The other day, a friend of mine asked me for advice on how to help those around her live more sustainably. And phew, it was a super hard question to answer! I’ve had a lot of success helping my children embrace a more eco-conscious lifestyle (see: How to Embrace Eco-Friendly Living with Kids). But in my experience, getting peers, parents, or basically any adult to change his or her ways and live more sustainably is no easy task.

Her question got me thinking: why is that? What is it about sustainability that makes it more difficult for adults to adopt? To answer this, I went back to the basics of what sustainable living really is, at its heart. The dictionary defines sustainability as:

“The quality of not being harmful to the environment or depleting natural resources, and thereby supporting long-term ecological balance.”

As a mother, I’ve seen firsthand how my children have an innate connection to the environment.  They genuinely want to help all living things. They’re also naturally very open to new ideas and perspectives. On the other hand, many adults have grown accustomed to a certain way of life. They’ve experienced the convenience of living a less environmentally conscious lifestyle. Breaking those habits and changing those ways of thinking can be a huge hurdle. 

But all hope is not lost! It is possible to inspire those around you to better their lives and be more conscious of the impact their choices have. 

Here are a few ways you can inspire those around you to embrace a more eco-friendly lifestyle. 

1.  Lead By Example 

When you start your sustainable journey, it can be nerve wracking to share the changes you’ve made with those around you. You might be afraid that they might not accept your new lifestyle. It’s true that you might encounter judgment from people who aren’t ready to make changes in their own lives. I know I have. Some of my family members have even labeled the changes I have decided to make (such as eating organic, avoiding bulk produce in plastic, and purchasing all-natural products) as elitist. 

Just do you! Make your sustainable changes and live your life in a conscious, authentic way. Your friends and family members will definitely notice your dedication. They’ll probably even ask you about it! Which leads me to the next point...

2. Talk About It

Inspire those around you by talking about the small changes you’re making in your everyday life. Explain why sustainability is important to you. Educate your friends and family about how to better take care of the planet. Mention products you love and how they’ve improved your life. The more you talk about why you’re doing what you’re doing, the more your passion comes across. And passion is so contagious!

Here are a few facts that I’m always eager to share with others:

• All plastic ever created is still on the Earth today! At this rate, by 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish!
• Fast Fashion is the second-largest polluting industry, after Big Oil. It creates unnecessary waste and pollutes our water system with harmful chemicals and microplastics. 
• Cow farts stink! In fact, raising livestock for meat contributes to 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions. (Read more about that here!)

3.  Be Honest

Share your REAL feelings about your sustainability journey. Of course, it’s great to let your friends and family know when you fall in love with a new eco-friendly product. But in a way, it can be even more impactful when you share about an experience trying something that totally didn’t work for you! 

Living sustainably is not all sunshine and rainbows. If you try to act like it is, you’ll just turn people away from it — especially when they try adopting a sustainable lifestyle and it’s way harder than they expected. Being honest with your sustainability journey allows others to offer helpful suggestions or solutions. By creating an open, judgment-free zone, you are building an earth-loving community that’s committed to solving the world’s important problems, And isn't that the best thing we can do?

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4.  Don’t Expect Perfection

Be patient with others as you begin to share your experiences with them. Don’t expect them to totally change their mindset and their lifestyle overnight, even when you start to see some positive changes. Be honest with yourself and others and try to see things from a different perspective. None of us are perfect, and that’s okay! Let that shared humanity help you relate to one another and build community. 

5.  Share the Journey 

Now that your friends and family are more open to the sustainability movement, share the journey! I personally love trying new eco-friendly products with others so we can share our experiences in real-time. And embracing a more environmentally conscious lifestyle together can give you the chance to make plenty of new memories!

