April may be Earth month, but why not implement sustainable habits every day?. Boulder’s pro-environment mindset helps businesses, parks, and restaurants enact greener practices, but there are also plenty of ways to cut down consumption at home. Here are a few suggestions:
Restock from Bulk Suppliers
Instead of purchasing personal care products and cleaning supplies every few months from chain stores, try refilling reusable containers from bulk prodivers. Boulder’s plethora of earth-conscious stores offer ways to obtain superior products with half the plastic.
Visit Cedar & Hyde to restock glass jars and bottles with Common Good cleaning supplies. Tea lovers can ditch the cardboard boxes and paper packets to buy loose leaf from Ku Cha. Home hobbyists who love making their own lotions, perfumes, and body oils can restock their supplies at Rebecca’s Herbal Apothecary.
It can be tricky to figure out a way around cardboard and single-use plastic at the grocery store, especially for pantry items like pasta, cereal, oils, and spices. Thankfully, Nude Foods Market sells these items in bulk. Simply bring your own reusable containers and grocery shop as usual for organic, natural products that are free from the chains of packaging!
Fix Clothing Instead of Buying New
The creation of clothing and subsequent packaging, shipping, storing, and stocking is one of the most wasteful practices that occurs in the modern world. Buying from conscious companies is the first step to breaking the consumer-focused fashion cycle. Mount Inspiration – a new Pearl Street clothing store – specializes in upcycled and recycled organic apparel. It even has a kids’ program in which the store swaps out garments that the little ones have outgrown and replaces them with a new size, for free.
However, take it a step further and repair clothing that has been gently used instead of donating and buying new. Boulderites tend to run through their outdoor gear, putting it to the toughest of tests in the mountains and often acquiring badges of honor in the way of rips, tears, and stains. Find a seamstress or tailor to fix clothing that is still salvageable and postpone the shopping spree for a season. Luckily in Boulder, a beat up North Face is peak fashion for most Saturday nights on the town.
Start Walking and Riding
It’s tempting to get in the car to run a quick errand a few minutes away. However, if everyone could commit to reducing their car usage by a certain extent, we’d consume far fewer resources and promote cleaner air. Even electric cars, while gentler on the environment, have to pull power from somewhere, and if a home isn’t solar, the energy going into the electric car comes from fossil fuels at some point along the chain.
One day a week, commit to riding your bike or walking when feasible. Your mind and body will also thank you. Get the whole neighborhood in on it or make it a family affair to spend Fridays on foot. This simple swap can save money in the way of fuel and electricity all while making our city a little bit cleaner.
It’s not easy to hack the modern way that humans live in 2021. However, with simple lifestyle changes, we can all play a significant part in minimizing our footprints. From personal care products to petroleum to puffy jackets, these three swaps can have a ripple effect. Through your commitment to consume less, walk more, and use items through their intended lifespan, you can show others by example how to be softer on the planet and our city.
It takes a collective effort to affect positive change. and we are fortunate to live in a city committed to protecting Mother Nature and all of the natural resources she so graciously provides.