how to be an eco-friendly teen
By: Adrielle Escaño
1. Limit overconsumption of single use plasticWhen you think of limiting single use plastic, you immediately think of reusable straws and utensils, bags, and water bottles but before you dismiss them because you don’t want to be a “VSCO girl”, try it before you knock it. Bringing these things into your daily life will stop you from reaching for a plastic bag, spoon/fork, straw, and water bottle that you will use once and throw away later. You also might inspire others, like friends or strangers, to buy their own after they see how useful yours are! When ordering take-out for home, ask for no plastic utensils, after all, it’s a pandemic, you’ll be eating at your house anyway! A great place to start learning about reducing plastic waste is https://reducewastenow.com/ .
2. Reduce, reuse, recycle! This common phrase is often overlooked, but each word is so important to remember. Reduce was mentioned earlier; try to consume less of single-use plastic, buy less fast fashion (clothing hauls), and order less things online that you do not need. Reuse is essential and can become an easy habit to take up in quarantine; mend your ripped jeans (or even add some style by sewing in a patch), wash out glass jars and plant something in them for a kitchen counter garden, and collect old paper to try a homemade DIY project with the scraps! In this day and age when shopping online has become very popular, we tend to receive lots of cardboard boxes, plastic air bags, and bubble wrappers and mailers and they are usually thrown away because not many people know what to do without them. When you receive your next package, go to how2recycle.info in order to find out what you can recycle and where you can drop it off!
3. shop second hand“Fast fashion” is a term that you have most likely heard a million times before today but do you know what it means? Fast fashion is when big business copy styles off the runaway and mass-produce it at a low cost, typically taking advantage of unethical labor practices and using massive emissions along the way. These clothes are not the best quality and will be worn a few times before getting thrown away, because, remember the fashion industry profits off of you buying more each season. An alternative is shopping second hand and your mind immediately goes to “thrifting” but it is important to be mindful while thrifting because many low-income families rely on the cheap prices of thrift stores for their new clothes. Try looking on resell sites like Depop, ThredUp, Poshmark, and so many more! For more information on this topic, there is another article on Mindful Thrifting and Sustainable Fashion on the newspaper.
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4. meatless mondaysThis is a very common phrase, but how many people have tried it? Many people don’t know how the production of meat contributes to climate change, meaning that in order for meat to get to your local supermarket, billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide are released into the atmosphere. Not only does the production of meat increase carbon dioxide emissions, but the meat industry also utilizes practices like deforestation to clear land for cows to graze, ultimately destroying habitats and clearing Earth of a vital carbon sink (trees). Not to mention the methane gas that cows produce while on a factory farm, which is 84x more potent than carbon dioxide in contributing to the greenhouse gas effect and climate change. By watching what you're eating and taking one day out of your week to eat plant based, you can help solve this problem! There are so many vegan and vegetarian recipes on the internet, if you are ever feeling stuck AND there’s plant based meat too if you miss the flavor/texture of meat! We recommend https://www.mondaycampaigns.org/meatless-monday/ for taking your first step towards reducing your meat consumption!
5. do your research!If you don’t have the means to do the first four, educating yourself is the best thing you can do because Google is free! Researching different things and their effects on climate change, will help you educate others and hopefully change some daily habits in your everyday life that you did not realize hurt the environment. We also suggest researching local climate/sustainability-focused organizations in your area to get involved in your community. Students4Sustainablity is a great place for you to start your journey of educating yourself, and we also highly recommend intersectionalenvironmentalist.com https://brightly.eco/ , and Goingzerowaste.com .
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