Sustainable New Year’s Resolutions

Happy last day of 2020!

Fun fact: the only real New Year’s resolution I’ve ever set ended up kickstarting my entire sustainability journey.

7 years ago, when I was 15, I decided to become vegetarian after doing research and watching documentaries on the environmental impacts of the meat industry. Although I had been working toward this goal for a few months, the timeliness of New Year’s gave me a reason to finally go cold-turkey.

Now, I’m not typically one to set New Year’s resolutions - I like to think that you can set goals to change your life whenever you want. However, I can’t ignore the fact that 2020 has been a particularly tough year and 2021 certainly feels like a good time to live more intentionally. 

For me, setting regular goals helps keep me mindful of how I want to live and feel! I always write down my goals and keep them handy to reference often. Here are a few of the sustainability related goals I am setting for myself in 2021:

• Only buy clothing secondhand and from sustainable brands (this was my goal last year and I almost reached it with one or two odd exceptions, so I feel like it’s realistic for this year!)
  

• Travel more sustainably (if travel becomes possible this year, I want to be able to carbon offset all of my travels and stay only in locally-run accommodations)
  

• Use less processed + packaged vegan substitute products (fake meats, cheeses, etc.) and make more of my own substitutes from scratch.
  

• Overall, prioritize experiences more than things (Not sure how I will measure this yet - maybe budgeting how much I can spend on experiences vs. things? Let me know if you have any suggestions)

I’m hoping you can help hold me accountable to these goals and I’m excited to share progress on them throughout the year!

Have you set any goals for the new year? Sustainability related or not, I’d love to hear about them!