After much thought, I came up with some advanced tips that I feel are outside of the box. Some may push your limits of comfort, but these advanced eco-minimalist tips are sure to increase your impact as an advocate for the planet.
- Help clean up oil spills
- Use carbon-neutral shipping to send your packages
- Adopt a climatarian diet
- Live like it's 1900
- Moderation for longevity
1. Help clean up oil spills
You can donate your hair to create wigs for children who have lost their hair. I have done that a few times, to an organization called Locks of Love. I think that's a noble and generous thing to do, especially if you're particularly attached to having long hair.
But I recently discovered there are other ways to do good with hair donation. I found Matter of Trust and their Clean Wave program. Individuals, farms, and businesses can donate hair, fur, fleece, and wool. The project uses the clippings to create mats to soak up petrochemicals. Because we all know how well oils can cling to hair!
I went through the donation process. It's kind of weird but ends up working out well enough, and there are clear instructions listed. You create an account through a partner website called The Hum Sum (they call themselves an environmental social media site). You make a post that you wish to donate a gift, and then you will get a response for where to send your donation based on your location. Pack it up and ship it (you will pay for your own shipping).
My partner and I both donated hair to the cause and feel happy for it. And our heads feel lighter too. 💇 You can also get a tax receipt for any donations you make.
You could take this a step further and loop in local salons, farms, and pet groomers. Ask them to collect their clippings. If they're hesitant, you could offer to pick them up and ship them yourself.
2. Use carbon-neutral shipping for your packages
I mentioned shipping the hair. I used a company called Sendle because they offer carbon-neutral shipping via USPS. It's for small packages only, but I don't usually send large packages.
For larger items, companies like DHL and UPS also have carbon-neutral options. Some shopping sites like Etsy and some Shopify sites have this feature built-in.
What is carbon-neutral shipping, you might ask? Well, carbon-neutral means creating net-zero greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere. Since virtually all the modes of transportation used to ship packages emit GHGs, a company must first calculate how many are created by their shipping practices. There are business-specific calculators available from what I understand.
Then, a company can either buy their own carbon offsets (like I do with my GoClimate subscription).
Or, they can skip the calculations and purchase carbon-neutral shipping, where the shipping company does their own calculations.
I do both because when GoClimate calculated my carbon footprint, they didn't ask about what I ship. Only about online shopping (which would mean items are sent to me, not the other way around). I don't ship things often, but when I do, it's nice to have an eco-friendly option on hand.
I always ask companies that I'm exploring if they offer carbon-neutral shipping. If they say no, I tell them about the options I know of and hope they will look into it. I think it's a great marketing tactic for companies that are trying to improve their appeal to people who care about the environment.
3. Adopt a climatarian diet
I talked about this a little before in my unpopular opinions post - I believe you can't be an eco-minimalist without eating a plant-based diet. But, it's a specific type of plant-based diet, and that is not vegan.
Or to clarify, vegan is far too broad a term. There are vegans who live off of Oreos, french fries, and vegan burgers. There are also vegans who enjoy exotic produce imported from other countries and other specialty packaged products. And other vegans don't know how to cook and eat out for every meal from restaurants that primarily use processed foods like meat and cheese alternatives. Yet others prefer a whole-foods plant-based diet, where they avoid processed ingredients as much as possible and try to get the best ingredients available to them.
No judgment on anyone who's a vegan. I'm vegan, and I certainly participate in all of the activities mentioned above, sometimes. It's unreasonable to expect anyone to be perfect all the time. However, eating any of those ways all the time is not climatarian--even, not necessarily, a whole foods diet, if you're not considering aspects explained below.
According to a health.com article from January 2022, "A climatarian diet is not a traditional diet in that it doesn't require followers - sometimes called climatarians - to adhere to strict food guidelines. Rather, it focuses on eating foods that don't contribute to environmental harm, making it easy to follow compared to other eating plans."
The article then continues to describe the parameters that help you know what foods to avoid. They should not:
- require large amounts of land, water, or other natural resources
- contribute to pollution
- cause ocean acidification
- emit GHGs
- use excessive or non-biodegradable packaging
As far as I can tell, this is still a plant-based diet, so vegans can certainly adapt to follow these guidelines. However, as you can see by my examples above, there are aspects of each that may not fall in line with being climatarian.
If you need some hints on how to be more climatarian, I have some tips in my article about eco-minimalist grocery shopping.
4. Live like it's 1900
I am obsessed with a show called "Murdoch Mysteries." At first, I wasn't impressed. But it's definitely grown on me.
The show is set in the late 1890s and moves through the early 1900s. Aside from the fascinating scientific inventions that Murdoch creates, the sly references to how we live life today, and my affection for Constable George Crabtree, I pay particular attention to how the characters live in that era.
There are a few things that an average citizen from the year 1900 might have done that I think are very eco-minimalist:
- Many individuals had very few changes of clothes and shoes
- Use of electricity was rare--clothes were washed by hand, most people didn't have refrigerators or electric ovens, and television didn't yet exist. Not all buildings had electricity
- People often walked, biked, or used horses for transportation
- Few people owned or regularly used cars
- Personal spaces were small and household possessions were few in comparison to modern-day life
- Items were often mended or repaired, not thrown away and replaced with new ones
If you believe in the historical accuracy of the show, then this all happened in a place that was rather large for its time. According to various things I read online, Toronto had over 200,000 residents back then and was the 2nd-most populous city in Canada after Montreal. I live in a city a little more than half that size in population, with a much smaller geographical area. I rarely see people walking or biking.
Of course, not everything was great. The industrial revolution was in full swing, using coal and wood for fuel. There was still pollution from factories, and those living closest to them were often in poor health. Lots of paper was used, wood was a common heat source, and gas or oil was used for lighting.
People were unaware of the long-term consequences of some of their behaviors. The damage inflicted on the world today (and still occurring) would probably be unfathomable to most people from 1900.
Nonetheless, the simpler aspects of life can inspire us to do better. We can utilize fewer resources, own less, live in smaller spaces, take care of what we have, and get more exercise.
5. Moderation for longevity
As with all things, I believe it's possible to be too extreme in eco-minimalism. Going too far or too quickly can bring about a lot of stress.
Also, habits tend to stick around better if they're adopted in a slow and steady way, one at a time.
Eco-minimalism may be hot right now, but it isn't a trend that should fade away in time. It's a way of life that should be incorporated by everyone as much as possible. Permanently.
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