The next time you meet up with a friend, try doing one of these sustainable activities:

• Skip the coffee shop and plan a picnic at a park. Even better, bring to-go coffee in sustainable mugs! (My favorites are from Greens Steel.)
• Get your sweat on and go for a hike. Make sure to bring a reusable water bottle to stay hydrated. (Need to save room in your bag, use the clever collapsable Hydaway.
• Visit a farmer’s market to support local businesses and pick up some organic, sustainably grown produce.
• Cook a meal together and give “Meatless Mondays” a try! Here are a few of my favorite recipes: Vegan Chickpea Torta, Quick Chana Masala, Thai Pineapple Fried Rice. 

Sharing your experiences and knowledge is the best way to create a positive, more sustainable environment. As you lead by example and look for opportunities to share your eco-friendly lifestyle with others, you’ll find that others will start to feel the same passion you have. 

How do you share your sustainable lifestyle with others? Do you have any suggestions of other ways that have worked for you? Let me know in the comments!

Trust me, I get it. Making sustainable choices is a lofty task without kids. But with kids? It can seem downright impossible. 

I mean, even simple things like making it to the grocery store can be daunting. I’ve rarely ever made it to and from the grocery store without at least one of my little ones having a breakdown… and even though I do manage to make it to the store once or twice a week, I always wind up forgetting at least two major things on my list.

But I’ve found that going green with your entire family can actually make things easier than going at it alone. Ever since I decided to make big changes to try and make my lifestyle more sustainable, I’ve been amazed at how living green has really brought us closer together as a family. My children surprise me every day at their willingness to adapt.

So I encourage you to tackle this adventure with your whole family. I promise you will be amazed and inspired by your children’s motivation and determination to save Mother Earth, and at how easily they will start making changes in their routines, the products they use, and even the food they eat.

Here are my top 5 tips for making eco-friendly changes with your kids:

Talk about it

Whenever you’re about to make any big changes as a family, talking about it first is a MUST. Kids are creatures of habit. They live for their routines. But that being said, children also so resilient. They’re often very open to change when they feel as though they’re part of the process. Explain to them why your family wants to make this change. Ask for their opinions. Encourage them to share ideas on how they think the family can reduce waste and cut back on plastic use.

Start slow & small

Don’t try to change everything at once — that’s setting yourself up for failure. In the beginning, start off small. Swap out just one item for an eco-friendly alternative. Make changes slowly, one at a time. Allow plenty of time in between each change so it becomes the new normal. Then, once you and your family feel comfortable with the change, introduce something new.

Test products together

initial shock of changing brands or processes will wear off and testing new products will become a fun family activity everyone can look forward to!

Lead by example

Once you’ve talked the talk, now it's time to walk the walk. Showing your children (and adult family members) that you’ve made the same changes you’re asking them to make will encourage them to participate (Monkey see, monkey do, right?).  It’ll also help them see how important sustainability is to you.

Leave room for error

Remember: cultivating a sustainable lifestyle takes time and effort. Unfortunately, you’re not going to wake up to the perfect sustainable household one day out of the blue. So just do the best you can. Prioritize feasible changes that are especially important to you and your family — for me, that’s using reusable bottles, using cloth napkins, recycling, and using reusable bags. Then, forgive yourself whenever you fall short.

But above all, remember to have fun!

Take the time to celebrate the small victories along the way. Make sustainability a group effort. Get creative as you find ways to help the planet. I promise it’s worth it — after all, with every small change you and your family make, you’re impacting the planet in a big way. 

As mothers who are trying our best to live an intentional, sustainable life, the best gift we can give our children is knowledge.

I don’t know about you, but I tend to worry a lot over my children’s wellbeing and education. I’m always wondering… Are they engaged enough? Are they on the right track? Are they learning what they need to learn in order to keep up in school?

But some things aren’t taught in the classroom. And those skills can be the most important of all.

I’ve learned that it’s so important to take an active role in my children’s nutrition. But that doesn’t just mean that I need to make sure whatever’s on their plate is healthy. To me, that means that I need to teach my children to care about what they put into their bodies. I need to help my children understand the difference between healthy foods and unhealthy foods. I need to teach them, step by step, how to take care of themselves, from purchasing food to preparing food to eating it.

