HEALING WITH THE ELEMENT OF EARTH
Body • Stability • Stewardship • Belonging
Assigning environmental and societal action or self-care to a specific element can be a bit arbitrary. But in general, the Earth Quarter focuses on physical wellness, community building, and healthy ecosystems.
Healing Self
Grounding Practices
Grounding helps you feel more connected to Earth and present in your body. You can do this simply by standing outside barefoot for a few minutes, listening to the birds sing or the leaves rustling. You can also practice grounding more intentionally through earth meditations or energy work.
Live Below Your Means
The financial aspect of this can be hard to achieve. Supporting children or other family members, being retired or disabled with a low fixed income, or just not quite making ends meet all make it nearly impossible. However, living beneath your means can also apply to your calendar. Unhooking from consumer culture helps you think about time as a place rather than a consumer product. Consider what simple things you enjoy. What is free and/or low-stress? It also helps to consider what lifestyles and consumer items you currently desire. Do you want/need these in an authentic way? If so, how can you reshape them into something less expensive and/or more earth-friendly?
Routine and Structure
Incorporate routines that provide structure and stability in your daily life. This can help you feel more grounded and focused. Healthy habits thrive on consistency, so creating consistent habits around sleep, work, and self-care will help support everything else in your life.
Reconsider Body Products
This can be tricky to navigate. The FDA does not regulate which chemicals are allowed in lotions, shampoos, makeup, etc. On the one hand, commercial products may contain chemicals like phthalates and sulfates, which are harmful to your health. On the other hand, they may contain products like palm oil and argon oil that are unsustainable and harmful to the Earth. Likewise, all-natural and plant-based products have not been tested for safety or effectiveness either. Many “all-natural” products contain high levels of essential oils or other plant-based ingredients that can cause rashes or allergic reactions. The best approach is to use neutral products. Look for fragrance-free products that have not been tested on animals. Keep in mind that whatever goes on the skin goes into the body.
Get Enough Sleep
Yes, you have probably heard this repeatedly, but are you actually getting enough sleep? The benefits are plentiful. It improves mental health and brain function, helps prevent dementia, improves your immune response, and reduces blood pressure, inflammation, and risk of heart attacks. Not to mention your ability to enjoy your waking hours. There are many guidelines out there about how much sleep is needed. These can be helpful as a starting guideline, but ultimately, how and when to sleep needs to be a conversation between your schedules and your body.
Skip the Diet
Keeping a healthy weight is important, but time and time again, studies have shown that diets do not support wellness. Even when successful, they tend to be short-term solutions that leave you feeling bad about yourself and your body. One problem is the way society defines what is healthy. For example, BMI (how much body fat a person is supposed to have) is based on a system invented by a mathematician with no medical training in the 1830s to measure white males. In other words, female bodies and the bodies of non-white people were not considered when creating this non-medical system.
Another problem with diets is the use of artificial foods, which have fewer calories but also less nutritional value. They leave you feeling hungry even when you're full because your body is still craving real nutrients. Furthermore, diets take things away, which often leads to feelings of shame and deprivation. Wellness-focused eating gradually adds healthy foods and habits, allowing you to find what feels helpful and authentic. This approach is slower but longer lasting.
Eat More Plants
One part of wellness-focused eating is increasing the amount of plants that you eat. This does not need to mean changing your food choices in extreme ways. A well-rounded plate should contain about 50% vegetables, 25% grains, beans, or legumes, and 25% or less animal products (for non-vegetarians). Eating primarily plants is great for many reasons. From a health perspective, they are high in nutrients and fiber that your body needs. They reduce inflammation and the risk of diseases like cancer. They also cost less than meat, dairy, eggs, and processed foods, so they are good for the pocketbook. Plant-based foods are also better for the planet; your body will feel lighter, and your environmental footprint will be lighter.
Eat a Variety of Vegetables
Mix it up, branch out, and explore the many vegetable options available these days. This exploration is more enjoyable when you eat vegetables that taste good to you. Forcing yourself to eat fruits or vegetables you dislike is unnecessary and can discourage you from eating other vegetables.
