Eco-Living is a very popular topic and big business today. Some common buzzwords associated with it are “eco-friendly”, “echo chic”, “green”, “planet-safe” and “sustainable living”. But what does it really mean, how do we incorporate it into our daily life and why is it so important?
Let’s start with what Eco-Living is:
Eco-living is an environmentally friendly and sustainable lifestyle that is meant to protect and preserve the planet, humans, and all life. We do this by living in harmony with nature and reducing our negative impact on the planet which is largely from pollutant gasses, radiation, man-made chemicals, drugs, and waste products.
7 Biggest Polluters
Many kinds of pollution affect all life and our planet, let’s break them down. The 7 biggest polluters by industry in a 2022 report, and their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per year:
- Energy (Electricity and Heating): 15.83 billion tons
- Transport: 8.43 billion tons
- Manufacturing and construction: 6.3 billion tons
- Agriculture: 5.79 billion tons
- Food retail: 3.1 billion tons
- Fashion: 2.1 billion tons
- Technology: 1.02 billion tons
A study published in 2021 shows, there are five main types of pollution troubling our health and planet: air, water, soil, light, and noise. However, the 3 that pose the biggest threat are air, water, and soil pollution.
- Air pollution- contributed to 8.7 million deaths globally.
- Water pollution- 14 billion pounds of plastics are dumped into the ocean each year (polluted bodies of water contributing to 1.5 million children’s deaths).
- Soil pollution- about 400 million tons of hazardous waste are generated globally every year, which seep into our soil.
The World Health Organization calls air pollution the “single biggest environmental threat to human health. Air pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, gas, and oil is responsible for 8.7m deaths globally in 2018. And Countries using the most fossil fuels to power homes, vehicles, and factories, are suffering the highest death tolls.
What We All Can Do to Help Humanity And Quality of Life On Our Planet
There are many ways we all can live a more eco-friendly lifestyle. Not only will it help sustain life, but it will help us all live healthier and have a better quality of life.
Produce Less Food Waste
If we all collected our food scraps and composted them, it would significantly reduce garbage from landfills. If you have a yard, chickens will eat most food scraps and give you eggs! Or you can introduce worms into your garden, they eat everything and fertilize your soil, feeding your trees and plants. For more information, the Arizona Worm Farm has classes to help you get started and other fun classes.
Grow Your Own Food
You don’t even need a yard to grow food, you can sprout in a small kitchen. With a little more space, you can grow your own microgreens. Both sprouts and microgreens are one of the most nutritious foods you can eat. Everyone should have seeds and know how to sprout. Sprouting is easy, fast, and a sure way to be sure you don’t starve in the event of a food shortage. Of course, if you have a yard, growing some food would be a smart, healthy, and fun thing to do. Many local organizations offer classes in Arizona. SPOONLIVE. offers free classes on sprouting and other food prep. The Urban Farm has classes on growing and maintaining fruit trees and here you can purchase organic seeds.
When Possible, Get Off Pharmaceutical Drugs
Pharmaceutical drugs have side effects, and in most cases, are a band-aid approach to health and not the long-term answer. ‘Let food be thy medicine’ is a well-known phrase by Hippocrates, known as the father of modern medicine. This is, of course, a more challenging subject, but Arizona is a great place to live for alternative healthcare. Pharmaceuticals are biologically active substances designed to cause pharmacological effects in living organisms. They are having a negative and catastrophic effect on all living organisms, including humans and ecosystem health as they have found their way into our water systems and soil. We can help you with Homeopathy and Acupuncture.
Do not flush pills, patches, ointments, vitamins, samples, pet medications, and prescription drugs down the toilet or put down the sink. Contact your local pharmacy or medical office as they may have medication disposal kiosks and should be disposed of responsibly.
Stop Using and Buying Toxic Products
Personal care products such as antimicrobials, soaps, perfumes, and toxic cleaning products are causing significant health problems, and also contaminating our air, water, and soil. It is so easy to find and make homemade cleaning products and natural perfumes and this can make such a positive difference for you, your family, pets, and health, but also the health of our entire ecosystem. Support local stores selling organic products for example organic mattresses and bedding. One great resource locally is Organic Living.
Buy and Support Local
Don’t buy produce in packaging, buy locally and get away from processed foods. Most everyone today knows that GMO foods are bad for our health and make people sick. Only buy organic or from local farmers using such practices. Farmers markets are a great place to buy quality products and produce.
Save on Transportation Waste
Use public transportation whenever possible, carpool, and ride bikes/electric bikes. Find ways to travel less and buy less online. If we all started to live more minimally, consume less, and make more things at home, that would help a lot. Check out Share the Ride.
Recycle Everything You Can
Don’t throw things away that can be recycled. Paper, boxes, glass, plastic, tin cans. Unwanted clothing and household items can be donated to organizations such as local homeless shelters and thrift stores. Old electronics should be recycled responsibly and in the right place. Do some research and find the best place for your used equipment. Check out Keep Phoenix Beautiful.
Use clean/renewable energy/resources (resources that replenish naturally over time)
Generating renewable energy with the sun is easy to do here in Arizona. If you own a home or have a lot of land, why not look into solar? It could save you money, provide you power if the grid goes down and would produce less pollution.
Other renewable resources such as wind, water (hydropower), and the earth’s heat (geothermal). These are also non-toxic and non-polluters that have far lower emissions than burning non-renewable fossil fuels such as coal, gas, and oil. Reducing fuel dependency and importing it, would certainly reduce pollution.
In conclusion, eco-living should not be a political argument but a human experience. We all should want to embrace, live, and support for the greater good. Hopefully, this article will inspire more action and show how vital it is for not only life on our planet but to thrive as a healthy population. It may be impossible to know if global warming is for sure a result of burning fossil fuels and responsible for some of the greenhouse gas emissions. However, what is for sure, is more people are sick today and cancer may soon be the number one cause of death beating heart disease.
Living in our toxic world does great harm to our bodies. We can help you detox with our many programs.
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