What are some of the best ways to truly live a sustainable, eco-friendly life with a small carbon footprint? Shockingly, the biggest contributor to environmental damage over time is having kids.
But if being childless isn’t a choice you’re willing to make, or if you’ve already got kids, no worries – there are myriad other conscious decisions you can make to improve on your carbon footprint and reduce your CO2 emissions.
Here’s the list, from least to most benefit (but all of them are good steps! this is simply overall impact of sustainable lifestyle choices). My current personal CO2 reducing choices in bold.
- Upgrade lightbulbs (I rent, so it depends – my previous place where I was for several years had eco-friendly lighting, the place I’ve been for the past couple months doesn’t, but I mainly use one lamp which has green bulbs)
- Hang laundry to dry
- Recycle
- Wash clothes cold (and take cold showers!)
- Switch to hybrid car (or…no car at all)
- Vegetarian diet (Entovegan is way more sustainable with far less CO2!)
- Buy green energy (no choice in Cambodia that I know of, but my electricity usage is minimal, and I don’t use the air conditioning)
- Cancel a transatlantic flight (sadly, I haven’t been traveling nearly as much recently – this is a big one, I know, but after seeing Cowspiracy I don’t feel bad about my travel habits, considering meat farming gives off more GHGe than the entire transportation sector combined)
- Don’t use a car (I bike everywhere)
- Have one less child (I haven’t reproduced yet and don’t have any plans to)
Overall, I think I’m doing pretty well based on this chart. I bike everywhere, haven’t reproduced, wash and dry clothes efficiently, and have cut way back on my globetrotting and thus flights.
But probably most notable here, being Entovegan is exponentially more sustainable than being vegetarian, because insect farming produces negligible GHGe compared to dairy farms, poultry farms, or commercial plant proteins such as soybeans.
Learn more about why I believe Entovegan is the best dietary framework for health and sustainability, and then consider adopting more of these environmentally-friendly choices, including insect nutrition!