Likewise, it is best to avoid trendy eating. Health-trend industries tend to feature one fruit or vegetable above the others. As a result, you may over-consume one product. This is bad for two reasons. First, there is no such thing as a miracle fruit or vegetable. If you over-focus on one, you miss out on the health benefits of the others. Secondly, when Western society follows a health trend, the developing nations and their lands suffer. Consider what will happen to the farmers in an impoverished region who clear-cut land to grow what is trending once Western society inevitably loses interest in that crop and moves on.
Eat Herbs
All herbs contain healing, strength-building, and empowering properties. There may be times when a specific herb is needed, but in general, holistic health is as simple as adding herbs and spices to your meals. Keep it simple: an herb or spice need not be exotic or expensive to provide health benefits. Parsley, for example, is a nutrient-dense plant that reduces blood pressure, supports bone health, supports eye health, protects against cancer, and has antibacterial properties.
Begin by considering which herbs and spices are native to your ecosystem and which will grow in your garden. This way, you learn more about the land, as well as connect with the land on a molecular level as you consume these plants.
Teas are also a great way to consume herbs. However, keep in mind that commercially produced “herbal Teas” often contain various “natural flavors” and sweeteners to create a more mainstream flavor. They do not contain the same health benefits as true herbal teas.
Eat Local
There are many excellent reasons to eat local produce when possible. The produce does not have to travel across the globe, which means it is fresher and more likely to have ripened naturally. Local foods also use less fossil fuel to reach your home, so they have a lighter environmental footprint. Eating with the season also helps avoid trend eating, which knocks your body off balance and disrupts your connection to the land where you live.
Use Natural Remedies When They Don’t Conflict with Medical Science
Western society seems to have a pill for everything, but these products are often hard on your body and can have undesirable side effects. If you can find a natural remedy that actually works well with your mind and body, use that instead. But also be realistic and kind to yourself. Many “all-natural” remedies do not work and can be counterproductive. Sometimes, the prescription drug is the right choice. For example, a plant product can alleviate some feelings of depression but will not help with clinical depression. Likewise, a plant product can boost the immune system but will not provide the immunity that a vaccine can.
Grounding helps you feel more connected to Earth and present in your body. You can do this simply by standing outside barefoot for a few minutes, listening to the birds sing or the leaves rustling. You can also practice grounding more intentionally through earth meditations or energy work.
Live Below Your Means
The financial aspect of this can be hard to achieve. Supporting children or other family members, being retired or disabled with a low fixed income, or just not quite making ends meet all make it nearly impossible. However, living beneath your means can also apply to your calendar. Unhooking from consumer culture helps you think about time as a place rather than a consumer product. Consider what simple things you enjoy. What is free and/or low-stress? It also helps to consider what lifestyles and consumer items you currently desire. Do you want/need these in an authentic way? If so, how can you reshape them into something less expensive and/or more earth-friendly?
Routine and Structure
Incorporate routines that provide structure and stability in your daily life. This can help you feel more grounded and focused. Healthy habits thrive on consistency, so creating consistent habits around sleep, work, and self-care will help support everything else in your life.
Reconsider Body Products
This can be tricky to navigate. The FDA does not regulate which chemicals are allowed in lotions, shampoos, makeup, etc. On the one hand, commercial products may contain chemicals like phthalates and sulfates, which are harmful to your health. On the other hand, they may contain products like palm oil and argon oil that are unsustainable and harmful to the Earth. Likewise, all-natural and plant-based products have not been tested for safety or effectiveness either. Many “all-natural” products contain high levels of essential oils or other plant-based ingredients that can cause rashes or allergic reactions. The best approach is to use neutral products. Look for fragrance-free products that have not been tested on animals. Keep in mind that whatever goes on the skin goes into the body.
