which get tangled in or die consuming objects in and around the gyres of plastic forming in our oceans like giant islands of trash.

Because plastic is everywhere, avoiding it completely would be next to impossible. However, you can certainly aim to use less. For instance, drink filtered tap water instead of purchasing water by the bottle. Instead of getting a to-go coffee with a plastic lid each morning, bring your own reusable beverage container. Carry reusable bags to the grocery store. For food storage, use glass or metal containers. And make sure that when disposing of recyclable plastic, you do so correctly.    

Conserve Energy

There are more ways to conserve energy than turning your thermostat up or down to lower costs, buying an electric car, or installing solar panels on the roof of your house.

One easy way is to replace household energy producers with more energy-efficient models once their lifespan is over. An LED lightbulb uses 90% less energy and lasts up to 25 years longer than a traditional incandescent bulb. Another way you can lower your energy bills is to take advantage of local, state, and federal tax incentives to make your home more energy efficient.  

Finally, although it seems less intuitive, growing your own food is an excellent way to conserve energy. Rather than purchase food grown commercially and shipped long distances to reach the grocery store, you can go straight to the garden for salad ingredients. You have a further chance to behave sustainably by skipping the chemical pesticides and fertilizers when you grow food yourself.  

Purchase Carbon Offsets 

You probably associate purchasing carbon offsets with flying, but individuals can pledge money to offset the ecological cost of various lifestyle choices, from ecotourism to hosting a wedding. Typically, these financial contributions support projects designed to reduce carbon emissions. 

For business owners and would-be business owners, there is Stripe Climate, a coalition of businesses committed to accelerating permanent carbon removal from the environment. Working with a team of experts, forward-thinking businesses, including DealStream, commit a portion of their revenue to support this goal. 

Some Final Thoughts  

Post-industrial society is one of humanity’s greatest achievements. However, along with this achievement has evolved a cavalier attitude toward the consumption of natural resources. Globalism made the world smaller in many ways. But as factories moved overseas and far away from post-industrial cities, it became easier for the planet’s biggest consumers not to see the day-to-day impact of their consumption. Without this direct connection, it is easy to minimize the impact of overconsumption.

Sustainability calls for a shift away from this compartmentalized mindset into an awareness of how our actions are connected to the world around us. Sustainability is not pessimism, nor should it lead to hopelessness. Rather, it gives people concrete ways to help restore balance to the planet for future generations while at the same time defraying the tremendous costs society will have to bear if we take no action now. 

You don’t need to be an extremist to lead a more sustainable life. One meatless dinner a week is a start. Setting your thermostat one degree lower in the winter and one degree higher in the summer is a start. If you start slow, with steps that are easily assimilated into your lifestyle, you are far more likely to build lasting sustainability habits.