#100waystogogreen

#15 plant wildflowers 

The bees, especially those living in the wild are in trouble. They don’t find enough blossoms to collect pollen and nectar from in urban areas. Help them by throwing seedbombs with wildflower seeds everywhere in town!

#14 turn all the lights off

Especially today, it is literally about turning all your lights off. It’s earth hour at 8.30 pm your local time. Living in the dark for one hour is a message that you care about our planet. But turning everything off you don’t need at the moment is something important every day. So much energy is wasted by tv’s nobody’s looking at or lights in rooms with no one in it.

#13 bamboo toothbrushes

Bamboo grows very fast, so it is the perfect material for an item that needs to be replaced every three month. Unlike plastic. A plastic toothbrush is used for a couple of weeks and then stays on this planet for several hundred years, since it will not biodegrade. That makes no sense. Switch to bamboo. Plus: You can just burry the old brushes in the backyard. 

#12 renewable energy

Not everybody has the chance to, but if you have the option to change your power supplier, do so. It might seem obvious, but people underestimate the power we have. We can vote with our dollars for the world we want to live in. Also, check what company is behind the green power supplier of your choice and try to find one who is not part of a  big coal or fracking company. 

#11 bring your own cutlery

This is an easy one: Carry around a set of cutlery in your everyday bag. You can use an outdoor camping set or just go with your normal forks, spoons or sticks. Whenever your eating out anywhere in a place that doesn’t offer reusable cutlery, just use your own and skip the plastic. You can just put them in the dishwasher when you are back home and save a ton of plastic. 

#10 ask for a real mug and plate

#08 ditch the nespresso

When George Clooney asks ‘What else?’, think about the million alternatives for good coffee, that will harm the environment less. With the single cup wrapping, nespresso creates a ton of unnecessary waste. Think of a better way to make your coffee: a french press, filter coffee, a fully automated machine, or a real Italian espresso maker.

Nice plus: it will save you a ton of money since the nespresso capsules are very expensive.

#07 recycle

Glass, paper, metal and even plastics are valuable materials. Sending them to landfill ends their lifecycles was too early. When you have the possibility, recycle. Even though creating less waste in the first place is even better, it might not always be possible to avoid some trash. So whenever possible, split your trash and put it in the right bin.

#06 skip single-use plastics

Straws, Starbucks, red solo cups, one time plates or food wrapping are all made out of plastic. It’s a very durable material which stays on our planet for several hundred years, but those products are made for one single use only, they are tossed into trash to be burnt, in the best case or worse, they are littered elsewhere and might end up in the ocean eventually. One thing to do is of course recycling as much as possible. But plastics can never really be recycled, they are only downcycled. So the only real solution against plastic pollution is to stop making those plastic items in the first place.

What everyone can do is refuse straws in bars and cafes or serve party drinks in real glasses and food in real plates. We can also ask for a real mug when having our drink to stay not to go.

#05 secondhand items

Whatever you are looking for, try to find a second hand version. When a product is already made, the resources are already used, so the longer the items are actively used, the better.

#04 buy less, choose well.

That means, basically, buying one high quality item instead of several lower quality things. One sweater you’d wear for years is less expensive and saves so much resources and energy compared to a Zara sweater you wash three times before it loses its shape.

#03 repair instead of replace

In today’s super fast life, we tend to throw everything out when it’s broken. Cellphones, clothing, furniture: everything will be replaced. But taking the extra effort to repair something saves so much energy and resources - worth a try. And it will also save some cash.

#02 bring your own cup

In the U.S. alone, more than 150 million single use coffee cups are ending up in the trash every. single. day. I don’t even dare to calculate what that would mean for a year.

Bringing your own cup every day will easily save 365 cups a year. That’s huge. Bonus: many places will even give you a discount for bringing your cup.

#01 public transportation

When it comes to sustainable and eco friendly ways to get from A to B, people always yell ‘bike’. Well often, bikes won’t work, the places are too far apart, it is raining or we have to look nice when we arrive, so we ditch the bike and go by car. But there is a solution: public transit offers a wonderful way to get where you want, especially if you live in a city. Let’s do it like the New Yorkers do and take the subway. Or the bus, whenever possible.