Get Enough Sleep
Yes, you have probably heard this repeatedly, but are you actually getting enough sleep? The benefits are plentiful. It improves mental health and brain function, helps prevent dementia, improves your immune response, and reduces blood pressure, inflammation, and risk of heart attacks. Not to mention your ability to enjoy your waking hours. There are many guidelines out there about how much sleep is needed. These can be helpful as a starting guideline, but ultimately, how and when to sleep needs to be a conversation between your schedules and your body.
Skip the Diet
Keeping a healthy weight is important, but time and time again, studies have shown that diets do not support wellness. Even when successful, they tend to be short-term solutions that leave you feeling bad about yourself and your body. One problem is the way society defines what is healthy. For example, BMI (how much body fat a person is supposed to have) is based on a system invented by a mathematician with no medical training in the 1830s to measure white males. In other words, female bodies and the bodies of non-white people were not considered when creating this non-medical system.
Another problem with diets is the use of artificial foods, which have fewer calories but also less nutritional value. They leave you feeling hungry even when you're full because your body is still craving real nutrients. Furthermore, diets take things away, which often leads to feelings of shame and deprivation. Wellness-focused eating gradually adds healthy foods and habits, allowing you to find what feels helpful and authentic. This approach is slower but longer lasting.
Eat More Plants
One part of wellness-focused eating is increasing the amount of plants that you eat. This does not need to mean changing your food choices in extreme ways. A well-rounded plate should contain about 50% vegetables, 25% grains, beans, or legumes, and 25% or less animal products (for non-vegetarians). Eating primarily plants is great for many reasons. From a health perspective, they are high in nutrients and fiber that your body needs. They reduce inflammation and the risk of diseases like cancer. They also cost less than meat, dairy, eggs, and processed foods, so they are good for the pocketbook. Plant-based foods are also better for the planet; your body will feel lighter, and your environmental footprint will be lighter.
Eat a Variety of Vegetables
Mix it up, branch out, and explore the many vegetable options available these days. This exploration is more enjoyable when you eat vegetables that taste good to you. Forcing yourself to eat fruits or vegetables you dislike is unnecessary and can discourage you from eating other vegetables.
Likewise, it is best to avoid trendy eating. Health-trend industries tend to feature one fruit or vegetable above the others. As a result, you may over-consume one product. This is bad for two reasons. First, there is no such thing as a miracle fruit or vegetable. If you over-focus on one, you miss out on the health benefits of the others. Secondly, when Western society follows a health trend, the developing nations and their lands suffer. Consider what will happen to the farmers in an impoverished region who clear-cut land to grow what is trending once Western society inevitably loses interest in that crop and moves on.
Eat Herbs
All herbs contain healing, strength-building, and empowering properties. There may be times when a specific herb is needed, but in general, holistic health is as simple as adding herbs and spices to your meals. Keep it simple: an herb or spice need not be exotic or expensive to provide health benefits. Parsley, for example, is a nutrient-dense plant that reduces blood pressure, supports bone health, supports eye health, protects against cancer, and has antibacterial properties.
Begin by considering which herbs and spices are native to your ecosystem and which will grow in your garden. This way, you learn more about the land, as well as connect with the land on a molecular level as you consume these plants.
Teas are also a great way to consume herbs. However, keep in mind that commercially produced “herbal Teas” often contain various “natural flavors” and sweeteners to create a more mainstream flavor. They do not contain the same health benefits as true herbal teas.
Eat Local
There are many excellent reasons to eat local produce when possible. The produce does not have to travel across the globe, which means it is fresher and more likely to have ripened naturally. Local foods also use less fossil fuel to reach your home, so they have a lighter environmental footprint. Eating with the season also helps avoid trend eating, which knocks your body off balance and disrupts your connection to the land where you live.
Use Natural Remedies When They Don’t Conflict with Medical Science
Western society seems to have a pill for everything, but these products are often hard on your body and can have undesirable side effects. If you can find a natural remedy that actually works well with your mind and body, use that instead. But also be realistic and kind to yourself. Many “all-natural” remedies do not work and can be counterproductive. Sometimes, the prescription drug is the right choice. For example, a plant product can alleviate some feelings of depression but will not help with clinical depression. Likewise, a plant product can boost the immune system but will not provide the immunity that a vaccine can.
