Okay, let’s get something out of the way…
I know you’re probably like, “Allison, you’re an illustrator, what do you know about sustainability?” And you’re right. I don’t have any professional degrees in Environmental Science. Everything I’ve learned up to this point has been through trial and error, through conversations with other like-minded citizens, and from getting curious and reading up on various issues. And I am still absolutely learning. So if you read something here which you have questions about or you disagree with, please let me know and correct me when you think I’m wrong. Let’s share the knowledge we have and help each other learn from it because at the end of the day, if we are going to make any positive changes in combatting climate change WE ALL NEED TO CARE ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY.
Cool? Cool. The following is a non-exhaustive list of some (very) basic and easy ways in which I’ve tried to live a more sustainable life. Let me know if you try any of these, if you already implement them, and how it’s working for you!!
Stop Buying (New) Stuff
I know this is hard. As someone who makes a living selling artwork and products featuring my artwork, I find this particularly morally challenging. This is partly why I don’t feel comfortable convincing someone to buy my goods. Sure I’d like you to appreciate the things I make, and I’d like to be fairly compensated for them, but talking you into buying something you don’t truly want or need? Not my style (and I wish it wasn’t anyone’s style). But I think it’s all about being aware of your buying habits and making changes where you can. If you desperately need a new pair of jeans because all the pairs you own have holes in them, consider the following options before you head to the mall or start shopping online…
Can you mend your current pair? Know someone who can?
Can you do a clothing swap with friends/family? If you message them, I guarantee some of them already have a stack of clothing they’re looking to give away.
Have you looked at resale shops, thrift stores, secondhand options or eBay? These are usually less costly so bonus points for saving money.
If you absolutely have to buy a new pair, are you supporting a clothing company which is actively working to make positive changes? Do they pay their workers a living wage? Do they have policies on child labor? Are they reducing their carbon emissions? You might check out goodonyou.eco or thegoodtrade.com for a list of sustainable clothing options (and what it means to be sustainable in the first place — helpful!)
Consider Your Commute
I don’t own a car, but in the interest of full-disclosure: my partner has a car and there are times that I’m really glad he does. I mostly get around by bicycle and by walking but I realize I’m lucky to live in a part of town where that’s possible. I try to save bigger errands for the weekend so we can go together and every now and then I’ll take Lyft or Uber if the distance is too great or there isn’t a nearby bus line. I’ve heard the argument that getting around by bicycle is a luxury because it means you can afford to live inside the city. It’s true that I probably pay more in rent by living inside Houston’s “inner loop” but I definitely save more by not having a car — firstly there’s the cost of the actual vehicle, then the constant filling with gas, car insurance payments, and car maintenance. It adds up. There’s still bike maintenance but the costs are minimal by comparison. Again, you have to make choices based on your lifestyle and your own particular set of needs…
Can you get there by bike? If your regular commute is bikable you might invest in owning one (check out Craigslist, 5 Mile, Facebook Marketplace, or nearby garage sales to find a used option in your area). If you feel like you don’t know what to look for, bring a bike-savvy friend with you and he/she should help you find something decent without getting ripped off. If you’re tight on space or don’t commute very frequently, Houston BCycle (or your local bike-share) might make more sense.
Can you carpool with friends/coworkers?
Can you take public transit? This one is tricky in the midst of a pandemic in my opinion — bring hand sanitizer with you, keep your face mask on (no eating or drinking until you get off the bus) and try to put distance between yourself and other passengers.
Is it close enough/a nice enough day to walk?
Can you run all your errands in one afternoon rather than making multiple trips?
Will your job allow you to work any days from home? (yay, no commute!)
Ditch the Packaging
As much as we all like to promote recycling, sadly, it’s just not enough to combat our obsession with packaging. Plastic is especially nefarious — even if a plastic bottle claims to be recyclable, most have a very finite number of times they can be recycled (like, once or twice 😩).
Do you have a bulk section in your local grocery store? You might have to ask customer service or get someone to assist you, but most places will even tare containers for you if you bring them from home.
Can you buy fruits and vegetables at your local farmer’s market? (bring your own bags!)
Do you have a local CSA (community supported agriculture) program? The added benefit of this is eating seasonally — reduce your carbon footprint AND reduce your consumption of pesticides/preservatives since the further fruits and vegetables have to travel to get to you, the more likely it is that they’ve been treated in order to appear fresh.
