World Environment Day 2022: Lifestyle tips to contribute to sustainability in small swaps

Sustainable living isn’t just a mere practice, it should rather be a way of living now while the pattern of coexisting in the ecosystem and not harming it is the first responsibility we have as humans. Practically, sustainability has equally to do with our future as it is for our present and be it leading to a significant reduction in the long term energy cost, reduced landfills or a safer environment, adopting a sustainable living can be advocated for countless reasons. 

Sustainability captures the very essence of our environmental, societal and economic development and is a buzz word that is doing rounds for quite sometime now. In these pressing times, supporting the ecosystem is the only way to lead and empower ourselves and there is no better way than to embrace sustainability with a few tweaks.

In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Nidhi Ojha, Co-Founder of Premium Bionaturals, shared, “From the moment we wake up to the time we sleep, we have varied ways in which we can choose to be sustainable. By being mindful of our choices and taking precautionary measures in our life can be in favour of everyone to lead a more sustainable life. In all spheres of your life, sustainability can be a common thread that can motivate you to constantly improve your way of living.”

Since making huge changes in your life can be a bit daunting, taking small steps in the right direction can pave the way to practice sustainability, reduce the carbon footprint and deliver to the ecosystem hence, Nidhi Ojha listed some of the quick and easy swaps for you:

• Start your day on a sustainable note with this simple hack. If you are a tea-lover then replacing your tea-bags to loose-tea leaves can save you and the Earth from the additional plastic waste.

• Dispose off the garbage sans the plastic waste by shopping for compostable bing bags that are eco-friendly and biodegradable so serves as a good alternative.

• Be it removing your makeup or wiping your dishes, cotton swaps are here for the win. Replace your throw-away wipes with reusable cotton buds or towels. Similarly, an eco friendly option is bamboo paper towels to wipe your dishes or surfaces.

• Ditching your plastic bottle to work or gym can be yet another simple hack. A steel or metal flask not only will last for long but can be a refillable option to avoid any additional plastic waste.

• Purchasing greener sanitation products, environment friendly sprays, or using eco-friendly tooth rushes can be the most smallest swap that you can make in your daily life for toiletries.

• Make your shopping spree a lot more sustainable and eco-friendly. Rather than carrying plastic bags, it is ones to have a fabric shopping bag that is reusable!

• Cleaning detergents, washing soaps, and liquids carry a lot of plastics so it is only ideal to make the switch to all natural products that can help one and all!

Mr Raj Kumar, CEO of Deshwal Waste Management Pvt Ltd, said “Every action we take in a bid to reduce our carbon footprint not only leads to a positive impact on the environment but also encourages us to strive for a sustainable future. Thus, it is imperative to take action now rather than plan for long-term goals that might come to fruition in future. However, working towards a sustainable future doesn’t happen overnight. It is a meticulous practice that demands persistent efforts. But, we don’t need to make drastic changes in our lives to contribute. Taking small steps or making tiny changes to our habits can take us a long way ahead on the road to sustainability.”

He added, “We can start off by focusing on repairing items in a bid to ensure they’re used till its EOL. When it comes to using single-use plastic bags, one can replace them with those made from eco-friendly material. Small changes like using shower instead of bathing with a bucket or pouring half a glass of water instead of filling it to the top can really make a difference in curbing environmental impact. Being sustainable is an everyday choice and come to think of it, we’re just an honest consideration away from making a sustainable choice that can have a positive impact on the environment. Thus, we must do whatever we can, even if it means starting small, to meet all of our current demands without jeopardizing the future generations’ ability to meet their own.”

Calling sustainability as the need of the hour in almost every facet of life, Dr Pushpendra Kumar Sharma, Professor, Environmental and Water Resources at Lovely Professional University, said, “Nowadays, one individual, the way he/she leads life, is harming nature in some way or another. Apart from nature, sustainability has its economic and societal dimensions also. To make the future generation secure in these three aspects, sustainability should be a lifestyle that must run through our blood otherwise it is just like “Par Updesh Kushal Bahutere” (Source-Ramcharit Manas), which means people discuss a lot about sustainability but when it comes to their own ease they do not change their habits and continue to infest the environment in several ways. Given any sector, sustainability desires that the concerned one must be conscious of their habits and this will make others learn and follow: thereby sustainability can be achieved through one-to-one learning and awareness.”

He suggested, “Optimum use of our natural resources like water, energy sources, minerals, etc., should be one of the top priorities of the current generation. Eco-friendly habits like limited consumption of meat and related products, optimal usage of electricity, etc., will help achieve the goal. ‘Reduce, Reuse and Recycle ’ should be considered seriously. The use of local products in place of imported ones is a viable solution toward sustainability. People must be aware of the ‘Go Green’ policy and everyone should adhere to it. World Environment Day on June 05 is not only for one day but it is a must for everyone to instil habits in our regimen with little things to be taken care of.”

Insisting that e-waste, which is getting generated at 30% CAGR annually, needs to be tackled efficiently without impacting the environment, Yashraj Bhardwaj, Co-Founder of Petonic Infotech, said, “Pollution continues to poison our air, land and water directly and human health indirectly. E-waste is not harmful till the time it is stored in a room however selling it to informal sector who does not process the E-waste to extract the valuable items in an environment friendly way and create a threat on environment as well as on the health of the person who is processing the same.”

He recommended, “Handing over E-waste to authorized recycler to process in a control environment to minimise the impact is duty of all citizens to keep our environment and citizen.”