According to statistics, we use 4 trillion bags a year. Everyone ends their life in garbage dumps and in the waters of the ocean, and every year the damage from such waste becomes more and more obvious – remember only the terrible pictures of “polyethylene” rivers in Asian countries or just go to popular picnic spots in our area.
Not wanting to put up with this state of affairs, many Western activists began to preach a lifestyle that excludes the use of items that are not suitable for recycling or safe disposal (which is called zero waste). After all, packages are just the tip of the iceberg. Therefore, they went even further: they abandoned bags, bags, new clothes, switched to bicycles and remembered their grandmother’s ways of washing and washing dishes.
Gradually, this trend gets to us. Not everyone wants to become eco-activists – this is not required. But anyone can start small and stop producing so much trash without compromising their habits. Let’s check? Most of the garbage is generated, of course, in large cities. Let’s start with them.
10 healthy eco-habits of a city slicker (SD):
- GP gets rid of plastic bags. What can replace disposable bags? Reusable ziplock bags (quickly found in Ikea), laundry bags or canvas bags inherited from a grandmother or mother – you see, the latter are especially nice to use.
- GP buys a cloth bag. Now this is not a problem – such a bag can be purchased even at the checkout of a regular supermarket. There are also more original models, with beautiful drawings and funny inscriptions. For me, a good bag is like a good tattoo, everyone pays attention to it and can find out what kind of person you are.
- GP gets rid of the coffee cups. This problem is especially relevant in large cities. In Moscow, everywhere you look, city slickers run through the streets from morning to evening, confidently clutching a disposable cup of coffee in their hands. It’s stylish, comfortable and simply delicious. Let’s look at the numbers again: 1 coffee a day is 5 glasses a week, 20 glasses a month, 260 glasses a year. And you can buy 1 good thermal mug, with which, with careful use, our children will stylishly run through the streets of the city in a couple of decades.
- GP buys biodegradable products for the home. Not all city slickers feel like mixing baking soda and vinegar to clean the sink or rubbing mustard on dirty pans, but everyone can swap out their usual bottle of Fae for something safer and more environmentally friendly. This will help protect your own health and keep clean water for future generations.
- GP closes the taps. Everything is simple here: why pour water when it is not needed. It is better to brush your teeth to your favorite music – it’s more fun, more economical and more environmentally friendly.
- HP takes a bottle of water with him. The city slicker needs a reusable bottle of water for the same reasons as a thermal mug. Such bottles always have an interesting design, cost as much as 20 ordinary ones (that is, they will pay for themselves in a month), and they will be stored for a long, long time. If you don’t want to buy a reusable one, use the regular one, but several times.
- GP takes things apart. A major cleaning is an opportunity to reacquaint yourself with all the objects that live at home. Maybe in the bins there are beautiful linen napkins, originally from the USSR, and you don’t have to buy new ones or use paper ones. Or maybe the thermo mug is yearning on the kitchen shelf – a forgotten gift for the birthday before last. And you won’t have to buy a new shirt – it turns out that there are already three of them. Thus, the city slicker: a) does not buy new unnecessary things (and reduces his expenses) b) finds new uses for old things.
- HP is more likely to hang out with friends. Remember how at the institute as students, having no other opportunity, we exchanged books, CDs and even clothes. It is not necessary to buy a thing to use it only once. Instead, you can borrow it from an old friend, and at the same time chat over a cup of tea and finally find out how he is doing.
- GP washes his hands before eating. Recently, restaurants have become obsessed with disposable napkins, not with the safest composition, by the way. But this is the simplest rule: if you want to eat, just go to the sink and wash your hands.
- The GP enjoys the benefits of the electronic world. This is an easy way to reduce the amount of paper waste – buy an electronic train ticket, read a book online, refuse to print a receipt if you do not need it. You look, and leaflets in shopping centers will stop handing out.
Thus, without disturbing the usual way of life, any of us city slickers, those who rush at all times every morning with a glass of coffee in their hands to conquer the world, can learn a few simple and effective eco-habits. Because in order to run somewhere, two people are needed – the person himself and the land on which he runs. And this land needs to be protected.