Whether you’re completely new to eco-friendly living or you’ve been doing it for a while, having sustainability goals for the new year can help you figure out the areas in your life you want to improve.
It can also help you start your eco-friendly journey by just changing one thing for the better. So, without further ado, here are 14 sustainable new year’s resolutions you can use to have a successful, eco-friendly year.
This post contains affiliate links meaning that if you purchase something through a link in this post I will make a commission at no extra cost to you. If you want to learn more please read my disclaimer.
Ethical fashion
Thrift more
The new year is a great time to start working on creating a more ethical wardrobe. Buying your clothing secondhand is a sustainable alternative to fast fashion.
And a better option if you can’t afford to buy from ethical fashion brands.
If you’re completely new to thrifting, there are many online businesses that sell secondhand clothes so you don’t have to navigate markets. Making it so much easier for you to buy sustainable clothing at an affordable price.
Create a capsule wardrobe
Along with buying your clothes ethically, you can also start buying less this year. One way to do that is to create a capsule wardrobe with versatile pieces that you can wear with a few different pieces.
You can even create a lookbook for yourself with all the possible outfits you can create. That way you always have a reference for yourself when you feel like you have nothing to wear.
It also shows you if there is anything missing so you can fill the spaces with ethical pieces.
If you want to go deeper into ethical fashion this year, you can read my ethical fashion series, From A to Ethical.
Sustainable food choices
Go vegan
This one is quite a challenge if you don’t know much about a plant-based diet. But it’s the one sustainable new year’s resolution that has the most benefits and the biggest effect on the planet and its people.
That’s why it’s called Veganuary.
There are so many reasons to go vegan that it deserves its own article, which I’ll be writing soon so watch this space. If you’ve been thinking about it but you haven’t taken the leap yet, now is the time to do it.
And I’m not just going to leave you with no guidance, I got you.
If you need some help getting into it and you really want to do it properly and successfully, here are some free guides from Nutriciously to get you started.
Plant pollinator-friendly plants
The bees, the birds and the butterflies need some help. They’re kind of running out of flowers to pollinate and feed on. If you like gardening then why not plant some pollinator-friendly plants around your garden.
It will help pollinators find food, pollinate some more flowers and help our own crops produce delicious fruits and vegetables too. It’s a win-win situation.
Plus it will help your garden look beautiful and you’ll have cleaner air.
You can also help keep heirloom foods in existence by planting and growing seeds from the Seed Savers Exchange.
Grow more food at home
Another great sustainable new year’s resolution for people who like to garden. But anyone can do it, really.
Growing food in your kitchen, backyard or even patio can improve your health, save you money and reduce pollution produced by commercial farming.
If you don’t have a lot of space where you live or you just don’t have green thumbs, The Garden Tower Project can help you plant up to 50 plants on your patio.
It doesn’t take up a lot of space and you don’t have to have a garden to grow your own food.
To find out more about them and how their system works, you can go to their website by clicking the button below.
Start composting
Composting reduces your food waste and is a great fertilizer for your garden. It also reduces the amount of methane that gets released into the air when food decomposes in a landfill.
It doesn’t have a smell either so you’ll barely know it’s there.
If space is a problem for you then I have good news. The Garden Tower Project’s towers can double as a composting unit. So you can grow quality food at home, reduce your food waste and you don’t have to buy fertilizer.
It’s a double sustainable new year’s resolution, feeding two birds with one scone (get it?).
Fighting pollution
Remember to bring reusables
This one is my resolution for the year. I always forget my reusables when I leave the house and I almost always end up with something plastic. It’s not easy to admit but I have to be honest with you.
If you’re like me and you go home guilty often, I say let’s make this year the one where we conquer the plastic.
My action plan is to start planning my activities before leaving the house and bringing whatever I need with me. Be it reusable grocery bags or a coffee mug.
Reduce waste in your home
The whole house might be a bit daunting, but it’s easy to choose one room and start reducing waste there. In my opinion, the bathroom feels like the easiest place to start.
Bamboo toothbrushes, tooth powder, soap bars and stainless steel razors are everywhere now.
Shampoo can be a little more difficult because not everyone likes shampoo bars, but Plaine Products has a great zero-waste alternative.
They use aluminium containers that you can send back and get a refill, making it completely waste-free. Their products are also vegan and 100% natural.
To find out how it works you can visit their website by clicking the button below.
Find more alternatives to plastic
Plastic is an extremely durable material that we are using completely in the wrong way. It’s being used as non-durable, single-use items or food storage containers, which is not safe for us or for the planet.
Reducing your plastic use this year will be a great benefit to you, to others and to the planet.
If you’re serious about going zero-waste this year or eliminating plastic from your life, you can go to the Life Without Plastic blog for tips on how to live with less plastic.
And if you want a complete guide on how to live without plastic and reduce your waste, you can get their book, Life Without Plastic: The Practical Step-by-Step Guide to Avoiding Plastic to Keep Your Family and the Planet Healthy
Being a conscious consumer
Buy more products that give back
As consumers, we often don’t realize the impacts that our products have on the planet or the people who make them.
So this year, do some research before you buy something and support brands that have tree-planting initiatives, empower disadvantaged groups and are made ethically.
Resist impulse buying
If you only do one thing this year to be more eco-friendly, it should be to stop buying things you don’t need.
You can reduce a lot of waste that way, declutter your living space and only be surrounded by the things that bring value into your life.
Climate change
Reduce your carbon footprint
There are a lot of things you can do to reduce your carbon footprint. The best way to figure out where you can reduce it is to take a carbon footprint test.
The test lets you see what your carbon footprint is, establish where you’re producing the most carbon and gives you suggestions about ways to fix it.
And if you want more suggestions, you can read my post on how to drastically reduce your carbon footprint.
Learn more about sustainability
Knowledge is power. Especially with a topic as intricate as sustainability. When you know how the planet and other people impact you, and how they are impacted by you, you will know how to make that impact a positive one.
If you want to learn more about what it means to live an eco-friendly lifestyle this year all you have to do is surround yourself with resources.
These could be podcasts, ebooks, following influencers on social media, reading blogs (ahem self-promotion), even just talking to people in your life already on their own sustainable journey.
Join/support a protest
You might not think that protests are effective but history begs to differ. You don’t need to join all the protests this year, maybe just one.
Or if you really can’t, you can always show your support for a protest by posting on your social media.
You can inform people about when and where it’s taking place, give more information explaining what the protest is for and post your own protest sign.
Volunteer
There are many projects that depend on volunteers to keep going.
If you live by the coast you can help marine shelters feed wounded animals, you can take part in getting rid of alien plant species in a nature reserve or even just set aside some time to pick up litter. You can get creative with it.
Those are 14 sustainable new year’s resolutions that you can implement in your life this year. Try one or try them all, however you can fit them into your unique lifestyle.
I hope this post was helpful for you. Please let me know in the comments what your new year’s resolutions are and let’s smash our goals this year.
Cheers for now,
Related:
- How to stay motivated to live sustainably
- The ultimate beginner’s guide to zero-waste
- A Beginner’s Guide To Ethical Fashion
Leave a Reply