Sustainable Home

Conscious Homemaking: Guide to a Sustainable Home

From a personal philosophy to an eco-friendly practice, the road of sustainability has found a way to link one’s personal well-being to that of the Earth as well. When it comes to the market, both brands have put in some efforts to curb their usage of resources and minimize the production of waste.

However, there is always one thing missing. Yes, you can definitely buy second-hand clothes or even lower your demand for new clothes in order to achieve your sustainability goals, but will that make your whole lifestyle sustainable?

Well, it is not that easy to answer, because clothes are just one part of your lifestyle. The rest revolves around every other lifestyle aspect including cooking. A sustainable home is the one that takes note of all of these aspects and then tries to alter or incorporate new changes that can help in finding a way for a conscious way of spending resources.

What Is A Sustainable Home?

In plain and simple words, a sustainable home can be considered as a means of prioritizing the natural-renewable resources instead of depleting the non-renewable resources for the future generations. It has been around for a long time, but it has been only a decade since it gained a significant following.

With climate change and other environmental issues becoming a major concern among the general public, a sustainable lifestyle appears to everyone as a beneficial option for themselves as well as the planet. This trend has slowly evolved from a mere philosophy to a lifestyle. In its entirety, sustainable lifestyle comes down to choices that mostly focus on a life that encourages that relationship and health of the environment as well as the humans.

For some people, this type of living can have some cultural significance too. On the other hand, this type of lifestyle might depend on one’s socio-economic status. As we all know, making sustainable choices can sometimes be expensive.

Beginning Of A Green Home

Now, this might not be a surprise for you, but the road to sustainability starts from making a few changes. Though there is no need for you to get overwhelmed, there is still a slight chance that some of these changes might be painful. And in other cases, even the smallest of changes can make a huge difference. So, without wasting any more time, let’s get started:

 

Cut Down On Plastic

Everyone knows that plastic is the No. 1 enemy of the environment. It is a non-biodegradable substance that has been a major contributor for water, land and air pollution. Some of the sure-shot ways of reducing your plastic consumption can be by reusing and recycling the plastic that is present in your household.

Donate And Don’t Throw

Donating is the new form of reusing. Across the world, many countries have adopted the trend of opening new donation centers. A significant amount of donating can actually lower the demand for new products among the public. This in turn would result in a lower supply of products and hence the lower usage of resources.

Go For Fragrance-Free Products

Fragrances are known to be synthetically-derived compounds and chemicals. These can be quite hazardous for the environment as well. Conventional fragrances are not only present in the perfumes and deodorants, but in fact, these are everywhere including your cleaning products and cosmetics. It is very important for someone to check the label and buy the ones that use natural products.

 

Switching To Sustainable Fashion

The clothing industry is quite notorious for its exploits when it comes to water contamination. However, the trend of sustainable fashion is changing that. With the constant awareness of climate change, many big brands have to curb their usage of resources, and there have been many small brands that came out from this sustainable revolution in the clothing sphere. Compared to before, now one has a lot of options to choose from when it comes to organic clothing. Read more Finding More In What's Already There In The Wardrobe: Hello, Circular Fashion!

Go Local

Choosing local products can also help in reducing your carbon footprint. For one, you’d be saving a lot on the transportation fee that comes with ordering online or from any other big brands. Choosing a local option would also give you a chance to support the local industry.

Minimize Your Food Waste

It may sound surprising, but you can actually fight climate change by just minimizing your food waste. Some might think of wasted food as a social and humanitarian concern, but it is also an ecological concern. When you waste food, you are also wasting the energy and water that went into making it. When food goes to the landfill, it can produce methane, which is a greenhouse gas that is more toxic than carbon dioxide.

Opt For Energy-Efficient Appliances

We cannot imagine living a happy and easy-going life without the help of any electric appliance. In fact, in some cases we might even have too many of those in our homes. But, it is not that big of a deal if you choose to replace them with an energy-efficient model. Consuming less electricity is a basic trait of a sustainable household.


You Can Also Practice Minimalism

Well, minimalism is one of those trends that started because of its ‘minimal’ aesthetic approach, and mostly because of one’s personal choices. However, at this point it has become a mandatory thing to go for. Capsule wardrobe is one way of practising minimalism when it comes to your clothes. It has also become a major way of tackling the problem of fast-fashion. Read more about Capsule Wardrobe: A Guide for an Eco-Conscience Consumer.

Yes, most of these are, in fact, personal lifestyle choices. But, you must also understand that individual actions are a part of a collective in the end. Even here at GIBIE, we heavily focus on our responsibility as a sustainable bath linen brand.

The Goal Of A Sustainable Life

In simple words, a sustainable lifestyle tries to maintain some sort of balance between the environment and our lifestyle. It aims to tackle our overindulgence in some kind of activity that adversely affects the natural state of the planet. The fast-fashion train is an example of that. With high demand for clothes, there is definitely a high supply that could effectively meet it.

There are a lot of resources that go into making a piece of clothing. But, most importantly, it is the contamination of renewable resources like water that puts the ‘textile industry’ on the spot. Even though a trend like ‘capsule wardrobe’ is something that a consumer can follow in order to curb their demand for new clothes, the brands too are looking for a way to lower their consumption of water in the dyeing process.

For us, Herbal Dyeing is the prime focus of it all. With the help of it, we are able to completely eliminate the ‘water contamination quotient’, thus ensuring a sustainable manufacturing process for our towels. All of this amounts to making a perfect example for the actual goal of sustainability that aims to serve the environment, the society, as well as the economical structure of that society. Read more about The Importance of Ayurvedic Dyeing.

Further down the line, even small changes can add up together to make a valuable contribution to your sustainable lifestyle. In a broader sense, living a sustainable lifestyle can effectively help you go beyond your personal life and step in for your community’s betterment as well. People often debate whether collective actions are stronger than individual actions. But the truth is that one leads to the other. By focusing on the individual changes, you won’t be distracted from your collective duties, in fact they would be a part of your collective work.

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