Socially & Environmentally Sustainable New Year’s Resolutions
Starting your own container garden is an excellent New Year’s resolution!
Creating New Year's resolutions can be more difficult than actually achieving them. In this post, I share eight starting points to help you set socially and environmentally responsible goals for 2021!
Start a garden
It's never too early to start thinking about gardening! In fact, if you want a more elaborate garden, now is the perfect time to start gathering materials, planning your layout and ordering seeds. Some attainable gardening resolutions include growing five edible plants, adding three new species to your garden, or building a raised garden bed.
Cook your own food
Cooking your own food allows you to source ingredients sustainably, experiment with new cuisines, get to know local farmers, eat healthier, and learn to appreciate high-quality ingredients. Practical goals for cooking more often include eating homemade dinners six times per week, following new recipes four times per month, or mastering a specific dish or fare during the year.
Buy from local businesses
Buying from local businesses can help build your local economy and help you feel connected to your community. To hold yourself accountable for shopping locally, you could resolve to buy certain products exclusively from local businesses or to visit your favorite local shops once per week or month.
Buy second-hand
Second-hand shopping is perhaps my favorite sustainable activity. It keeps used items out of landfills, decreases demand for new products, and can be a lot of fun! Whether you resolve to buy certain products exclusively second-hand or always to check second-hand stores first, buying more second-hand items is a great goal for the new year.
Call or Write to Your Representatives
I've said it before and I'll say it a million more times — being politically active is the most important thing you can do to make our society more sustainable! And contacting your representatives is an easy and effective way to be politically active all year round. Some potential resolutions include calling your representatives once every other week, writing to them once per month or contacting them every time you learn about a new policy issue.
Read anti-racism books
If we're ever going to eradicate racial injustice, we all need to take the time to learn about how and why racism exists. Whether your goal is to read five pages of an anti-racism book per day, read three anti-racism books this year or watch one social justice documentary per month, it's time to dive in!
Learn to Forage
Foraging is a super useful skill and can help you learn more about your surrounding environments. Actionable goals could include taking a guided foraging class, reading three foraging books this year, or learning about four local foraged foods every season.
Eat Less Meat
We all know that meat production is energy and resource-intensive, so limiting your meat consumption is a great way to be more sustainable! In the new year, you could resolve to have meatless Mondays, only eat locally raised organic meat or eat meat only on the weekends.