Conscious Living - Part 5. Why is it Important to Live More Consciously?

Ocean Clean-Up, Canggu, Bali, 2018

We talk about slowing down and living a more mindful and sustainable life, but have you ever really asked yourself WHY it’s important that we live more consciously? 

Conscious living, simply put, means living with greater awareness. As our (self) awareness grows, we can’t help but start to notice our impact on the people around us. With time we also begin to see how we impact the world we live in, and it isn’t a big step from there to consider how we could lessen that impact, even possibly starting to improve things.

Understanding the reasons why we need to lessen our impact on the planet is key to implementing these changes. If you followed the coverage of the recent COP 26 in Glasgow, you will know that we are facing some pretty grim realities. However, if you were following closely, you will also have seen how hard it is to reach an agreement between 120 world leaders. The conference actually included representatives of nearly 200 countries; over 40,000 registered participants; 22,274 party delegates; 14,124 observers and 3,886 media representatives.* After two weeks of negotiating, it’s really no wonder that conference president Alok Sharma was nearly in tears over a last minute change in wording. 

“The approved texts are a compromise,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. “They reflect the interests, the conditions, the contradictions and the state of political will in the world today. They take important steps, but unfortunately the collective political will was not enough to overcome some deep contradictions.“ *

So if we truly care about our planet, it is ever more clearly down to us, as individuals, to do what we can. Not only are we trying to reduce global temperature rises and preserve natural landscapes for our children’s generations, but we can try to inspire other people to make small but meaningful changes in their own lives.

Sustainable living could be the norm. We could all be eating less meat and dairy products, flying less, making choices that include fewer single-use plastics and actively pursuing other ways of reducing our carbon footprints. ‘Less’ is the key word here – we don’t all need to overhaul the way we live overnight, but we can all do our bit to lessen our impact. The person who eats meat every day could cut out meat a couple of days a week, the person who already only eats meat occasionally could become vegetarian.

Many people making small changes have much more of an impact than a handful of people being ‘perfectly’ sustainable. Of course, big businesses and governments still need to try to implement major changes, but we have the ability and control to make immediate changes in our own lives, today. 

*Source: https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/cop26

Small changes you can make in your own lives:

Consume less. Not just less clothing, but less everything. Think about all of the products you buy in your day-to-day life: do you really need them? Use what you have thoroughly, only buying new things for necessity, not just because you want something. Only buy new items that you immediately need or that you will own for a long time and will not need to replace. 

Reduce waste. Recycle your waste correctly, try not to use single-use plastics and don’t throw away perfectly good clothes and objects. If you’ve had a spring clean and have items to get rid of, consider how you can give them a second life by repurposing them, giving them away to people who will appreciate them or recycling the raw materials.

Reconsider your diet. Eat less meat and dairy, include more plants. You don’t need to become vegan overnight, but you can start easily by reducing the amount of animal products that you usually eat. Start by only eating meat once a day, then a couple of times a week, then only on special occasions. If you already rarely eat meat, consider becoming vegetarian. 

Change the way you travel. Committing to never flying again is a big step, but perhaps start by reducing the number of flights you take per year. If you can reach your destination by rail, road or boat, take this option. If you are looking to buy a new car, consider hybrid or electric models. Also look at your commute to work: could you work from home some days, travel by public transport or by bike, rather than driving each day? 

Stay informed. Check your sources. Make your own decisions. Don’t rely on Facebook to keep you updated!

Further Reading

You can read a summary of the outcomes of COP26 here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-56901261

For the UN’s full break down of what happened at COP26 and the outcomes that were agreed, you can read more here:

https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/cop26

Or watch and empathise with Alok Sharma’s desolation here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-59276651

End Note

The Earth’s temperature is already rising, causing dangerous weather patterns around the world. If temperatures continue to rise, large parts of the planet will become uninhabitable, resulting in mass migration and putting animal species at risk of extinction.

But it’s not too late. We can take action. We can each do our bit, and we can start NOW.

This article was written for elliot. organics by Emma Lavelle. You can read more of her work here.