Stop Being Guilted Into Green Resolutions!

Call me presumptuous, but I’ve decided your New Years’ resolutions for you. I can’t keep track of how many “green ideas you can actually do!” blogs I’ve read so far in 2016, all about shorter showers and turning off the lights, yada yada. Those things are important, but boring and easy to forget. So, here are my top three green resolutions that are fun, save you money, and are worth the challenge.

1. Make more of your own stuff. I know you binge-watch The Mindy Project at least once a week, so you have time to make this homemade lotion (I swear by it). Or these fantastic imitation Lara bars. Or, try to culture your own kefir – look on Kijiji for someone selling grains. Heck, you could even binge-watch Mindy while creating!

Straining my homemade kefir. I will use the thick dairy for a veggie dip. The whey can be saved and used to soak legumes or grains, made into homemade sodas, or as a substitute for vinegar in any recipe.

2. Be in nature more. Comment below if you want to get into a sociological discussion about what “nature” really means, but for the purposes of this blog, let’s say nature is made of THINGS THAT HAVE ROUND SHAPES, NOT SHARP EDGES (no, the Singapore ArtScience Museum does not count). According to this recent Nat Geo article, even being near nature does wonders to our psychological health, kind of like a reset button. Bonuses include getting fit and not spending as much money. Feeling strapped for time? Try putting plants in your office, or replace one hour at the mall with an hour at your nearest park.

Sometimes, nature comes to you, like it did for me two minutes away from home (the bird dog, Jake, doesn’t care):

3. Compost your organics. You’re in a compost-friendly city? Awesome: learn how your municipal compost works, and check out if you’re putting things like grass clippings and leaf litter in the right place. You’re still chucking food scraps into landfill? You don’t have to be wormy like me (though I’ll give you a gold star); try a backyard composter or Bokashi. Here are some resources to get you started.

If you’ve made it this far, I’ll tell you a secret: I was lying about deciding your resolutions for you. Resolutions don’t work unless you set a goal, a timeline, and periodically check in with yourself. That’s up to YOU.

Thanks for your patience after an extended period of rare, intermittent posts. Although I didn’t share my personal resolutions with you, one of them is to blog regularly! (Wait, what was that thing about setting a timeline and goals again?!)