Sustainability - January

For anyone new to my journey, or who hasn’t read my last couple of posts - sustainability is my word of the year for 2020. Every month I am attempting to take make my life more sustainable - from the products I use, to my workout regiment, to the food I eat, to my relationships, to my work-rest balance, and the list goes on.

Each month I’m going to share about what I did (or didn’t do) to make my life and habits sustainable in the long run.

I will admit, I dove into this year with less planning surrounding this idea than you probably would expect. I didn’t even have goals specific to each month.

So this month, in addition to taking my first stab at sustainability, I realized that I wanted a bit more structure to this project.

This is partly because I have some additional goals for the year that I didn’t expect to tackle… but I’m not quite ready to share about those yet. Regardless, I’m excited to have a bit more structure to my year (and I’m sure my posts will benefit as well).

So I apologize for the somewhat piecemeal aspect of this post, and hope they will get a bit more cohesive going forward.

This month I decided to start with my workout regimen. I’ve worked out at a gym for years, but last summer I switched to running outside on some trails by my house. I liked being outside and having my workout serve two purposes. However, as the cold weather came and the days got shorter, so did my window for exercising. Now, in January, the PNW has been deluged with rain and no one really wants to be outside.

So, in tandem with a goal from my 20 for 2020 list, I started taking a barre class. It has been very fun and different - and is a really intense workout. It isn’t something that I can work into my schedule every day. But I have been able to integrate it about once a week. To supplement, I have been trying to walk more and move my body when I can. As the days start to get longer again, I will also add in more runs and time outside.

But on the whole, so far, this seems to be a sustainable workout regime. I also tried out yoga at my new studio, so that may be something I add in the future as well.

The sustainability-centered book I read this month was The Imperfect Environmentalist: A Practical Guide to Clearing Your Body, Detoxing Your Home, and Saving the Earth (Without Losing Your Mind). This was a great look into the small things that you can do to make your life, purchases, and habits more sustainable. Some of the suggestions are a bit extreme (I don’t intend to become a vegan in the near future), but others are super manageable and things really everyone should do. The book is funny and has a really great structure. You can skim the highlights, or read the whole book to understand the science behind all of the suggestions. For more of my thoughts about this book and the others I read this month, check out my Books of January 2020 post.

Now, to implement some of that practical action, the product I decided to integrate into my life this month was reusable Stasher bags (pictured above). I’ve been intrigued by these for quite a while and knew that getting rid of plastic bags would benefit me (and the planet) in the long run.

And so, I got several of the bags. They work really well. It feels great not to be using plastic all the time. They seal nicely, although I do find them a bit hard to open.

I chose this brand specifically because the bags are dishwasher safe. There were a lot of alternatives, but those had to be hand-washed. I probably will end up handwashing these sometimes, but it is nice to have the option not to.

They can also be put in the freezer, boiling water, and even the oven. I haven’t experimented with all of these features, and I’m not sure that I will ever need to - but it’s nice to know that they are there.

As a kid, we always washed out our plastic bags to reuse them. And trust me, nothing was worse than scrubbing peanut butter out of the plastic bag that held your sandwich all day. I always used to say “one day, I want to be rich enough that I never have to reuse my plastic bags”.

So I guess I have both won and lost. I do reuse my plastic bags now, but I can wash them in the dishwasher. And I do feel rich, and like I’m saving the plant (in a small way) at the same time.

Before I continue on this sustainability journey, I want to acknowledge that it takes a certain amount of privilege to be able to focus on these things. I have a happy home life, a stable job, and I don’t worry about getting murdered when I walk through my neighborhood.

I have the time, energy, and resources to do my own sustainability experiment. Many people do not. But I hope, in some way, that this can help them too.

Everyone can make small changes in some areas of their life to make it more sustainable.

I want to experiment with different things, in all areas of my life, and let people know how it went. I want to share whether or not a product is really worth investing in (in the case of Stasher bags, the answer is yes). And if certain books are worth reading. If that sugar cleanse or Whole30 is worth doing. If letting go of some relationships really does make me happier and make the relationships that I do keep more sustainable.

I am so grateful to have the opportunity to embark on this project. I hope to be a better, stronger, sweeter, more capable, and more compassionate person at the end of 2020.

It is my hope that my project will inspire you, no matter who or where you are, to tackle small, manageable, and important things to make your life more sustainable - both for yourself and this world.

Until next time,

Carly

Photo by Mason Joel Photography