My environmental New Year's Resolutions
- Františka Rakušanová
- Jan 15, 2023
- 2 min read
Did you know that about two thirds of UK society make a New Year's resolution but only 3 out of 10 stick to it? (YouGOv) I've learnt that making New Year's Resolutions really helps me to realise what I want to change in my life and motivates me to stick to it. 3 years ago, I started to base my resolutions on how to lower my carbon footprint. There are others things I've been doing (like changing electricity provider) but every year I add one that has a bigger impact on my daily routine.
Commuting by bike to the office
London is perfect for it as the winters are mild. It is fun, and a good work out. When cycling by the Thames, I am always reminded how beautiful the city actually is. Not to mention that I don't need to be packed in like a sardine during the Central Line's rush hour.
Composting
It might sound like a creepy hobby but I am so proud of our composting worms. I keep them on our balcony and I was worried how they'd survive the winter, especially when the temperatures dropped down to -6 at the end of November. And guess what? They continued to work hard on turning the kitchen scraps into high nutritious soil. I cannot wait to use the soil for our plants in spring and who knows maybe to try to grow some veg.
Stopping eating meat
Last year I fully stopped eating meat. It wasn't difficult at all as there is such a great variety of veggie dishes in London when eating out. Unfortunately that is not the case in my home country, Czechia. Don't get me wrong, I love my home country but after some discussions with the local restaurant staff about veggie options, I've realised I cannot win this one and I just gave up.
6 new pieces of clothes
The plan for this year is to not buy more than 6 pieces of new clothes. Some of you might think it is already quite a lot but it's still sooo much lower than the average. About 11 kilos of clothes are discarded by each European every year and the majority of it ends up in landfills or incinerators. The UK hasn't fully returned to working from offices after COVID (and probably never will) so when I'm on my Teams calls at home, nobody really sees that the old jumper doesn't exactly scream out trendy. So I should be just fine :)
Do you have any New Year's Resolutions you would like to share with me?
Sources
The Design Museum: Waste Age. What can design do?
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