I have come across a number of environmental enthusiasts; both the genuine and insincere ones, and one thing they always hit on is the fact that we owe it to ourselves to protect our environment in any and every way that we can. This could include seemingly tough actions like planting trees or the very basic actions like tossing our trash into waste bins and not gutters. On the flip side, some people couldn't care less about the environment as they aren't exactly eco-conscious.
I was trained to be very eco-conscious but my parents and tutors used the tag “etiquettes” or manners if Imay rather than eco-consciousness. Hence, I wouldn't say the environment was a major determinant in my decision to adopt the lifestyle of a minimalist; rather, the lifestyle has helped me improve on the way I view my environment.
Take my waste control and upcycling habit for instance. There was a point in my life when it felt like all I did was create waste, litter my living space and then proceed to fall ill when the living space became profoundly cluttered. This pattern went on for a very long while. One thing that took up so much space were paper boxes as I never discarded them. Whenever I got a new item, I stored the boxes the items came in, irrespective of the size.
At the time, I only kept these boxes as consolation prizes as it was comforting to look to the corner of my room and see where all my money went. When the boxes became too much, my next line of action could have been to let go and dump them but why dump them when beautiful and very useful items can be made out of them? For months, I did myself a favour by up cycling as many items as I could and not only did this lead to me creating useful items for myself but it helped me cut a whole lot of cost.
Another aspect of my lifestyle as a minimalist that I can attribute to the environment is my self-sufficient and sustainable garden. My garden houses many vegetables and spices that I use to make dishes on a daily basis, hence the sustainability. Not only do I spend less money to make dishes, I am also comforted by the fact that everything that goes into my mouth from the garden is organic and not artificially produced.
One other slice off my minimalistic pie is one I recently discovered. Due to the need to maintain an uncluttered space, I recently discovered that I have reduced my paper usage and this is coming from someone who had a notebook for the most trivial of things. Most of my documents are digital documents and whenever I want to take note, I easily open my digital notepad.
How does my using less paper benefit the environment? Every year, approximately ten million trees are cut down to make different products, paper being one of them. The astounding part of it is that not nearly enough trees are planted each year and deep down, I feel that less consumption of paper would lead to less production and less production ultimately leads to less deforestation.
Every individual who adopts the lifestyle of the minimalist plays a role in helping the environment irrespective of how little or how major this role may be. As such, it is safe to say that a good number of minimalists are eco-conscious individuals but not all eco-conscious individuals are minimalists.
This post was made in response to the #kiss prompt for this week which can be found here. Do not hesitate to participate and share your mindful thoughts on the topic.
All images used belong to me and were taken with my mobile device except stated otherwise.
Liebe🤍
Wes & Grindan