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Green Tips: Easy Sustainable Living
We are always profiting at others’ expense; we are polluting our planet with massive amounts of microplastics in the oceans; we’re relinquishing our world to multinational corporations. But you do not have to be part of that! Just follow these ten green tips for every day life.
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Green Tips: Fair Trade Clothing
Because someone else always pays the price for your cheap clothing.
T-Shirts for $5, pants for $20: Ever wonder how clothes can be so cheap? Many textile and cotton companies exploit their workers in order to keep prices low. The same is true for most conventional producers who sell expensive clothes. You want to buy clothing from companies with better labor standards? Then look out for fair trade certified clothing.
Utopia’s green tip: Combine fair trade clothing with a minimalist wardrobe. Minimalist living means reducing your everyday life to the basics – apply this to your closet the same way.
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Green Tip: Buy Used and Save
Because most used things do not need to go in the trash.
Clothing, furniture, books, smartphones: We’re always buying new things, even though there are innumerable used items seeking new owners. Buying second hand is extremely sustainable: You are saving resources and energy necessary to produce a new product, and preventing a perfectly functional item from landing in the trash.
Check out 10 Everyday Green Living Ideas: Sustainability on a Shoestring Budget for more green tips that will also save you money.
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Regionally-sourced Food
Because otherwise we may lose control of our food production.
Seed producers, food producers, grocers – it’s the same problem everywhere: Too few companies dominate the worldwide production and marketing of food. They decide what gets planted, what we eat, and how much we pay for it.
Purchasing regionally-produced foods can change this equation. Our green tip: Write a sustainable and healthy grocery list, visit the farmers’ market, and buy organic. This keeps your environmental footprint low, supports the local economy, and sends big agriculture a clear message.
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Green Tip for Every Day: Carry a Water Bottle
Because plastic is killing the planet.
Water in single-use plastic bottles is totally unnecessary. There are few corners of the country where you cannot drink water directly from the tap. Also, plastic bottles contribute to one of the largest ecological issues of our time: mountains of plastic waste polluting our oceans.
Go plastic-free: You can fill a reusable water bottle with tap water anywhere. Each time you do so, you keep unnecessary plastic from entering the waste stream.
For more green tips on putting plastic behind you, check out Life without Plastic: Easy Tips for Everyone.
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Switch to Renewable Energy
Because atomic energy and coal are burning up our future.
Whether you mean to or not: If you’re paying a conventional electricity provider, your bills are financing dangerous atomic and dirty coal energy. One quick and easy change can make all the difference. Our green tip: Switch to a renewable energy provider now and support renewables every single day.
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Do it Yourself: Green Tip for any Occasion
Because shopping makes you dependent.
Knitting, sewing, baking, crafting, canning, planting, harvesting, fertilizing, building, repairing: The more we produce ourselves, the less we need to buy – and the more independent we become.
Green tip: It’s easy to consume less. Clever household hacks are everywhere: Try DIY dry shampoo, DIY body wash, a homemade oven cleaner or window cleaner, for instance.
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Green Banking: Support Ethical Businesses
Because banks finance dirty business with our money.
Your money isn’t innocently lying in your account gathering dust. Many conventional banks invest their customers’ money in atomic energy and coal, support the armaments industry, and siphon off subsidiaries to tax havens.
Green tip: If you want your money to support only ethical businesses and business practices, you need to move your money to a green bank.
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Don't Pollute the Air: Bike or Walk
Because we can and must drive less.
Our streets are jammed, our air polluted. In cities, car traffic is one of the most serious environmental problems. Luckily, everyone can easily follow this green tip: Leave your car parked more often and walk or bike instead.
Choose one day out of the week (stick to it!) and walk to each and every one of your destinations – whether that be a commute to work, a trip to the grocery store, or meeting up with friends. Even short walks will reduce stress and help to “decelerate” your day.
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Better for Hair and Skin: Natural Cosmetics
Because chemicals can really get under your skin.
Hormone-mimicking substances, allergenic perfumes, petroleum – we smear all of these things on our skin regularly when using conventional cosmetics.
Our green tip: Use natural cosmetics. These products use only natural ingredients, minimizing the negative effects both for our health and the environment.
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The Easiest Green Tip: Do Nothing
Because everything is just too much.
Keep using the smartphone you already own, dig old clothes out of your closet instead of buying new ones, and just buy nothing on a more regular basis.
Doing nothing doesn’t cost you a dime, is easy on your nerves, and doesn’t use any resources at all – it’s the ultimate green tip!
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More Green Tips from Utopia
Read more:
This article was translated from German into English. You can view the original here: Die 10 ultimativen Produkte für nachhaltigen Konsum
Illustration: Miro Poferl 
Illustration: Miro Poferl 
Illustration: Miro Poferl 
Illustration: Miro Poferl 
Illustration: Miro Poferl 
Illustration: Miro Poferl 
Illustration: Miro Poferl 
Illustration: Miro Poferl 
Illustration: Miro Poferl 
Illustration: Miro Poferl 
Illustration: Miro Poferl 
Illustration: Miro Poferl