Healing Society
Community Building
A strong community will create healthy support networks. It helps to have spaces where people can gather, share resources, and encourage one another. This could be a thriving community center, but it can also be a local food bank, mutual aid society, or community garden. A strong community tends to take better care of the land as well.
Local food banks are an excellent place to start, as they provide food for shelters and impoverished families. People, especially children, who do not have enough to eat struggle to learn and function. Food Security for all is an investment in the future while alleviating suffering in real time.
Access to Green Spaces
Ensuring people have access to parks, gardens, and natural areas is vital for physical and mental well-being. And beyond green spaces, trees in city spaces will help lower temperatures by providing shade. They will also help trap carbon, which benefits the Earth. There are many organizations working on these issues, and you can support them by volunteering or contributing money or necessary supplies.
Sign up for Community Clean-Up Days
One way to support organizations that plant trees and create green spaces is by helping with maintenance. Many organizations have scheduled clean-up days for parks, beaches, and/or creeks. Spending an afternoon picking up trash with other environmentally minded folks gets you into the city’s green spaces, helps build a strong community, and protects the environment.
Promote Sustainability and Local Economies
Support local businesses, artisans, and farmers who use sustainable practices. Encourage others to buy locally and invest in their community to create a more stable and resilient society.
Teach Practical Skills
If you have a specific skill that can help others live more sustainably, find somewhere to share or teach this skill. This could be anything from growing food, cooking healthy meals, creating sustainable homes, mending clothing, or fixing appliances. These skills help people save money and lighten the communal environmental footprint.
Land Rights and Indigenous Sovereignty
Advocating for the rights of Indigenous peoples to their ancestral lands, including their authority to manage and protect those areas, also benefits the land, as many native traditions include sustainable living practices. The simplest way to support these rights is to donate to native land buyback programs. You can also write to your representatives to encourage them to support policies that include native people in land management.
Support Seed Freedom and Plant Diversity
No person or corporation should have the right to own life, yet corporations patent seeds. Furthermore, industrial farming tends to overfocus on a small number of crops, reducing plant diversity. Lack of vegetable diversity is bad for our health, and loss of plant diversity is also a loss of native food traditions, as industrial farming often considers these native plants weeds to be killed. Supporting seed freedom and plant diversity is easy and relatively inexpensive. You can purchase heirloom varieties from local growers at farmer’s markets and community grocery stores. If you are a gardener, you can help keep rare plants alive by growing them, saving the seeds, and sharing them. If you are not a gardener, you can still support the companies that work to keep heirloom diversity alive and available by purchasing seed packets. These packets are inexpensive and make lovely altar items or gifts.
If you are growing these rare varieties, it is important to keep in mind that not all heirloom seeds are created equal. Some provide tasty, bountiful crops, while others are kept alive because they have qualities, such as hardiness or disease resistance, that may be needed to create new hybrids that withstand emerging threats.
Support Local Shelters and Housing First Projects
Hearth and home are a universal need, yet many are unhoused. Shelters offer a safe place to sleep and connect those in need to social programs that provide long-term solutions. The most straightforward of these long-term solutions is the Housing First movement. They offer shelter and services without conditions like religious conversion or proof of sobriety. If housing is in short supply in your community, voting for denser, more affordable housing is important as well. Many communities want shelters and denser housing as long as they are not in their neighborhood.
Avoid Products Made in Sweatshops
You may not always have access to the information or the financial means to make other choices. But whenever you can, avoid supporting sweatshops here and abroad. They offer small, short-term payments to underrepresented populations while taking away their ability to build sustainable communities.
A strong community will create healthy support networks. It helps to have spaces where people can gather, share resources, and encourage one another. This could be a thriving community center, but it can also be a local food bank, mutual aid society, or community garden. A strong community tends to take better care of the land as well.
