How To Encourage Sustainability In Your Local Community
If one person becomes more sustainable, it’s unlikely to have an impact on the grand scheme of things. This is a hard truth to hear, but it’s sadly the way things are. No matter how much you try to be more eco-friendly and sustainable, if nobody else bothers, your efforts are futile.
Living a more sustainable lifestyle is one thing, but encouraging those around you to be sustainable could have a much bigger effect. Here are some of the ways that you can encourage sustainability in your local community.
Does this mean you should give up?
No, it just means you need to alter your approach slightly. Continue doing what you’re doing and making sustainable choices, but try to get your community involved as well. The more people who commit to sustainable living, the greater an impact you will have. Ultimately, this is how we will save the planet, with communities thriving in an eco-friendly manner!
How can you encourage sustainability in your local community? It won’t be an overnight success story, but you can have a significant influence on others. Check out these ideas to get the ball rolling:
How To Encourage Sustainability In Your Local Community
Volunteer
There are loads of ways you can volunteer in your local community to help with sustainability. One idea is to volunteer in local parks and plant trees or other things if possible. Another idea is to volunteer at local businesses, delivering their products via your bike. This can cut down on carbon emissions caused by cars and motorbikes delivering foods.
What good will all of this do for the community? For one, you are already making an impact on your own. Secondly, it can encourage other people to get involved and volunteer alongside you. There’s a good piece by Jos Opdeweegh that talks a bit about volunteering within the community and the lessons it provides. Effectively, it’s a great way of bringing people together and teaching valuable lessons on key topics. In this instance, you can draw attention to the main climate issue in your local area. You raise awareness, which encourages others to take action alongside you.
Create A Facebook Page
Facebook is the best social media platform for engaging with your community. Find people in your area and invite them to your new Facebook page. Here, you will talk about sustainability and eco-friendly living. You could also expand it onto Instagram, though most people will be on Facebook.
The idea is that you can post ideas and suggestions that the whole community will see. Many of these can relate to local businesses or sustainable swaps people can make. For example, post about the benefits of bringing your own bag to the local supermarket. People will see this, and they might be encouraged to make a change. Or, if there’s a local business selling sustainable products, you can promote it on the page and tell people to buy from them. Going back to the previous point, this page is also a fantastic place to talk about your volunteering opportunities and get people involved. It can also be where you organize and advertise any community events based on sustainability.
Essentially, you can think of your page as the central hub for your battle against climate change. Using Facebook is the best way to get the message out there to as many people as possible. It can also create a more connected community where everyone is conscious of their habits and how they affect the environment.
Use and promote local businesses
I mentioned this in the previous point, but it deserves a spot on its own. Local businesses have a key role to play in sustainability within a community. Generally speaking, a small business will be more sustainable than a global chain. This is because a local business caters to a smaller and more confined market. As a result, they tend to get supplies from other local areas, rather than shipping them from overseas. A really basic example is a local food store that sells homegrown produce. Buying from this business will be more sustainable than buying your produce from a big supermarket. Why? Because the food is grown locally and only has to travel a small distance to be sold. In big stores, food is shipped from other countries, stored in refrigerated settings, and so on. All of these things contribute to a much larger carbon footprint!
By shopping locally, you do your bit for the environment and stimulate the local economy. Promote as many local businesses as you can, encouraging others to use them. This creates a thriving economy where everyone supports everyone. From a sustainability standpoint, you could drive some of the bigger companies out of town and lower your carbon footprint in the area.
Sustainability In The Local Community
Shout about the sustainable products you use
It’s one thing to use more sustainable products, but you can have an even bigger impact by encouraging others to do the same. I often choose eco-friendly gifts for friends and family and share any new sustainable products on my social media pages.
If you’ve recently made a sustainable swap why not recommend it to a friend? When I switched to using period pants I couldn’t stop shouting about them. I love my sustainable period and actively encourage my friends/family/colleagues to give it a try too.
You could also encourage family and friends to switch to a green energy provider. My top pick is Bulb – they can get a free quote and compare to their current energy tariff and you’ll both get £50 if they decide to switch.
Give away unwanted items
I think we’re all guilty of contributing to unnecessary waste in many ways. The first way that pops to mind is with food waste. How often will you buy a packet of something but only use half? This is a waste of food and money, and you’re ultimately harming the environment by contributing to more waste. Instead, give things away to others that can use them. Donate food items to homeless shelters or ask your neighbours if they want it.
Similarly, look at old clothing items or toys and give them away. You can hold yard sales or car boot sales in your local community that encourages others to do this as well. Essentially, this is a form of recycling as you’re giving old things a new home to be re-used. Once more, you cut down on the waste within your community. If people see you selling your old things in your yard, they might be inclined to join in. Again, this is where your Facebook page comes in handy as you can organise events like this to get lots of people involved.
More Sustainability Top Tips
22 Ways To Save Money & The Environment
Reasons To Support Local Businesses
4 Ways to Avoid Single Use Plastic
It won’t be an easy task, but you can encourage sustainability in your local community. It’s more about raising awareness of the issue and providing simple ways in which people can help. Lead by example and the rest will follow. I definitely think that creating an online community page is the absolute best tip here. Without it, you will struggle to get the word out to everyone
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