5 simple things you can do to live more sustainably

It feels unfair to be asked to change your day-to-day life to solve what is, by all scientific accounts, a global environmental crisis, especially when fossil fuel emissions continue unabated and celebrities famously take private planes to cross distances they could easily drive. I get it—it’s exhausting.

I’m not here to tell you to give up the hot shower you earned at the end of a long day. And everyone needs a plastic water bottle now and then! 

But if you’re like me and the state of our planet sends you into a mental tailspin, I’ve found that mindfully tending to your little slice of Earth can help keep that existential dread at bay. You, individually, can’t stop sea levels from rising, but you, individually, can provide a small backyard refuge for endangered monarch butterflies by planting a few milkweed bulbs. How sweet is that?

And science shows these individual actions can even make a difference in the aggregate, particularly when people share information and their sustainable choices spread neighbor-by-neighbor. 

Many of these suggestions are easy and most of them will help you get your feet in the grass and your hands in the dirt. Spring is almost here, after all, and it’s nearly time to shake off the confines of wool and breathe in the fresh mulch. 

1. Turn off your lights 

How elegant. How simple. Flip a switch to save the birds and the bees and the fireflies and all the other flying nighttime critters that are being harmed by light pollution. 

This type of pollution may sound benign, but it’s turned night into day across a staggering 80 percent of the world. This doesn’t just cloud our view of the stars—it messes with the visual cues that tell wildlife when to migrate, hunt, and mate. A study published in 2020 even found that light pollution, piling onto the threat from habitat loss and pesticides, puts 2,000 firefly species at risk of extinction.

(Fireflies are vanishing—but you can help protect them.)

In addition to turning off your lights whenever possible, motion sensors, dimmers, and shields for light fixtures that direct nighttime glare downward can help reduce light pollution. 

2. Compost your food scraps 

When food is tossed in a landfill, it not only takes up space, but it also produces methane, a type of greenhouse gas that’s 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. 

But banana peels, egg shells, citrus rinds, and kale stems aren’t trash—they’re the beginnings of life. When mixed with dry organic material like dead leaves and grass clippings, food scraps turn into a rich soil additive that helps plants grow. 

You can learn more about starting your own backyard pile here, but don’t dismiss composting if you live in an apartment. I store my food scraps in an airtight container in my apartment kitchen and toss scraps in a community compost bin about once a week. Many major cities offer similar opportunities to join a composting co-op or to drop off scraps at your local farmer’s market. 

Pro-tip: If you’re worried about attracting fruit flies or mice, store your scraps in the freezer until you’re ready to take them out back. 

3. Choose native plants for your garden 

Here at National Geographic HQ in Washington, D.C, it’s been gray, cold, and damp outside off and on for days, and all I can think about is shorts season, patio reservations, tomato-colored tulip blossoms, and pink cherry blossom petals blowing in a warm breeze. (Sigh.) 

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I’m already planning to grow herbs on my kitchen windowsill and to buy a new potted plant for my one room with bright, indirect light. If you’re yearning for spring like me and lucky enough to have space for a garden, consider planting native plants. 

Native plants, according to native plant nursery owner Drake White, are lower maintenance than non-native plants because they’re already adapted to the climate and soil you’re planting them in. That means they won’t require an excess of water or fertilizer. Want to plant bright red and yellow flowers in hot, drought-prone Texas? That’s no problem for lantanas. 

Native plants like milkweed are also critical for supporting endangered populations of pollinators, like monarch butterflies. 

You can learn more about native plants at your local plant nursery, or check out Garden for Wildlife.

4. Forage for your food 

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, foraging had a real moment. It’s easy, free, and you can go at it alone or in a group. 

If you want to really do right by the environment, forage for invasive species (harmful plants and fungi that shouldn’t be here). These foreign species can harm a local ecosystem by making it harder for native species to grow, and they can interfere with the delicate relationships these native plants have with pollinators. 

Learn how to start your foraging journey here. Just be very careful if you’re foraging for plants or fungi that can be easily confused with different, deadly species. Death cap mushrooms, for example, have been spreading throughout the western U.S. and look similar to the common puffball. 

5. Give up your perfectly manicured lawn 

I’m not trying to get you in trouble with your homeowner’s association, but there’s a case to be made for letting your front yard go wild, and I’m making it here.

Yes, I promised a list full of easy changes, and this one isn’t immediately easy per se, but if you’re up for a little work on the front end, many of these lawn alternatives are more low maintenance than the average lawn over time. They require less water, minimal maintenance, no harmful fertilizers, and they create habitats for wildlife.

From xeriscaping in drought prone regions or to creating lawns made of clover, which was recently a TikTok phenomenon, the anti-lawn movement is prompting homeowners to rethink this American status symbol. 

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