Local food banks are an excellent place to start, as they provide food for shelters and impoverished families. People, especially children, who do not have enough to eat struggle to learn and function. Food Security for all is an investment in the future while alleviating suffering in real time.
Access to Green Spaces
Ensuring people have access to parks, gardens, and natural areas is vital for physical and mental well-being. And beyond green spaces, trees in city spaces will help lower temperatures by providing shade. They will also help trap carbon, which benefits the Earth. There are many organizations working on these issues, and you can support them by volunteering or contributing money or necessary supplies.
Sign up for Community Clean-Up Days
One way to support organizations that plant trees and create green spaces is by helping with maintenance. Many organizations have scheduled clean-up days for parks, beaches, and/or creeks. Spending an afternoon picking up trash with other environmentally minded folks gets you into the city’s green spaces, helps build a strong community, and protects the environment.
Promote Sustainability and Local Economies
Support local businesses, artisans, and farmers who use sustainable practices. Encourage others to buy locally and invest in their community to create a more stable and resilient society.
Teach Practical Skills
If you have a specific skill that can help others live more sustainably, find somewhere to share or teach this skill. This could be anything from growing food, cooking healthy meals, creating sustainable homes, mending clothing, or fixing appliances. These skills help people save money and lighten the communal environmental footprint.
Land Rights and Indigenous Sovereignty
Advocating for the rights of Indigenous peoples to their ancestral lands, including their authority to manage and protect those areas, also benefits the land, as many native traditions include sustainable living practices. The simplest way to support these rights is to donate to native land buyback programs. You can also write to your representatives to encourage them to support policies that include native people in land management.
Support Seed Freedom and Plant Diversity
No person or corporation should have the right to own life, yet corporations patent seeds. Furthermore, industrial farming tends to overfocus on a small number of crops, reducing plant diversity. Lack of vegetable diversity is bad for our health, and loss of plant diversity is also a loss of native food traditions, as industrial farming often considers these native plants weeds to be killed. Supporting seed freedom and plant diversity is easy and relatively inexpensive. You can purchase heirloom varieties from local growers at farmer’s markets and community grocery stores. If you are a gardener, you can help keep rare plants alive by growing them, saving the seeds, and sharing them. If you are not a gardener, you can still support the companies that work to keep heirloom diversity alive and available by purchasing seed packets. These packets are inexpensive and make lovely altar items or gifts.
If you are growing these rare varieties, it is important to keep in mind that not all heirloom seeds are created equal. Some provide tasty, bountiful crops, while others are kept alive because they have qualities, such as hardiness or disease resistance, that may be needed to create new hybrids that withstand emerging threats.
Support Local Shelters and Housing First Projects
Hearth and home are a universal need, yet many are unhoused. Shelters offer a safe place to sleep and connect those in need to social programs that provide long-term solutions. The most straightforward of these long-term solutions is the Housing First movement. They offer shelter and services without conditions like religious conversion or proof of sobriety. If housing is in short supply in your community, voting for denser, more affordable housing is important as well. Many communities want shelters and denser housing as long as they are not in their neighborhood.
Avoid Products Made in Sweatshops
You may not always have access to the information or the financial means to make other choices. But whenever you can, avoid supporting sweatshops here and abroad. They offer small, short-term payments to underrepresented populations while taking away their ability to build sustainable communities.
Healing the Environment
Choose Urban Living
Living in an urban setting can be helpful in many ways. You can make better use of public transportation. You will be closer to stores and restaurants. Choosing an urban lifestyle helps keep cities within more confined areas, which helps avoid suburban sprawl. This, in turn, leaves more of the natural landscapes free from human construction and misuse.
Reduce the use of plastic
Plastic recycling is one of the biggest greenwashing campaigns currently being promoted. The concept was created in the 80s by corporations that didn’t want to be responsible for their plastics, so they shifted the burden onto communities and consumers. Sadly, much of today’s plastic is not recyclable, and much of the recyclable plastic does not get recycled. As a result, microplastics can be found in every ecosystem on the planet. Yet, living completely plastic-free can be nearly impossible. There are, however, things you can do. The most significant change you can make is to avoid single-use plastics, such as water bottles and bags. Beyond this step, you can purchase foods and household items packaged in glass, metal, or recycled products. You can avoid plastic storage containers by using things like recycled glass jars. When you do need plastic, purchase products that are made to last.
