New habits

​For many of us, our normal routines have changed significantly over the last several months as the pandemic has changed where and how we work, play, and live.  This can be a time for reassessing your sustainability habits, too.  If you used to commute to work and now work from home, perhaps you have more time to monitor and reduce your energy use at home.  Many energy saving tips will also save money, so implementing new energy saving practices can serve two purposes.  You may choose to stop using re-usable shopping bags because of health concerns, so perhaps you can focus more on recycling instead.   Perhaps you are cooking at home more often and have more time to manage your shopping and leftovers, and so reduce food waste.  Maybe you have time to plant some flowers to nurture butterflies and insects.  If you can’t visit someone you love, surprise them by writing an old-fashioned letter.  If you are ordering a lot of items online, pay attention to which vendors use extra packaging and see if you can buy from vendors who use less packaging.   There are thousands of sustainability tips (including many tips from the years I’ve been writing this blog) that you can consider implementing during this time of change.