Eating right is the foundation for good nutrition, so it’s absolutely crucial to help your children form a positive relationship with food early on. So if you want to prepare your children to live healthy lives well into adulthood, start including them in the kitchen!

If you don’t love cooking, that’s okay. Start with super basic healthy recipes and go from there. Once they see you making an effort to cook and eat healthy food, your kids will want to join in! 

Here are five fun, easy ways to include your kids in the kitchen.

Take them to buy produce.

Start involving them from the very beginning! Let your kids know what you’re planning on making later and put them in charge of finding certain ingredients. (Remember to bring along reusable bags!)

Wash and prep ingredients.
Next, ask them to help you wash and prepare the ingredients, demonstrating the proper way to do it first. My youngest daughter (who’s almost 3) loves helping out this way. The last time we cooked a meal together, she helped me rinse veggies, pull stems off, sprinkle salt, and pour in chopped garlic. 

Measure (or count out) ingredients.

Use cooking as an impromptu math lesson! Teach older kids how to accurately measure ingredients. Help them understand the difference between teaspoons and tablespoons, ¼ cup & ½ cups, etc. For younger kids, encourage them to count out ingredients. I’ll often ask my youngest to count out blueberries for muffins or chocolate chips for cookies. 

Stir and taste test.

My favorite part! Once the dish is underway, ask children to take turns stirring. Encourage them to taste things in order to judge whether the dish is done or not. (Though in my family, we do plenty of taste testing along the way, too!)

Plating.

Once the food is finished cooking, put your children in charge of arranging it on each plate. Encourage them to embrace their creative side and see what they come up with!

Kids are never too young to start their healthy relationship with food. And it’s never too late to start cooking together as a family. 

Still wondering how cooking with your children could benefit you as a family? Read my latest post!

As a big family of 7, we cook nearly every meal at home. It helps me make sure my kids and I are always eating real, delicious food. It also helps us eat more sustainable, organic foods and avoid unnecessary waste. (Not to mention it saves us a TON of money!)

But I don’t cook all of our meals by myself! I absolutely adore cooking with my kids. Honestly, I love cooking with any kids — sometimes my nieces or even neighborhood kids join in on the fun! There’s just nothing that compares to the closeness that you feel as you’re helping each other, creating something delicious together, and helping a child do (or taste!) something for the very first time. 

And as enjoyable as cooking together is, there are so many additional benefits of cooking with children and showing them what a healthy relationship with food looks like. Here are just a few of the positive changes I’ve noticed as I’ve tried to involve my kids in the kitchen more and more.

It helps their social & emotional development. 

Involving children in hands-on cooking activities helps them develop pride and confidence in their skills and abilities. They’ll feel empowered and capable as you patiently help them accomplish tasks, then show them their delicious results. Help them if they get frustrated. Praise them for their efforts. And encourage them to share the food they make with their friends!

It aids in their physical development.

Chopping, squeezing, spreading, and mixing are all cooking skills that help develop a child’s small muscle control and hand-eye coordination. Plus, cooking can help your children develop a healthy relationship with food and appreciate eating right, which is the foundation for good nutrition. 

It makes them more open to trying new foods.

Taste-testing is my kids’ favorite part of cooking. (It’s mine, too!) While we’re cooking, I make it a point to make a big deal about introducing new fruits or vegetables. I try to make it fun and exciting — and that attitude often translates over to mealtime. I’ve found that when my children help out in the kitchen, they’re more open to trying different meals and other healthy foods. 

It’s a teaching opportunity. 

Cooking with kids gives you a chance to teach them valuable skills. Depending on your child’s age, you might use cooking to practice reading, following directions, and measuring ingredients. For younger kids who don’t read yet, try having them count out ingredients. My youngest loves to count out blueberries for muffins or chocolate chips for cookies. You can also use that time to teach them about how certain foods can help their bodies get stronger and do more of the activities they enjoy.

