Here is what we can do 🌿
You can contribute by supporting projects which reduce carbon emissions with reforestation or renewable energy.
Often times it's more sustainable to go into the store or restaurant or pick up the item or food yourself. You will avoid unnecessary packaging and potentially transportation emission from delivery. This depends obviously on distance and type of transportation you would use, since otherwise delivery can be actually more efficient, especially when the providers is running on electric mobility and multiple deliveries are carried.
Often times you can extend the lifetime of your shoes by giving it a makeover by a local cobbler or small business. If you have the budget to buy higher quality shoes, these will also have a longer lifespan.
Be cautious of labels like "environmentally friendly" or "100% natural" if there is no insights or information how it is archived. Also claims like "50% more recycled material" often don't reveal against what is compared. Spot them and dig deeper. In addition "CFC free" is not a achievement since it is banned since 20% years. Look for a seal or certification mark from a recognized, independent third party specializing in green claim. Also compare how sustainable the actual products is versus the packaging.
We should choose our cloth wisely to reduce our footprint. For example, if we compared jeans to trousers, the footprint of trousers is much lower - and they are easier to dry as they are lighter.
We can buy cloth which is easy to wash, buy cloth which lasts longer and wear our cloth longer. Drying the material on the line instead of the dryer will increase the lifetime in many cases.
Used look is trendy, people say. We can pass on cloth we don't need anymore and buy second hand ourself. Sometimes this is better than we might expect.
Further, try to air dry your cloth on the line instead of tumble-drying it in a vented dryer. This can completely remove the impact of the dryer. 5% of all electricity used in U.S. homes is used to dry clothes.
Regular cotton needs pesticides to grow and is one of the most chemical-laden crops in the world. If you need to by clothes or bed sheets make sure you choose organic cotton. Consider also fair-trade labels (like Eco Cert) and see of chemicals like formaldehyde was used to avoid wrinkles during shipping. For even more impact by organic cotton in the shades in it#s natural colours like cream, pale green or light brown.
Dryer balls will fasten up the drying process, soften clothes and reduce static. But don't go the fabric ones as they are richer in toxin, last less and often one time use.