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While we’ve discussed the benefits of sustainable living, one of the primary reasons people go green is to reduce their carbon footprint.
Going green may be a catchy buzzword in our society, but there are several benefits individuals can accrue from a greener lifestyle.
But that begs the question of what is a green lifestyle, and how can I incorporate it into my existing lifestyle?
The green lifestyle is similar to The Clean Energy Lifestyle in many ways. It promotes the use of clean and renewable energy, as well as incentivizes greater energy efficiency in the home and road.
However, while The Clean Energy Life promotes abundance, scaling technology, and lifestyle upgrades, a green lifestyle focuses more on conservation and resource scarcity.
For example, a green lifestyle may encourage driving less in favor of biking or taking public transportation. On the other hand, The Clean Energy Life encourages you to drive, but in a cleaner electric vehicle.
To put it another way, the green lifestyle is a form of sustainable living with less emphasis on technology and more emphasis on conservation.
Does this mean a green lifestyle is one where we have to return to mud huts with no electricity? Of course not.
Instead, a green lifestyle promotes a first-world lifestyle with greater cognizance of our actions,. In turn, we can benefit from adapting a green lifestyle in many ways.
To get started on growing your green lifestyle, you need to identify current areas in your life where you emit the most carbon pollution.
We recommend calculating your carbon footprint with any of the calculators we have listed on our website.
This will provide a baseline to measure your efforts; some even calculators provide tips to help reduce your emissions directly.
After calculating your carbon footprint, it’s time to implement strategies to reduce your total energy usage, and begin to make your lifestyle more green and sustainable.
Residential energy use accounts for 20% of all the greenhouse gas emissions produced in the United States.
While energy use reduction may help, making your home more energy-efficient is a lot more practical.
We’ve listed tips on how to make your home more energy efficient, but our quick snippet includes:
We also recommend electrifying all remaining fossil-fuel-powered devices, including gas or propane-powered furnaces and more.
In addition to home heating and gas appliances, there are several ways to reduce the amount of fuel you consume on the road.
Upgrading to an EV is the best solution for a green lifestyle on the road, as an EV will consume less carbon over its lifetime than a gasoline-powered sedan.
Other ideas include ride-sharing and taking public transportation, but for the sake of practicality, upgrading to an EV or hybrid is your best bet.
Between clean energy tax credits worth up to $7500 for new EVs and cars that start around $27,000 or more, upgrading to an electric vehicle has never been more affordable.
To practice a green lifestyle, another important resource we should seek to preserve is our water.
Simple fixes like patching leaks, installing tap aerators, and switching to low-flow shower heads can conserve a great deal of water.
If you plant crops or a garden, collecting rainwater or using drip irrigation can be an effective solution and save you money on water bills, along with preserving our most important natural resource.
Diet can be a massive part of our carbon footprint, especially if you consume meat and dairy products.
By some estimates, meat and dairy account for 14.5% of all global greenhouse gases, and livestock are responsible for over ¾ of agricultural land use.
Incorporating more plant-based and organic meals into your diet can help fight back against factory farming and reduce your carbon emissions.
As we like to say, starting a low-carbon diet will be the easiest diet you ever start. Plus, it’s healthy and more affordable, and can become a big part of your green lifestyle.
Supplement some of your grocery bills by planting a garden of your own. With indoor planters that attach to your wall or can be grown in your sunroom, it’s never been easier to start your own DIY garden.
Composting is another green way to recycle waste and help give your soil fresh nutrients and minerals.
Speaking of recycling, reducing waste can be a great way to chop away at your carbon emissions.
Reusing clothes, store-bought goods, and furniture is an easy way to recycle goods and prevent new ones from being made.
In addition, ditching plastic for reusable cups, bags, and straws can also cut down on carbon and plastic pollution, extending a noble green community goal to help limit landfill use.
Transporting goods is another major area of carbon pollution that many people don’t think of when they shop.
Shopping for locally sourced goods can reduce the amount of carbon required to bring those goods to market and also support local projects and social goals in your area.
Likewise, we recommend buying seasonal foods and items when available, especially since preserving off-season foods requires heavy chemicals that may be bad for you.
If you want to truly evolve to a green lifestyle, you need to switch to renewable energy.
When we discussed recycling before, one area we should have touched on is recycling your energy. With something like a solar panel, not only are you powering your house with clean energy, but you can also store and recycle that energy with a battery backup.
This technology enables grid independence and also massive financial savings.
For those concerned about the cost, there are solar tax credits available, and most panels pay for themselves within ten years through savings.
There are also energy suppliers and solar community projects that bring renewable energy to your home without installing your own expensive solar panel. These projects may also source from wind farms and hydroelectric dams.
Finally, we encourage many people with the means to do so to offset their emissions whenever possible. Carbon offset projects allow you to invest in projects like solar farms and tree farms that reduce the presence of carbon in the atmosphere–thus reducing your previous emissions.
It could be something as simple as donating a small amount of money to a renewable project each month or participating in one, like planting local trees in your area.
Adopting a green lifestyle provides many benefits for individuals, not the least of which is a cleaner planet. With some simple lifestyle changes and a little bit of investment, you can adopt a sustainable and green lifestyle in no time.
Driving the clean energy movement one step at a time and making a positive impact on the environment.
The Clean Energy Life is part of the Rewire Group and is a companion site to Rewire Energy, and Rewire Digital.
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