All The Small (ECO) Things
There’s this nice thing that comes from doing sustainable things: it almost always has positive effects in other, related areas as well. Some examples:
- Eating less meat is good for the planet (less pollution associated with raising livestock), but it’s also good for your health and for reducing animal suffering.
- Buying local is good for the planet (less miles traveled, so less fossil fuel burned), but is also good for your local community as keeping your money out of the pockets of big box CEOs and putting it into the pockets of those who live around you makes for a better community!
- Using less electronics is good for the planet (less electricity used, less dependence on fossil fuels and mining), but is also good for your health, since you will now be seeking entertainment from non-digital means…Books, sports, boards games with friends, spending time with your pets, etc.
But there are certain things that I do that have a positive impact on the planet…But only a tiny insignificant amount, and yet I continue to do not because it’s good for the planet, but purely because I like doing them. They’re small, stupid things, but they make little bubbles of happiness percolate inside me.
For the planet!…But mostly for me.
So today is a bit of a selfish post, but I just wanted to list some of those silly little ECO nothings that I do that make me feel better.
Picking up trash
This one I’ve mentioned countless times on this blog, but picking up trash is one of those things that don’t make that big of a difference to the planet: I could pick up a ton of trash every day for a year and still not even have a fraction of a percent of the planets trash. But when I do, I feel like I’ve done something small, but nice for the community, and it makes me feel like a good person. So I do it whenever I can. On dog walks, at the beach, in the parking lot of the supermarket…Anywhere, anytime.
Not turning on the lights when I wake up at night
When I go to the bathroom at night or make a trip down to the kitchen for a drink of water, I like to leave the lights off. Initially I did it as a “don’t use more energy than you need to” thing, but now I just do it because it’s easier to go back to sleep afterwards, and sometimes, as I pass by a window I’ll look outside to the darkened street and feel a chill breeze and I’ll get a little shiver that just feels good. It’s that same shiver I feel when I’m out in the forest camping at night. Just a nice feeling.
Cutting down my smartphone use
I did a whole post on my dumbphone challenge, which I finished and learned a lot from. I am now a lot more aware of my smart phone usage, and particularly all the bad habits they cause: hitting that Instagram button when you open your phone, though you meant to open it to check that recipe, or opening YouTube to watch a video that I wanted to watch, but ended up clicking on 5 other ones that really aren’t going to do much for me other than burn 30 minutes of my day. Thanks to that awareness and a widget that I keep on my home screen that shows how much time I’ve used my phone and on what apps, I’ve vastly reduced my phone time down to about an hour and a half a day, with almost no social media time. The amount of electricity use that I’ve reduced is probably pretty insignificant to my electric bill and to generated emissions from the electricity, but this feels good for other reasons: more time spent doing stuff I WANT to do. This environmentally-friendly action also just made my days longer, means more time reading a book, and I spend more quality time with my family. Wins all day.
Gardening and Caring for Plants
This is another one that you could argue is good for the planet: I’m raising more plants that are sucking up (more or less negligible amounts of) CO2, help absorb some sunlight that reduce local temperatures around my home, and occasionally produce some veggies that I don’t have to buy from the store. But that’s not why I do it. Gardening is one of the most calming, peaceful, relaxing things I can do at home. Whether I’m plucking dead leaves, watering the plants, or harvesting some lettuce, I just feel better. It calms me down. It makes me feel happy. It’s a direct connection to nature that makes me feel a sense of stewardship for this one little piece of earth, and pride for making food that I don’t have to buy. Another thing that’s good for the planet, but even more so good for me!
Planetary sustainability is important, but so is your mental sustainability
There are a lot of things you can do for the environment, but you don’t always HAVE to do them for the environment. I find that a lot of the things that you do that make your life more sustainable often bring other benefits that make you healthier, happier, and help you have better relationships with your friends and family. Sometimes, they’re just things that make you feel good. And maybe that’s the best reason of all to do things that are good for the environment anyway.
Thanks for reading!
