The Top 10 Things You Can Do for the Planet as an Individual

I say it all the time, our individual actions matter. And I’m going to prove that to you today with this post. Not only is individual action important, but collective individual action is even MORE important. Yes, it matters that one person votes, that one person composts, but what if 100 people voted or 1000 or 1 million people voted or signed a petition or gave up their car?

The point is, you as one person, your individual actions matter, but it matters more if you get your friends, family, and coworkers in on it too. So, spread the word and encourage those in your lives to take these small but extremely meaningful actions right now.

Let’s get into it! Of course, there are more ways that we can live an impactful and eco life, but these are my personal top 10. Leave your impactful zero waste living tips below so we can expand this list!

Vote

No, I don’t just mean vote in the presidential election every 4 years, I mean really get involved politically. Research candidates vote all year long, and more.

Register to vote: that’s the first step. If you are not registered to vote, do it now. Literally now. Quit reading this post and come back to it later. Primaries are coming up in many states (unfortunately some states you may be late for) so now is THE time to register. Primaries determine who is on the ballot in November so if you want to have a choice, this is THE election. Maybe you’ll see this post in the future, it is still not too late!
If you vote absentee, don’t forget you have to reregister every January in some states. Absentee is super weird. I’m an absentee voter and I have been for every single election I’ve voted in. So, if you have specific questions, feel free to leave a comment below, DM me in Instagram, or check out the voting website here. But, if you live away from your home address, you need to register to vote absentee unless you plan on making a trip home to vote. This is for the military, business people, students, and even travelers.
Vote in ALL elections: primaries, local elections, etc. Yes, presidential elections matter, but so does your mayor, your school board, your sheriff, your governor. Vote in ALL elections all year long! This is really how we make the biggest difference is electing climate-focused candidates up and down the government chain and not just presidents with empty promises.

Compost

Composting seems so simple yet is has a huge impact if we do it or don’t do it. Food waste is one of the most harmful things we can send to the landfill due to it creating methane when it breaks down. Methane is much more harmful than CO2 as a greenhouse gas. So, the less food waste we send to the landfill, the less methane we contribute as individuals and as a society. Not only this, but we are running out of landfill space so it’s important to reduce as much as we can from going to the landfill.

But, there’s also something in it for you: fertilizer. If you’re a gardener or a farmer or you know one in your area, composting yields free, nutrient-rich fertilizer you can use as soil or as a supplement to your soil for healthy plants. Not to mention, other selfish benefits equal fewer flies in your house, less stink in your house, and less mess in your house.

Here are some more of the science behind food waste and why preventing it is of utmost importance. If you want to start composting but don’t know where to start, check out this video where I outline every single way you can compost whether you have a ton of space, no space, or something in between.

Ditch big oil as much as possible

For some, that looks like giving up your car or reducing the number of cars in your household. For others, it may look like giving up flying. But, maybe you’re like me and you need a car at this time in your life. You can still drive a car and support big oil less. For example, carpool with neighbors, friends, and coworkers. You can also be mindful of your MPGs and try to make them better.

But, you can boycott big oil in other ways such as:

Using as little plastic as possible
Giving up your car as much as possible such as walking, taking public transportation, biking, or carpooling where possible
Even supporting family-owned gas stations
Being mindful of your gas usage such as idling, increasing your MPGs, and so forth
Divesting your money from your bank if your bank invests in fossil fuels
When renting a car, opt for an EV
Upgrade your car to a (secondhand) EV if you can afford it
Shopping secondhand
And so much more!

Check out this video on ways to give up big oil even if you can’t give up your car.

Vote with your dollar and boycott wasteful brands

Yes, your dollars matter, especially in a capitalist society. If a company notices sales going down, they’re going to change something. It’s also a great way to take collective action and SAVE MONEY! There is not a single bad thing about boycotting wasteful brands and spending your money elsewhere.

The biggest example was the recent and ongoing boycott of McDonald’s and Starbucks due to their investment in genocide-committing Israel. Did every single person boycott? No. But did enough people boycott? Yes! Sales plummeted, they’re grasping at straws trying to make a sale, they’re desperate. They can see that our boycotting works and they will either listen to our demands in order to get their money back or they won’t and they’ll face the monetary consequences.

Another example is plant milk. As the knowledge that ditching dairy is better for the planet and veganism becomes more popular, so has the need for plant milk. It really just used to be Silk soy milk and Almond Breeze almond milk. Now, we have Oatly, Ripple, Califia Farms, Not Milk, and so much more.

All of these examples say that brands WILL listen if their profits are on the line. And who controls their profits (besides greedy CEOs)? US! We have power over where we spend our money especially if we collectively boycott the same wasteful brands and support better ones. I personally boycott Amazon and Coca-Cola as some of the world’s leading polluters. When it comes to where I spend my money, I choose brands that are local, family-owned, and/or create sustainable products or create products sustainably.

This is why I choose Meijer over Kroger (except for when I’m filming a video about Kroger lol)

Eat less meat and animal products

Our diets matter, too. This is also a form of voting with your dollar, but let’s also focus on other reasons why this is better for the planet. It takes a TON of resources (like, literal tons) to feed cows, pigs, and chickens. More so cows and pigs but you get the idea. In order to get just 1 lb of ground beef, you need 2,000 gallons of water. That’s from what they drink, how much water it takes to grow the crops, and so forth. Speaking of crops, the USDA estimates a grown cow eats around 100 pounds of food per day. In factory farming, cows live up to 5 years. That’s about 182,500 pounds of food per cow per lifetime. You can see how this adds up.

