Four Simple Tips for Sustainability: Celebrating Four Years of The Sustainability Co-Op

Today marks the four-year anniversary of The Sustainability Co-Op! This past year has been an exciting one for The Sustainability Co-Op. We finished writing and editing our first book, Sustainability Made Simple: Small Changes for Big Impact, which was published and released in March this year. We also have been spreading the word about sustainability, hosting book events to bring people together in California, New York, and Florida to discuss sustainability. In our fourth year we will continue to motivate, educate, and encourage ways to be part of the solution and create healthy and sustainable communities. We also plan to compile and share more stories from around the world, connecting people with great initiatives, advice, and dialogue on sustainability. Our own inspiration comes from the people that are doing what they can to make our planet livable, and we would like to thank all our readers for their support, questions, and inputs.

To celebrate our four years, here are four simple tips you can incorporate into your lifestyle to be apart of the growing movement to ensure a sustainable world!

• Bring your own bottle or mug. We can easily cut plastic water bottles and coffee mugs out of our lives, two objects that have a large environmental footprint. Plus, some places offer discounts if you bring your own mug.
• Look for locally-produced goods. Valuing and prioritizing foods and other products that are locally-grown or made reduces the footprint associated with transporting them, and can also help small farms and the local economy.
• Follow the 4 “R’s”: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. This applies to anything we purchase, but particularly to plastic objects and packaging. Refusing or saying no to items we don’t need or items packaged in plastic is the first of the order.
• Cut meat out of your diet at least one day a week. Participating in Meatless Mondays is a simple and fun way to minimize our negative impact on the environment. Kudos to those who skip the meat more than one day in their week!

Here’s to another great year of shifting to sustainability!