If your new year’s resolutions include doing your bit to look after the planet, you won’t be alone. Sustainability is a trend that looks set to dominate 2021 as global warming, plastic pollution, and the Paris Agreement continue to make headlines.
There are plenty of minor changes you can make, and habits you can adopt, to help you reduce, reuse, and recycle during the year ahead.
Here are just a few of them, in your guide to living sustainably in 2021.
1. Switch to LED house lights
You might have previously converted all your house lights to energy-saving bulbs, but LEDs are the home lighting solution for 2021.
Prohibitively expensive when they first arrived on the market, LED bulbs are now cheaper. Many are available for under £10, although brighter ones may be more expensive.
An LED bulb could pay for itself quickly though. According to Which? LEDs use 90% less energy than traditional bulbs, helping to reduce your electricity bill. You won’t need to replace them often either. Some bulbs claim to last for 30 years.
2. Spend more time outdoors
Time spent outdoors means less electricity powering your electronic devices and less energy heating your home. You’ll also benefit from the health boost of fresh air, exercise, and getting back to nature.
The lockdown of March 2020 may be behind us, but the memories of restrictions allowing for only an hour outside a day promise to mean a resurgence in outdoor pursuits come spring.
Use your bout of daily exercise to walk or cycle locally, reacquainting yourself with the natural world close to where you live.
3. Cut back on meat
The Guardian reports that a record 500,000 people signed up for the Veganuary challenge this year. The number of people pledging to eat only plant-based foods in January 2021 is double the number who signed up just two years ago.
As increasing numbers turn to plant-based diets, 2021 will see the arrival of the McPlant, a plant-based burger from fast-food giants McDonald’s. The company currently sells 75 burgers a second and the introduction of the McPlant is a huge step for the company and sustainability this year.
Could it help plant-based meat alternatives go mainstream?
Back in 2018, a University of Oxford study concluded that cutting meat and dairy from our diets could almost half greenhouse gas emissions from food production.
If you are not ready to go vegan just yet, start by planning two or three meat-free days a week.
4. Be an eco-friendly shopper… and remember your bag for life
A 2019 Shoppercentric report confirmed that 80% of UK shoppers describe themselves as eco-friendly.
As environmental issues continue to take centre stage this year, the detrimental impact of the fast fashion industry will continue to come under fire. According to Business Insider, ‘the fashion industry produces 10% of all humanity’s carbon emissions, is the second-largest consumer of the world’s water supply,’ as well as polluting the oceans with microplastics.
Retail design company, Retail Focus, predicts the continued rise of second-hand shopping – or ‘re-commerce’ – in the year ahead, as the young especially look to charity shops for vintage items.
Reducing, reusing, and recycling will become more important than ever as the European Commission adopts their Circular Economy Action Plan, a move away from the linear model of ‘produce, use, dispose of’ to a more suitability-focused economy.
5. Try green, domestic, or slow tourism
Qantas Airways wasted little time in 2021. They have started taking international bookings for July 2021.
Sustainable travel and tourism will be of huge importance to the industry this year as it looks to undo the damage of the global pandemic.
A BBC report last year confirmed that around 2.4% of global CO2 emissions come from aviation and that the travel and tourism industry is responsible for around 5% of global warming.
Once world travel becomes the norm again, we can all do our bit. Book a flight with an airline that looks to offset its carbon emissions, use public transport, or hire an electric car when you are away, and stay longer, giving more to the local economy.
The number of staycations is likely to rise too, among those still wary of international travel, and those for whom a year of lockdowns and travel restrictions has rekindled a love of their native country.
Travel company Rough Guides also predicts a rise in slow tourism. As the pandemic forced us into a slower pace of life during 2020, we’ve all had a chance to re-evaluate the things that are important to us.
From career sabbaticals for city commuters to retirees forced to postpone world travel plans, it is predicted that we will be slowing down and opting for longer, greener stays in 2021.
