Easy, Eco Friendly New Year’s Resolutions
It's already time to reflect on yet another year. Did you learn that new skill or find a new hobby? Did you take that long run once a week? Did you reach your goal of spending more time with family and friends and working less?
It can be overwhelming—and disappointing—to judge your current reality against the resolutions you did and didn't keep. As we wind down the year and approach the holidays, we at Dashboard.Earth encourage you to take it easy on yourself and prioritize your mental health and overall well being.
Once you take a long exhale and shake off some stress, we've got some ideas for new year's resolutions that are easy to keep and have a positive impact on climate change!
Climate-friendly resolutions
1 - Roll back your paper towel usage
Want to save money while keeping waste out of the landfill? Buy some fabric or cotton cloths to clean up spills, keep your counters clean, and scrub other dirty areas around the house. You can easily toss them in the laundry when you need to! This simple action will help reduce the 13 billion pounds of paper towels that end up in the trash (source: the Ocean Conservancy).
2 - Ride your bike
Looking for a way to conserve cut down on pollution while getting in shape? Try riding your bike for short trips from your home. Think about it: if you go to the grocery store for one bag of produce or one bag of anything on your list, you can most likely safely bike it.
Plus, not only is it a healthy habit, riding your bike saves you gas money. Funny how a lot of these environmentally friendly resolution ideas save cash, huh?
3 - Install LED light bulbs
LED light bulbs use 75% less energy than their regular counterparts. Plus, the light bulb changing process is famously easy (insert your favorite "How many _____ does it take to change a lightbulb?" joke here). The benefits of LED-ing up your life include savings on your electricity bill and potentially not having to buy more lightbulbs for 25 years (LED lightbulbs can last that long!).
And you don't need to spend much to do it - LADWP offers a $2.50 rebate per bulb — up to 2- per year — for Angelenos. Energy consumption savings and dollar savings for the win! Cash in here.
Want extra credit? Of course you do. Sign up for Ohm Connect, a service that rewards you for reducing energy demand.
4 - Don't be a meathead
You are what you eat. And more plants in your diet make you green in more ways than one. If you love meat, that's okay! We're not shaming you. But if you were to cut your meat intake in half, you'd cut out about a ton of the carbon emissions that come from your food.
And meat production requires a lot of water, a vital resource in our drought-prone region. If every American skipped meat just 1 day per week, we'd save the amount of water that flows through the Colorado river in an entire year! Consider reducing your consumption in the new year.
5 - Shop local for local produce
Who likes spending time in the car to travel to and from a grocery store that has a bunch of produce that doesn't look....great? We don't see a lot of raised hands.
When you buy food that is produced locally (for example at a farmer's market), you're cutting down on the air pollution and emissions necessary to get that food to you. Locally grown produce is often produced with less pesticides, and may even be regenerative: building the soil and sequestering carbon.
You know what's even better for the environment (and for your gas budget)? Planting some of your own veggies or herbs on a windowsill or patio. Talk about a short shopping commute.
6 - Put your food waste to good use: compost it!
The easiest and most effective thing you can do to positively impact climate change (and not to mention cut down on waste and boost sustainability) in LA is compost your food scraps. Municipal solid waste landfills are the 3rd largest source of methane emissions (from human activities) in the country!
When you compost in our app, you are automatically entered to win a weekly prize. So not only is composting sustainable, it's profitable. Now that's a new year's resolution anyone can get behind.
As you celebrate the holidays, look back on another year, and look forward to a brand new one, consider adding some of these simple, straightforward eco friendly resolutions to your day!