Eat Fewer Animal Products
Meat, dairy, and eggs require an outsized amount of water, land, and grain to produce and release a large amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In addition to these issues, most industrial farm animals live in inhumane conditions, and their suffering reverberates out into the life-web. Becoming vegan is one approach, but you can also eat less meat and dairy products and purchase them from sustainable, humane sources. These animal products cost more, but you may still spend less if you eat less, and your body will appreciate the additional plants in your diet.
Use Things Up
You can also lighten your environmental footprint by using things until the very end of their life, when safe and doable. Many items that are thrown away can actually be fixed. And even when they can’t, you may be able to get some additional use with the help of glue, zip ties, and/or duct tape. This approach may leave you without the newest, trendiest items. However, over a lifetime, it reduces the amount of Earth's resources used.
Buy in Bulk
Buying food like rice, pasta, and nuts in the bulk section is a great way to reduce packaging. Even though some packaging can be recycled, it is better to avoid it altogether when possible. Many stores offer paper bags instead of plastic, and many places also sell reusable mesh bags. Buying in bulk will also save money because part of what you pay for when you buy boxed food is the logo and the design of the box itself. Buying in bulk is also a good way to avoid the chemicals and preservatives often added to boxed foods. So, it is good for the planet, your pocketbook, and your body.
Avoid Food Waste
Western countries throw away too much food, food that uses the earth's resources to grow and transport. Beyond that, it is depressing. It can be very discouraging to cook at home when you end up throwing away ingredients for meals that never happened. Food waste can be avoided in many ways. It helps to make a plan before shopping. And when you make this plan, it is better to be realistic rather than idealistic. Likewise, shopping hungry or on the spur of the moment can lead to overshopping. There are also many ways to get creative with leftovers or avoid waste by freezing them in portion-size containers for days when life gets too busy to cook.
Avoid Throw-Away Fashion
Clothing production is the second-largest source of pollution worldwide. Sustainable and/or organic clothing is available but is often expensive and does not come in all sizes or styles. However, you can still help reduce pollution from clothing production. First, you can purchase clothes that are made to last. Secondly, you can buy used clothing. There are plenty of upscale consignment stores that carry newer, high-end clothing. You may not always be dressed in the latest fashion when following these two steps, but any time you choose options that help you unhook from a shopping-focused mentality, it spreads to other parts of your life. You save money, feel freer, and help the planet.
Sustainable Agriculture
Promote and practice sustainable farming methods, such as permaculture or organic farming. Supporting or adopting regenerative agriculture practices helps restore soil health and promotes biodiversity. Avoiding synthetic fertilizers and pesticides protects the soil and surrounding ecosystems from contamination, promotes healthier food and gardens, and preserves the integrity of the earth’s natural systems.
Food Scraps
Many garbage companies have begun collecting food scraps as part of their yard waste collection. This reduces the amount of stuff going into the landfills, which reduces the amount of methane gas produced by these landfills. Furthermore, in many places, food scraps are composted and resold as garden soil. This reduces the amount of topsoil companies scrape into bags to sell at nurseries. Placing food scraps in the green bin also saves water and energy as you use the sink disposal less often. The list of acceptable items varies from town to town. Generally, it includes vegetable and fruit scraps, raw or cooked, old bread and leftovers, eggshells, coffee filters, paper towels, pizza boxes, and, in some areas, meat scraps.
Living in an urban setting can be helpful in many ways. You can make better use of public transportation. You will be closer to stores and restaurants. Choosing an urban lifestyle helps keep cities within more confined areas, which helps avoid suburban sprawl. This, in turn, leaves more of the natural landscapes free from human construction and misuse.