Meanwhile, you could eat a pound of chickpeas or tofu (that’s a lot of tofu) and you’d only be using 1 pound of food instead of 182,500 and only about 303 gallons which is pretty high for a plant-based food. A low food would be potatoes which use about 35 gallons per pound.

Clearly, no matter what we eat, we will have an impact on the earth and use resources. But, let’s strive to use less. You don’t need to go fully vegan or vegetarian if you don’t want to, but I encourage you to cut some out. Try swapping plant milk or dairy. Try Meatless Mondays or one meatless meal per day. Perhaps even one fully vegan meal per day!

Get the full information about why eating less meat is better for the planet in this video.

Write, email, and call your reps

Voting is just the first step to getting involved, we have to keep advocating. Our elected officials were elected by us and they work for us. Do they act like it? Not always, but that IS their job. So, let’s tell them what we want! If there is new climate legislation, tell them how you want them to vote. If there is a genocide happening (there still is as I write this), tell them that we need to intervene and stop it. Whatever matters to you for the planet, let them know what you want. The best part is, there’s a way to communicate for everyone depending on your needs and comfort level.

Once again, this comes down to collective action. If one person writes every single day, will it get noticed? Maybe. But what if 100 people, or 1000 people wrote or called every single day? Now THAT message would get through to them.

Sign petitions

More collective action! It’s time to sign petitions. Does it work? YES! You should follow XX and XX on TikTok. They often share about things like this that need collective action and many times it WORKS! The Willow Project was a hot topic in 2023. We made enough noise that the project was stopped! Here is a list of other big petitions that have happened recently that worked. Why did they work? Because enough people voiced their concerns!

Had every person who signed the petition to stop the Willow Project just said “This is bigger than me, my voice doesn’t matter” it would’ve gone on and polluted land and oil and displaced people. Instead, we all said, “My voice DOES matter, this is bigger than me which is why it’s so important we stop this.” And since 1000s of people KNEW that their voices mattered, this action worked.

Share content that you learn from and find important

And spread the word in person too! That’s what it comes down to, spreading information! The more we know, the more we ALL know, the better activists we become. I would have never known about certain issues such as The Willow Project, Free Palestine, Black Lives Matter had someone in my circle not shared it. So, when you find something out that leaves you inspired, empowered, or wanting to take action, share it. You never know who in your circle might feel the same about what you’ve shared.

This could look like hitting the repost button on TikTok, retweeting something, sharing it to your IG story, or making a post about it on Facebook. Perhaps you’re also a content creator and can make your own version to reach even more people! Maybe you just talk about it at the dinner table. The point is, that there are so many ways to share information you learn about so that others in your life can stay informed and educated.

Shop secondhand

I briefly mentioned this in the “boycott Big Oil” category but it’s true, shopping secondhand is so powerful! I personally believe that we have already created everything we will ever need on this earth. Things like clothes, furniture, pots and pans, and so forth, we have enough. So, let’s shop through that stock of things that have already been created.

Why is shopping secondhand so important? First, for selfish reasons, it’s so much cheaper. Okay, let’s move on to the eco-friendly importance. First, as we already discussed, we are running out of landfill space so let’s reduce that by shopping secondhand. Actually buying the inventory means that less and less will get thrown away and more items can go out on the floor. Second, it prevents items from being created from new. Jeans, furniture, shoes, tech, it all take a lot of resources to create and can all be very harmful to create as well. So, buying one of these items that have already been created means you are not contributing to that, and the fewer resources we can keep in the ground the less pollution we create.

You can learn more about the importance of shopping secondhand in this video.

Use what you have!

This is honestly very similar to shopping secondhand. Shopping secondhand is using what others already have and this is using what YOU already have. This means shopping your home before heading out and using that can of chickpeas before you buy another one. This means clearing out your craft stash before buying new craft materials. This looks like fixing that hole in your jeans or socks instead of buying a new pair. Maybe it’s using that old pickle jar instead of buying a new one. There are so many examples in this category but what it comes down to is upcycle, mend, repair, reuse, and recycle things at home.

Just like shopping secondhand, the importance of this comes down to saving you money, reducing what we send to the landfill, and preventing the extraction of new resources.

Adding belt loops to pants that otherwise fit instead of buying something new (also saved me $100)

Notice how none of these are about buying swaps, giving up your car, or being perfect. That’s all impossible. Plus, buying stuff is not going to get us out of the climate crisis. Yes, I know, we talked about voting with your dollar but that’s for necessities like food, toilet paper, shampoo, and so forth. Buying zero waste swaps isn’t going to save the planet. Being perfect is impossible, doing it all is impossible.

So, do what you can. If you can do all 10, that’s amazing! If you can only do 1 thing today and for the near future, that’s okay, too. It’s better to try a little bit than to not try at all. We need everyone to put in a little effort to become a more conscious consumer and citizen.

Thank you so much for reading along, remember that your small actions truly matter in the long run :)

Emma