What is sustainability

Sustainability can be a very complex topic. At its core, it is about meeting the needs of our current population in a way that does not jeopardize the needs of future generations. This includes four areas: human, social, economic and environmental. All of these areas ideally should work together in a truly sustainable system, and it sounds much easier than it is.

With billions of people on this earth, making our society more sustainableas a whole requires effort and integration that usually extends beyond our individual abilities; however, as consumers, we can play a direct role through some of our everyday choices. We’ve listed a few easy tips to help you take an active part and integrate sustainable practices into your everyday life.

5 Easy Ways to Live More Sustainably

1. Shop with reusable bags.

Bringing your own bags to shop is such an easy way to reduce plastic consumption and overall waste in your daily life. If buying the reusable bags is not in your budget right now or sometimes you forget to bring them, then you can always take the plastic bags back to the store for recycling.

2. Switch to reusable water bottles & containers.

Switching to reusable bottles has so many benefits - saves you money over time, is more durable, decreases the amount of plastic bottles that don’t get recycled, reduces the amount of microplastic in the oceans, and can be decorated and personalized! Add your favorite Tezahn herbal cold infusion bag to that bottle and we’d say that it’s a win for your health and the environment!

3. Recycle & compost your trash.

Recycling may seem like a no-brainer, and it should be relatively easy for you (depending on where you live) to have this service with your trash pick-up. But, did you know that depending on where you live, there are different rules for what can be accepted? You also need to make sure that there is no food residue on any of the items, and some items (like creamer bottles) state that you need to remove and throw away the outer plastic label before recycling. If we don’t follow the guidelines, then the items you think you are recycling will still end up in a landfill. 

Composting is also a great way to reduce the amount of food that ends up in landfill and puts it to good use by creating soil for a garden or plants. For a few tips on how to get started check out “Composting at Home.”

4. Walk, ride a bike, or rideshare whenever possible.

In order to limit our individual CO₂ emissions, consider different transportation options that are available to you like riding a bike, public transportation, or carpooling. If some of these modes of transportation are not available to you in your area, try to run your errands all at once and limit multiple, unnecessary trips. You can even ask neighbors if they have similar errands to run and you can go together! 

5. Mend or alter your clothes so that you can keep them longer.

Fast fashion has broad reaching consequences that negatively impact people and our planet, so it’s important that we are mindful about our consumption in this area. One easy way to make more sustainably-minded decisions in this area is to buy clothes that are durable, made of non-plastic material, and take them to get altered so that they fit you well or if you need them mended.

Mindful Consumption

It’s not reasonable to assume that an individual can be “perfect” when it comes to sustainable practices. There is only so much we can control. However, we can choose who and where we buy products from. Consider companies like Tezahn that not only source and manufacture ingredients sustainably, but also make the packaging easy to recycle or compost. If we all can make a few changes and be conscious about our consumption, it will go a long way! 

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