The rhetoric around New Year resolutions often leave me tired. The phrase “new year new me” often breeds discontentment for your current place in life or, at best, a sense of failure for when we inevitably fail to live up to the laundry list of character ideals we have built for ourselves. Changing your habits or adding some new ones doesn’t have to be a new year exclusive. If you’re having a slow start to your New Year’s resolutions (like me) or just looking to better yourself, here is a list of manageable, eco conscious resolutions to try this year or whenever. 

Buy less stuff. Not only is this better for the wallet, but also for the environment. For me, buy less stuff means a couple things. First, buying less groceries more often. Over 1 BILLION pounds of food is wasted a year in the United States. By making my grocery runs smaller (and more often), I am able to better control how much food goes bad, at least in my own fridge. Similarly, buying less stuff means buying less clothes. Textile waste in the United States has come to a stagering 25 BILLION pounds a year. That’s 82 pounds per person. Buying less clothes mean throwing out less clothes and also fixing broken clothing items instead of just buying new ones.

Donate more. Stuff, time, money– ANYTHING. For things, my favorite place to donate is Housing Works, a non-profit helping to fight AIDS and homelessness in New York City. For easier donation of clothes, Thred Up will send you a prepaid bag to send your secondhand clothes. You can choose to either sell or donate. As far as my time goes, we ate the Office of Sustainability love to work with the Billion Oysters Project which aim to restore Oysters in New York City waters. For something a little closer to home, the Washington Square Conservancy is always looking for volunteers to help keep the park beautiful. You can also subscribe to the Office of Sustainability newsletter to hear about volunteer opportunities through the office.

Go plastic free when buying produce. This particular thing was brought to my attention by a couple of online zero waste bloggers. Certain grocery stores package their produce very differently. Trader Joe’s, for example, packages most of their produce in plastic. Going to the farmer’s market isn’t always the most cost effective option, so for (mostly) plastic free produce, I go to the produce carts on the street. Take it a step further and check out these zero waste grocery stores around the city.          

Limit your fast fashion consumption. Not only is fast fashion horrible for the environment, but it also comes with a  slew of human rights violations. This was an easy mental switch for me to make, but a little bit harder to execute. For me, limiting my fast fashion meant learning how to use my roomates sewing machine and hitting the thrift stores more often. If you’re in need of something specific, not turning to fast fashion is a great chance to discover some amazing sustainable and ethical brands that are out there. Some of my favorites are  Big Bud Press, Fashion Brand Company, Mayamiko, Dazey LA, and Hara the Label, most of which are relatively size inclusive too!

Go plant based– at least sometimes. Animal agriculture is the leading cause of climate change, water depletion, soil erosion and most other environmental problems, according to United Nations scientists. If everyone went meat-free just one day a week, the U.S would save 100 billion gallons of water, and we would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1.2 million tons of carbon dioxide. According to Environmental Defense, if every American skipped substituted vegetarian food for one meal a week, the carbon dioxide savings would be equivalent to taking more than half a million cars off of U.S. roads. 

 

Register (and show up) to vote. This is perhaps the most important resolution one can make. The 2020 presidential elections are obviously very important, but the most immediate and direct action comes from our local elections, wherever that means for you. For help on all things voting, check out this website. Personal changes matter and are important, but large scale, institutional change is what is required if we are to combat climate change in any meaningful way. Be loud! Protest! And most importantly, VOTE!