Can you buy what you need in person instead of online? In 2018, Fast Company reported that an estimated 165 billion packages were shipped in the U.S. that year. That’s a LOT of cardboard, poly mailers, and bubble wrap. If we can skip the shipping supplies altogether and shop at local, independent businesses, we’re also reinvesting in our local community (ie our friends and neighbors) rather than supporting big corporations.
Can you make your own? This is obviously easier for some products than others, but cleaning supplies are a great example of an easy DIY. Water and vinegar are surprisingly effective at disinfecting a variety of surfaces and there is no shortage of DIY recipes out there so I won’t reinvent the wheel — Try an internet search for “homemade cleaner” and you’re sure to find a few using ingredients you already have on hand.
Do you like sparkling water? I recently invested in a water carbonator and although I miss the convenience of just grabbing a can out of the fridge, I do NOT miss all the aluminum cans I was recycling every week.
Choose Reusable
Related to ditching the packaging in your life is the obvious suggestion of replacing single-use items with multi-use ones. Some of these are more obvious than others and I encourage you to get creative — bonus points if you’re able to reuse the same container/object/tool/thingy for a variety of purposes!
Going to the grocery store? Store a few reusable grocery bags in your car, in your bike bag, by your back door, in your purse, or wherever you need to so you never forget them. There are even some companies who make reusable bags which fold up small enough to fit on your keychain.
Going out to eat? Instead of bringing home another takeout container, bring reusable tupperware to the restaurant with you and box the leftovers yourself. Be sure to find something with a leakproof lid if you’re going to store them sideways in your bag (speaking from experience here 🤦♀️).
Love supporting your local coffee shop? Store a reusable coffee cup in your purse or bag so you’re never without it when you’re on the go. My Contigo coffee thermos is literally one of the best purchases I have ever made. That might sound silly but if you’ve ever had to deal with coffee leaking inside your backpack, hot coffee turning cold in less than an hour, or cold coffee turning lukewarm on a hot summer day you know what I mean. It’s the little things.
Eating on the go? Keep a set of reusable utensils stored in your bag at all times (just don’t forget to wash them after each use and let them dry fully)! I love this set of bamboo utensils and these stainless steel straws from refinement house.
Spills in the kitchen or at the dinner table? Use fabric towels and napkins instead of paper towels and keep a small wastebasket under your sink as a kitchen laundry basket.
You know that old holey shirt you can no longer wear? It’s perfect for cutting up and turning into a set of cleaning rags.
Eco-Friendly Beauty
I’m often frustrated by the beauty industry. There are so many unnecessary products and procedures marketed toward women (and men!) in an effort to get them to buy more things, and a lot of those sales tactics are made in the hope of making us feel insecure and unworthy without the item or procedure in question. But guess what? You don’t need to give in to that BS and chances are good that particular face cream won’t suddenly solve all your problems.
Can you reduce the number of times you wash your hair? With the invention of dry shampoo, this is much more manageable. Unfortunately, some of those formulas are full of chemicals, add yet more packaging to our lives, and come in carcinogenic aerosol form. Making your own dry shampoo powder is actually pretty easy. And if like me you have brown hair, try a combination of cocoa powder, arrowroot powder, and a few drops of peppermint oil. You’ll smell just like a peppermint patty :)
Have you tried shampoo and conditioner bars instead of the traditional bottles? I like the lemon-fresh scent of Lush Montalbano bars and used to have one of their cedar conditioning bars, but I don’t think they make that scent anymore. Fear not, shampoo and conditioner bars are becoming more popular and easy to find everywhere from Whole Foods to local farmer’s markets.
Are you a coffee drinker? Use your old coffee grounds to make a DIY shower scrub. You can add sugar, oil (I like avocado and coconut oil), and essential oils — some of my favorite combinations are nutmeg, peppermint, clove, and cedar.
Have a pair of fleece pajama pants that no longer fit or are starting to fall apart? Cut them into small squares and use them instead of disposable “beauty rounds”. I had a length of fleece fabric that I once bought for a Halloween costume and realized it was perfect for removing eye makeup because the texture is super soft but textured enough to grab all the oil and mascara off my skin. And since the edges don’t fray when I wash them they didn’t even need sewing. I keep them stacked in a little drawstring bag in my medicine cabinet and use them to remove makeup or apply toner.
