A start of a new year is the perfect time to rethink and assess our goals. If you are looking for some new year’s resolutions, why not add saving the environment to the list and make an impact?
Let’s start with something simple around our daily habits. We need no lesson to know how plastics affect the environment, and we should do something. In PolyU, motivating actions to mitigate plastic pollution is always its priority. The University has been campaigning the Plastic Free Friday pledge since 2018, and it is the best time of the year to include skipping plastics on a day in a week on our to-do list at the beginning of a new year. Whether we eat out or order in, we will probably get disposable cutleries and food containers with our meal. We can turn down these cutleries and say NO to plastics. We can ask for sustainable alternatives at the restaurants or pack our utensils and cups when we go dining. When we go shopping, we can bring our bags and reduce our plastic waste with ease.
A new year is commonly filled with celebrations, gatherings, a lot of food and gifts. It may, in the end, generate food waste and unwanted items that end up in landfills. PolyU keeps promoting the ‘do more with less’ message on different occasions, and encourages the campus community to help and save resources. Yes we do not need to chase the trends and get everything new for the new year. We can buy less and get only what we need. We can try to reuse the things we have on our hands and donate and recycle those we no longer need. When eating out and having gatherings for our new year celebrations, we can choose suitable portions and avoid over-ordering. We can be more alert on the choice of food and support sustainable food consumption. At times when we want to tidy up and clean our home, we can look into our cupboards and make our non-toxic natural cleaning products with our kitchen items.
This year why not resolve to incorporate green living into our new year’s resolutions? Let’s start with some small steps and daily habits. Make a few simple lifestyle changes today and set your green goals!
