Sustainability and wellbeing

Living sustainably means adopting day to day behaviours and habits that minimise an individual’s damage to the environment. It has been found that there is a strong connection between living a sustainable lifestyle and the way we feel. Or, in other words, our footprint is inversely proportional to our wellbeing. That means that the higher the footprint, the lower our overall levels of physical, mental, spiritual, emotional and intellectual health.

Green mobility

Cars produce 52% of transport emissions in the UK. Switching to green mobility and walking or cycling instead of relying on transportation modes that are dependent on fossil fuel will, not only reduce an individual carbon footprint, but also benefit their overall physical health.

According to the NHS’s physical activity guidelines for adults, we should do strengthening activities that work all the major muscle groups on at least 2 days a week. Carrying your shopping bags while you walk back home from the shops would count as one of these activities.

We should also do at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity a week or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity like riding a bike or brisk walking.

Reduce your consumption of meat and dairy

The NHS recommends not to eat more than 70g of red or processed meat a day. As an indication, a cooked English breakfast containing 2 typical British sausages and 2 rashers of bacon is equivalent to 130g.

From a sustainability perspective, reducing the consumption of red meat is the fast track towards a more environmentally friendly diet. Grazing animals have a significantly higher climate impact than other livestock. The reason being that food ferments in their stomachs, so they burp methane gas.

In addition, they use more land; need more energy intensive feed; and produce more manure -hence more methane emissions- than, let’s say, pigs or chickens. Consequently, a diet including meat and other derives from these animals will result into a much more intense GHG emissions per kg of food.

Many people don't realise the high carbon footprint of cheese (8.4kgCO2e/100g protein) which, on average, is almost double that of chicken (4.3kgCO2e/100g protein). Hard cheese usually requires more milk than soft, which means higher emissions associated with livestock and farming. 

Grow your own food

The food industry is one of the main carbon emitters in the UK and worldwide.

Growing your own food will help reducing carbon footprint related to production, transportation and packaging.

But that’s not the only reason. Every day around 8 million pieces of plastic make their way into our oceans. Disposable plastic bags, bottles, containers, and wrappers, account for 44% of all trash.

In addition, growing your own food reduces food waste. Something of high importance if we have in mind that UK households waste the equivalent of around 10 billion meals a year (20 million tonnes of Greenhouse Gas emissions).

From a wellbeing perspective, growing your own food will also bring important benefits including more choice of what you eat; more control over the quality of the produce; more consumption of fruit and vegetables; and, if done collectively, more social connection within the community.

Utilise sharing and collaborative economies

While years ago, urban living used to be linked to loneliness and isolation, things are slightly different these days. The raise of the sharing and collaborative economies has led to more sustainable and socially interactive behaviours. From renting spared rooms, gardens or car journeys, to swapping and borrowing products and services (how about the drill or the patio cleaner).

This more interactive type of living is not only sustainable (pollution coming from energy consumption decreases when shared amongst individuals in households) but also has a very positive impact on our mental health.

Good relationships are important for our mental wellbeing, as they

help build a sense of belonging and self-worth; give you an opportunity to share positive experiences; and provide the necessary support needed when living busy urban lives, often far from direct family.

None of the above would be possible without several digital platforms that allow individuals to access this sharing tools directly from their mobiles and computers.

Amongst them we can find worldwide known accommodation apps, but also some less known services like Borrow My Doggy, great alternative to kennels; or Liftshare, perfect to match you with those going in the same direction so that you can all share the car.

Unplug (literally)

High energy costs have made us think twice about how we use electricity in our homes. This has a positive impact not only on our CO2 emissions, but also on our financial health.

Energy vampire appliances continue to use energy when it is turned off. This tip doesn’t apply to fridges, fridge-freezers, and chest freezers, as they need to be always on.

However, it would certainly be relevant with other appliances such as microwaves and coffee machines. It doesn’t matter how energy efficient your appliance is. You will still need to turn it off at the socket if you really want to make sure you aren’t wasting energy.

According to the government’s energy saving tips, turning off the button in the socket can save up to £70 a year. You can also use smart power strips, which automatically cut off power when devices are not in use.

We are all just one choice away from making a difference to our beautiful planet and becoming who we are meant to be. Are you ready to make that choice?

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