Reduce the use of plastic
Plastic recycling is one of the biggest greenwashing campaigns currently being promoted. The concept was created in the 80s by corporations that didn’t want to be responsible for their plastics, so they shifted the burden onto communities and consumers. Sadly, much of today’s plastic is not recyclable, and much of the recyclable plastic does not get recycled. As a result, microplastics can be found in every ecosystem on the planet. Yet, living completely plastic-free can be nearly impossible. There are, however, things you can do. The most significant change you can make is to avoid single-use plastics, such as water bottles and bags. Beyond this step, you can purchase foods and household items packaged in glass, metal, or recycled products. You can avoid plastic storage containers by using things like recycled glass jars. When you do need plastic, purchase products that are made to last.
Eat Fewer Animal Products
Meat, dairy, and eggs require an outsized amount of water, land, and grain to produce and release a large amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In addition to these issues, most industrial farm animals live in inhumane conditions, and their suffering reverberates out into the life-web. Becoming vegan is one approach, but you can also eat less meat and dairy products and purchase them from sustainable, humane sources. These animal products cost more, but you may still spend less if you eat less, and your body will appreciate the additional plants in your diet.
Use Things Up
You can also lighten your environmental footprint by using things until the very end of their life, when safe and doable. Many items that are thrown away can actually be fixed. And even when they can’t, you may be able to get some additional use with the help of glue, zip ties, and/or duct tape. This approach may leave you without the newest, trendiest items. However, over a lifetime, it reduces the amount of Earth's resources used.
Buy in Bulk
Buying food like rice, pasta, and nuts in the bulk section is a great way to reduce packaging. Even though some packaging can be recycled, it is better to avoid it altogether when possible. Many stores offer paper bags instead of plastic, and many places also sell reusable mesh bags. Buying in bulk will also save money because part of what you pay for when you buy boxed food is the logo and the design of the box itself. Buying in bulk is also a good way to avoid the chemicals and preservatives often added to boxed foods. So, it is good for the planet, your pocketbook, and your body.
Avoid Food Waste
Western countries throw away too much food, food that uses the earth's resources to grow and transport. Beyond that, it is depressing. It can be very discouraging to cook at home when you end up throwing away ingredients for meals that never happened. Food waste can be avoided in many ways. It helps to make a plan before shopping. And when you make this plan, it is better to be realistic rather than idealistic. Likewise, shopping hungry or on the spur of the moment can lead to overshopping. There are also many ways to get creative with leftovers or avoid waste by freezing them in portion-size containers for days when life gets too busy to cook.
Avoid Throw-Away Fashion
Clothing production is the second-largest source of pollution worldwide. Sustainable and/or organic clothing is available but is often expensive and does not come in all sizes or styles. However, you can still help reduce pollution from clothing production. First, you can purchase clothes that are made to last. Secondly, you can buy used clothing. There are plenty of upscale consignment stores that carry newer, high-end clothing. You may not always be dressed in the latest fashion when following these two steps, but any time you choose options that help you unhook from a shopping-focused mentality, it spreads to other parts of your life. You save money, feel freer, and help the planet.
Sustainable Agriculture
Promote and practice sustainable farming methods, such as permaculture or organic farming. Supporting or adopting regenerative agriculture practices helps restore soil health and promotes biodiversity. Avoiding synthetic fertilizers and pesticides protects the soil and surrounding ecosystems from contamination, promotes healthier food and gardens, and preserves the integrity of the earth’s natural systems.
Food Scraps
Many garbage companies have begun collecting food scraps as part of their yard waste collection. This reduces the amount of stuff going into the landfills, which reduces the amount of methane gas produced by these landfills. Furthermore, in many places, food scraps are composted and resold as garden soil. This reduces the amount of topsoil companies scrape into bags to sell at nurseries. Placing food scraps in the green bin also saves water and energy as you use the sink disposal less often. The list of acceptable items varies from town to town. Generally, it includes vegetable and fruit scraps, raw or cooked, old bread and leftovers, eggshells, coffee filters, paper towels, pizza boxes, and, in some areas, meat scraps.