Change your habits, lower your impact

The Sustainable Bristol programme is striving to make the west of England a pioneer in urban sustainable living and this month I led a Q&A at a one-off screening of No Impact Man. As part of Forum for the Future’s Sustainable Cities Network in the west of England, the local Bath audience discussed ways to minimise our impact on the environment.

The No Impact Project was conceived by Colin Beavan, aka No Impact Man. In the film, he and his family confront the issues of living a green lifestyle in an entertaining, full-frontal attack. Living in Manhattan, they eat only local food, shut down their electricity supply and live without toilet paper.

But Colin’s extreme journey highlights some of the barriers we all face when making the collective changes our communities will have to make to live more sustainably. I believe some simple steps can help lead to greater behaviour change.

Sometimes change is easy

I take two sugars in my tea. That was an established fact on one rare day in day in my youth when I made a cup for myself. It tasted terrible.

That was when my Mum confessed. Sugar was bad for us, so over the past few months she had been secretly reducing the dose. Our whole ‘two sugar’ family have been a ‘no sugar’ family ever since.

So, reflecting on our discussions in Bath, here are five, totally unscientific, small steps that I think can help get people on the path to lasting wider behaviour change for better living.

1. Replace one, short weekly car journey you make with walking or cycling instead.

Studies show we habitually overestimate the time it takes to walk somewhere, and underestimate the time it takes to drive. By relearning the walking habit, you will start to overcome this barrier, and before you know it waking around your neighbourhood will be as natural as it is easy and healthy.

2. Start enjoying ‘meat-free Mondays’.

Eating less meat is, for most people in the UK, the easiest way to reduce their carbon footprint and improve their diet. Use a good vegetarian cookbook. You’ll find the veggie dishes are much more varied and interesting than the rather bland ‘meat and two veg’ staples, and before you know it your meat consumption will be way down.

3. Get a weekly local veg box delivered.

Start enjoying locally grown, seasonal food. You will rediscover vegetables you would never buy for yourself in the supermarket, and you will reconnect with the changing seasons. Before you know it you will be scouring the local parks and fields picking your own free fruit and making your own jam.

4. Make your own Christmas presents.

When I first gave homemade jam for Christmas, I wasn’t sure what reaction I would get. I needn’t have worried. Friends are so much more appreciative of the personal gifts than any of the old expensive stuff I used to routine-buy without thought. Suddenly I don’t need or want all that consumer stuff.

5. Get a home energy meter.

You can even borrow one from many UK libraries. Apart from the family fun and games trying to switch everything off, the visible awareness of your home energy use it brings will turn you into an energy efficiency, low carbon champion before you can say ‘sustainable living’.

Check out No Impact Man’s blog for more ideas of what you can do to be more environmentally aware.