Are you a person with a body? Does your body menstruate? Welcome to being human! I know some people are squeamish when it comes to talking about menstrual cycles, but there’s really no reason for embarrassment or shame. Instead of disposable products like tampons and maxi pads, I converted to a menstrual cup, cloth pads, and period underwear and I am here to say I am never going back! I started with cloth pads which were made by someone on Etsy and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how well they’ve lasted over the last ten years. I just rinse them after use, wash them in a delicates bag, and hang them to dry before putting them back in my underwear drawer. The first cup I bought was the Lunette and used that for a few years but when my closest grocery store was going out of business and had Diva cups for 75% off I grabbed one. Surprisingly, I found a big difference in fit and the Diva works better for me. But since everyone’s body is different, you might have a totally different experience. Most recently I bought a couple pairs of Thinx and although I don’t love the fit of them, I find that they’re especially helpful for wearing overnight. If I can sleep better and eliminate my paranoia about ruining my sheets, I’d say that makes them worth it. Similar to the cloth pads, I just rinse them after use, wash them in a delicates bag and hang them to dry.
Eco-Friendly Home
There are lots of big ways you can make a difference — opting for more energy efficient appliances, installing solar panels, investing in high performance insulation and ventilation, the list goes on an on. But if like me, you’re not looking to build a new home from scratch or invest thousands of dollars into retrofitting your current home, here are some smaller changes you can implement into your daily habits…
When washing and drying clothes, do you have room for a clothesline? How about a portable drying rack? The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that your dryer is the second most energy-consuming machine in your household (right after your fridge), so eliminating it or even just reducing the amount of time you use it can make a big difference. When using a dryer, remember to clean the lint filter after every cycle so that it can run more efficiently and use less energy. Instead of dryer sheets, I have a set of wool dryer balls which I really love — they help fluff, eliminate static, and create more airflow to speed up the drying process.
Do you have room for a garden? Are you composting your fruits and veg? I was initially kind of intimidated by the composting process, but once you get used to it it’s not so bad. I have a small compost pail which lives by my kitchen sink and I fill it with banana peels, onion skins, coffee grounds, vegetable peelings, even eggshells. Then I carry it out to my compost bin to empty once or twice a week. And despite common misconception, if you’re emptying your compost pail every few days your kitchen should not smell like rotting produce. Most compost pails come with charcoal filters in the lid which you can switch out every few months to cut down on smell. And if you’re really worried about it and not interested in composting yourself, you can hire a local composting service who will pick up your composting materials for you.
Have you noticed it rains a lot in Houston? Are you harvesting rain water? I started putting out a few big buckets every time we have a hard rain, then I store it in a large storage bin next to my house. This is great for watering my plants in the summer and especially helpful when we’re suffering from droughts. If you’re more hard-core (something I would like to be someday), you can invest in rain barrels set up to easily collect water from your gutters and even use it to flush your toilets or for bathing and laundry (but I’m iffy about those last two since the air quality in Houston is not great).
Do you eat meat? Can you reduce how often you eat it? Another full-disclosure statement: I am not a vegetarian, so I will never tell someone to stop eating meat. A vegetarian or vegan diet is the most sustainable option but if that’s just not an option for you, you might consider limiting your intake to just once or twice a week, eliminating all red meat and pork, or consuming only organic and humanely raised animals. Since it’s estimated that the entire global livestock industry produces as much greenhouse gas emissions as all the automobiles on the planet, if all of us reduced the amount of meat in our diets, that could actually have a big impact on the planet. This is another area in which creativity comes in handy — if you’re following a recipe which calls for meat, can you swap out a veggie burger, roasted cauliflower, toasted walnuts, or fried chickpeas? When I’m cooking vegetarian with the right seasonings and cooking methods, I don’t even miss the meat.
Keep Learning, Try New Things, and Stick With It!
As I mentioned earlier, this is by no means an exhaustive list but hopefully this gives you some ideas for ways to incorporate sustainable practices into your own life. And remember it’s not all-or-nothing. If you have to commute long distances and can’t get rid of your car, don’t beat yourself up. Maybe you feel like you don’t have a green thumb and gardening is just not your thing. That’s okay! Just remember to be mindful of your impact on the environment and make changes where you can. We’re in this together and we need to support each other to make positive changes that last.
Want to talk more about sustainability? Send me a message, I’d love to learn from you! Have a question? Let me know, I’d be happy to discuss :)
Happy Earth Day, everyone!
xoxo,
Allison