By Melanie Robitaille, Sr. Staff Writer and Graphic Designer
Successfully converting your lifestyle to an eco-conscious one doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a budget-related, step-by-step process that evolves as our awareness grows, our demand increases, and newer solutions are brought to mainstream market.
The great thing is that no matter your time or budget allowance, there are various levels of participation. But if you’ve successfully greened the smaller areas in your life and you feel prepared to deepen your involvement, there’s always more that you can do with a plethora of next level options.
Time spent can often equate to more than money. So why not take charge professionally or personally as a captain of an eco-team? By aligning with one of many planting, clean up, or conservation organizations you’ll have access to all sorts of marketing templates, ideas, and tools. You can also seek out opportunities at local parks, and conservation areas you frequent when things get back to normal. Many of these places are always in need of extra hands during peak seasons, with specialized volunteer outreach and education programming.
Why not start a writing campaign, be it local or national, to the levels of government or businesses you rely on for services in your daily life? Offering positive ideas and feedback on how they can alter practices when it comes to disposing of waste, single-use plastics, or energy efficiency could be the well-timed call-to-action they needed.
When it comes to where we live, the future of green real estate is completely self-sustaining homes. Built with materials to withstand natural disasters, erosion, and pests, these homes are capable of growing your own food, filtering and recirculating the water within the home, as well as harness their own energy and charge cars.
If you’re in the market for a new build, inquire about the latest green building codes, materials or trends and how the builder might be able to incorporate them, along with landscaping, into your final plan if not already. Depending on your lifestyle and budget you may have loftier goals for larger renewable energy projects like installing geothermal heating, wind, or solar powered solutions on your property. Perhaps you may choose to retrofit your resale home through government programs with high-efficiency windows, skylights, insulation upgrades, or switch to a rain barrel irrigation system.
But for some, it causes them to think smaller and embrace another eco-real estate trend, the tiny house movement. Here the mission is clearly less is more where many, including the new homebuying generation, opt into this popular style of dwelling to keep their costs low, their interests mobile, and their home off-the-grid. With a multitude of builders and real estate professionals now specializing in these homes, buyers can find all the creature comforts of home, in a scaled down, minimalist floorplan that promotes an outdoor lifestyle much more connected to and easier on the planet.
How we travel in our daily lives also has one of the greatest impacts on our eco-system, so when you feel the need to invest in transportation, there’s a green option that’ll go the distance. Everything from halfbikes, onewheels, boosted boards to e-bikes and motorcycles can get you around, or should you need something that stands up better in the elements, you can research a range of hybrid or entirely electric cars now available on the market. With the rise in demand for such vehicle brands like Tesla, most major retail venues now feature priority parking for energy efficient vehicles, as well as charging stations. There are even apps dedicated to mapping charging stations for travelers looking to road trip, although it’s good to know, not all output is equal.
How we live, where we work, what we learn; even what we buy, it all matters. In ten years, what was now will be then, and what we choose to demand today will be the ready supply of tomorrow’s living. The choice is ultimately up to us.
