Personal Steps to Reduce Environmental Impact
Prof. Katalin Fabian shares her thoughts on ways we can all care for the Earth
“There is no one solution, but a continuum of solutions, spanning personal choices to large institutional and structural policies,” shares Fabian. “Our individual choices are constrained by the larger political, economic, and social milieus, but we can also innovate and leave some of these limitations behind.”
Here are just a few ways you can make personal choices that can help:
- “The easiest and highest-impact choice is to live within walking/biking distance of work—to cut back on driving.”
- “Perception-wise, the most transformative action is to eat locally grown food, and growing your own food is the most local: Let it be pots of herbs on the windowsill or a garden plot in the yard. A home garden has the added benefit of eliminating the poisonous American lawn.”
- “‘The best things in life are not things’—is my favorite bumper sticker. In this spirit: Reduce consumption—of meat, plastic, and stuff in general, or at least reuse what you have, share what you do not need, and buy secondhand.”
- “Actively help the green economy to take root, and support environmental NGOs at home and far away.”