What is eco-friendly living?
There are many definitions of eco-friendly living that you can find on the internet (like here, here, and here), and most of them converge to one.
Simply put, eco-friendly means ‘not harmful to the environment’. So living an eco-friendly life is living a life that is not harmful to the environment. This definition might be too vague and general. For that, allow me to offer a novel and less complicated perspective on eco-friendly living, that will simplify this definition in your head.
Novel Definition: An eco-friendly life is the result of several eco-friendly choices.
For example, when you choose to walk instead of taking the car, you make an eco-friendly choice. When turning off the light after leaving the room, you make an eco-friendly choice.
Accumulate these eco-friendly choices, and you get an eco-friendly life!
Is it complicated to live an eco-friendly life?
It is common to think that eco-friendly living is a complicated lifestyle. but is it really? Do you want the short answer or the long one? I will provide both 😛 .
The short (often misguiding) answer
No, it is not complicated.
Why is the short answer so misguiding?
Because it makes you feel like a failure for not living an eco-friendly life.
Because it assumes that you know how to live eco-friendly and that all tools and information are readily available for you to use them.
The short answer assumes that eco-living is obvious, clear, and easily accessible.
Well, join me on this side of the planet where eco-living is NOT THAT CLEAR. And hence, not that easy.
The long answer that will put you at ease
As mentioned before, eco-friendly life is the accumulation of eco-friendly choices.
So, no one really knows when they can be called an eco-friendly person or confidently say that they live an ‘eco-friendly life’.
The fine lines between eco-harmful, eco-neutral and eco-friendly are blurry.
Long story short, if you see eco-friendly life as an accumulation of eco-friendly choices, you take off half of the burden.
When eco-friendly living is no longer the goal, but eco-friendly choices are, you make it much easier.
So the answer is ‘no, eco-living is not hard’ AS LONG AS you simplify eco-living into eco-choices.
Remember, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step!
When eco-friendly living is no longer the goal, but eco-friendly choices are, you make it much easier.
Ghina El Haffar
Take-Aways
- Eco-friendly living can be simplified into eco-friendly choices
- Eco-living stops being complicated when you think about it as an accumulation of choices
- Eco-living starts with a single eco-friendly choice
I hope this post was helpful! I appreciate the time you spent reading my post! Enjoy your day and keep the green vibes going 🙂 .