Sometimes it's time for some coarser artillery. NewYear-intentions and challenges are a good thing to give yourself a boost, to make a big difference in your impact on the world or at least to really get moving. Nothing small steps. But how do you handle that? And how do you keep it full?
1. Choose a large effect
Stuff, stuff, stuff. Even as a non-stuff lover, You will be shocked by your own impact on the earth through the things you buy. For an average person this impact is greater than he makes with eating meat or driving a car. These subjects are the number two and four, followed by living, other food, flies and clothing.
Because you are certainly not an average person, it is very useful to map the effect your behavior has. That is rather personal. Are you a gadget junkie, second hand expert, minimalist, fashionista, world traveler or vegan? That makes a lot of difference! You can calculate your environmental impact here.
With which can you make the biggest difference? Knowing how you really make a difference helps me to motivate yourself to do something with it. So you do not have to wonder if it all makes sense. And how good is the prospect that with the adjustment of one subject your impact will soon be significantly reduced?
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2. Choose something that suits you
Try out meat and cheese substitutes, make yourself care products and cleaning products. Force yourself further and further outside your comfort zone, but it is wise to start with topics that appeal to you.
Subjects that you naturally have more affinity with, you will probably also have more knowledge about and better motivate yourself to get started and stay with this. So choose a topic where you can make a significant difference, but also want to put your shoulders under.
3. Set priorities
Do you realize that I am trying to take you to one subject? It is easy to overwhelm yourself with a thousand green intentions and you probably also have several subjects with which you can make a lot of difference, but chances are that you will all become a bit too much if you try to do everything at once. Especially if it is all a bit new for you. Determine what is most important for you in the coming period.
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4. Make it concrete
Less flies, less stuff, less meat? How much less is actually?
Making your goal concrete is perhaps the most important thing. Set up rules. Do you give yourself a limit? Or can you only buy new items after you have done your best to find the second hand? Or can you only buy new clothes if they are honestly produced? Are you going to try this for a certain time or is it basically forever? Set clear rules that you can keep to yourself.
Challenges are often quite extreme. Strict rules, but for a limited period of time and usually in groups, so that you can learn a lot from each other in a short time. Some subjects - and people - fit better with this approach than others. Sometimes slower and less rigorous is a better idea. Keep in mind what exactly you want to achieve and which approach suits you and your purpose.
5. Keep it achieveble
It can always be more sustainable. You never do it well enough. Put that out of your head. Look where you are now and where you want to go. For now. What is really feasible? It is better to start quietly and to raise the bar a bit higher. This way you have small successes right away and you remain motivated to continue. If you immediately set the bar too high, there is a chance that you will become discouraged.
6. Do not make it too easy
Your intention to eat vegetarian one day in a week or to fatten out your wardrobe is of course a start, but does your life really get more sustainable? Make sure you make a difference!
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7. Know why you are doing it
Calculating your impact and focusing on a subject where you can make a big difference, hopefully gives a lot of motivation to get started. In addition, you can get a lot of motivation by delving deeper into the subject. There are countless films, documentaries and articles to be found.
8. Know how to do better
High time for a positive turn, because now that you know what's wrong with your harmful behavior, you obviously want to know how things can be improved. For that you will have to look for solutions, tricks or usually: alternatives. Meat substitutes, recycling finds, repair techniques, the local farm shop, anti-spilling tips, cycling holidays or cavity wall insulation. Go after it, bird it out. What are your options?
Always look back at others! Countless people have preceded you and their experiences can be found in your circle of friends, family, colleagues, books and films and guaranteed otherwise on the worldwide web. It saves a lot of time and effort not to reinvent the wheel. Fish the tips from which you can do something.
9. Involve others in your goal
Apart from just looking back at experience experts, you will do well to actively involve others in your green plan. Who knows, there might be someone in your area with the same goal, so that you can help and motivate each other. Maybe you can also inspire someone to join you.
Through each other's enthusiasm, experiences and growing knowledge you take each other a step further along the way. That really works very contagious.
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You can also involve people who will not join you by telling you what you are doing. This makes your plan extra concrete and definitive. You have spoken it, now there is no way back! It works like a stick behind the door to actually get started.
10. Monitor yourself
Measuring is knowing. How was your consumption before you started and is this actually getting better? Write down when you do or do not eat meat, what your energy consumption is, how many car kilometers you make or how often you buy something. Especially when you are busy for a long time, you can sometimes feel that you are moving forward or not, while reality is different.
Besides understanding your behavior, this can be very motivating. Maybe you can stretch the data between buying or eating moments or lower your consumption. If you see that rewarded in your data immediately, you may be able to go one step further. Moreover, you can keep an eye on whether you will not automatically fall back into your old pattern, even in the long term.
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11. Keep it fun
Keep it fun! You will endure setbacks anyway. Consciously succumb to a piece of meat or accidentally get what is served up, really can not find second-hand or honestly produced shoes, can not arrange a carpool appointment or just need a long, hot shower. Occasionally, that must be possible. Let it happen and resume yourself on the next occasion. If you take it too heavily, there is the danger that you immediately want to give up completely. That would be a waste.
Make it a game or a party. Fool your roommate with fake meat, challenge your friends to bring only second-hand or homemade gifts, cook a meal with only ingredients from your own city or try to put less and less waste on the street. Make a vegan festive menu, your own care products or a cabinet.
Whatever you do, celebrate your successes! It can always be a lot more sustainable, but do not forget to look at where you come from and what you have already achieved. This provides energy to take another step further, even if your goal seems so far away.
12. Start!
Have you found a subject that you want to work with and do you already have an idea how to handle that? I hope that I have given you enough inspiration and guidance to get started. All you have to do is just start. Rules can always be tightened, failure is okay, and looking back and asking for help is encouraged. Starting is ultimately the most important thing. Just try something. Do not postpone it, but go for it. You can do it !
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source; zaailingen.nl