Combating Convenience
Turning your lifestyle green while trying to combat convenience.
We’re creatures in search for the path of least resistance–looking to get what we want in the most direct and frictionless way. Our environment has transformed to align with this behavior by offering single-use items everywhere. Plastic waterbottles, individually wrapped items, single-use silverware, napkins, and to-go cups are only the beginning.
”Environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behavior.”
–Atomic Habits, James Clear
Turning our lifestyles green while trying to combat convenience has been more challenging than we originally thought. Convenience almost always equals garbage for the environment and our bodies. Think gas stations–convenience central–but also garbage central!
Imagine this: you go to the gas station before work for a breakfast pizza and coffee. The pizza has a cardboard bottom, you pick up the pizza with a piece of paper, and put it into a small plastic sack. You pour your coffee into a styrofoam cup, topped off with creamer from single-use containers, stirred together with a plastic straw, and topped with a plastic lid. You probably didn’t make it to your car before throwing these items away. Did they even leave the parking lot trash can?
Going Against the Grain
We’re drawn to this system of convenience that’s making it really hard for us to live in a more eco friendly way. The system is pulling us in the opposite direction of doing better for the earth. ‘Going green’ is like swimming upstream.
“Running against the grain of your culture requires extra effort. When changing your habits means challenging the tribe, change is unattractive. When changing your habits means fitting in with the tribe, change is very attractive.”
–Atomic Habits, James Clear.
If our natural mode is to align with those around us, we are going to need a solid plan to combat it! A well-crafted one that appears more convenient than what the convenience stores can provide us with. Also, a strong reason why. Why are we going against the grain? To better our health? To do better for the environment?
Ways we’ve found to create our own convenience and get rid of excess garbage:
Pack a reusable silverware set in your purse. Note: You don’t even need a fancy set, carry a fork from your kitchen.
Keep a reusable coffee mug in your bag or car to save the styrofoam cup, plastic lid, and straw from coffee shops.
Don’t leave the house without your reusable waterbottle. Note: you’ll keep yourself hydrated throughout the day too!
Keep reusable grocery, produce bags, and bulk section containers in your car.
Meal prep on a Sunday. Cook meals, prep veggies, and plan out your week of food to make healthier, less packaged options more appealing mid week. Note: Cooking at home is not only healthier, but also cheaper than going out to eat.
In the beginning, you may find yourself forgetting every now and then, but you’ll get into the groove and soon it’ll become habit. (We find ourselves forgetting once in a while too.) Remember to be easy on yourself. Do the best you can. Learn as you go and know the system isn’t setup to align with a green lifestyle. But don’t use this as an excuse to fall into the norm–keep going against the grain because you deserve to put healthy things into your body and live on a healthy planet.
Just because you’re one person, doesn’t mean you can’t make a difference. Your actions are contagious and can influence others to make similar changes. Small changes lead to big results.