I truly believe it’s so important to help children form a positive relationship with food early on. Giving them regular experiences cooking healthy food will help them gain self-confidence, have better nutrition, be more open to trying new things, and learn valuable skills. And the close relationship you’ll form with them in the process? Well, that’s the icing on the cake.

The new year is here-- full of promise, change, and hope. Now is the perfect time to reflect on the past 365 days, evaluate your progress and look for things you can improve in 2019.

In 2018, I really strived to make every decision I made a conscious one. Of course, that’s easier said than done. With my family of seven, becoming more environmentally conscious seemed like a pretty daunting task. But as I made an effort to be more aware, I was able to make a lot of small changes to live more sustainably and think about my consumption habits.

This year, let’s resolve to live even more sustainably and responsibly.

Let’s make decisions that have a positive impact on the earth and everyone who lives here.

Here are some little things you can start doing in your home to make your lifestyle more eco-friendly and sustainable. They’re small, but together they have a huge impact.

1. Switch to a bamboo toothbrush
   Most toothbrushes are made of a variety of different plastics that aren’t biodegradable. Around 50 million pounds of toothbrushes go straight to US landfills every year. Bamboo toothbrushes can be composted and therefore help reduce waste. And it’s such an easy switch - you can get a pack of four on Amazon for under $8. 
   
   
2. Use reusable grocery bags
   Paper or plastic? Neither! Bring your own bags with you when you shop at the grocery store, and commit to it. If you forget your bags, load up your car without them and bag your groceries when you get home. You’ll never forget your bags again!
   
   
3. Switch to bar shampoo
   Shampoo bars are package-free, making them much better for the environment than liquid shampoos. Plus, they’re very concentrated, so they last a long time. Lush has a lot of great, affordable shampoo bar options.
   
   
4. Use cloth napkins
   Choosing to use cloth napkins instead of paper napkins helps you cut down on waste. Plus, they usually look nicer and end up costing less in the long run. 
   
   
5. Say no to plastic straws ALWAYS 
   Last year, Americans used about 390 million plastic straws daily. Most of those straws end up straight in the trash. Choose to drink your drinks without a straw or bring along a bamboo or metal straw in your diaper bag, car, or purse.
   
   
6. Hang dry clothing
   Dry your clothes the old-fashioned way. Line drying your clothes conserves energy and reduces your carbon footprint. It’s also gentler on clothing and saves money. If the weather isn’t good, you can still dry them inside on an indoor drying rack.
   
   
7. Choose organic cotton over regular cotton
   Regular cotton is frequently treated with harmful GMOs and pesticides. This makes it harsher on skin, unsafe for farmers, and detrimental to the environment. Organic cotton has a much lower environmental footprint, it’s hypoallergenic, and it’s free of dangerous chemicals.
   
   
8. Reusable water bottles
   Resolve to never buy a plastic water bottle ever again. It’s so important to stay hydrated, but you don’t need to create waste in order to do so. Get a reusable water bottle and keep one with you all the time.
   
   
9. Cook at home
   Commit to making home-cooked meals more often and eating out less. Not only will it be better for your health, but you’ll also eliminate tons of unnecessary packaging from take-out and delivery.
   
   
10. Organic tampons
    Switch over to organic cotton tampons and pads. It’s better for your body, better for the environment, and better for farmers. My favorite brand is Cora -- plus, they provide pads and health education to girls in need with every purchase.
    
    
11. Recycle
    Sure, this one may sound obvious. But the truth is, we could all do a little better when it comes to recycling. Take the time to learn about what can and can’t be recycled. Place a number of recycling bins throughout your home, wherever you think you’ll use them most. Then, make sure you always recycle -- even when it’s hard.
    
    
12. Grow a small garden
    Start growing your own produce in your backyard. Fresh, homegrown vegetables and herbs taste amazing, and they’re safe. Plus, any food you grow yourself has a much lower impact on the environment than commercial produce. Don’t have a yard for your own vegetable garden? Find a community garden, or start small by growing a few fresh herbs right in your kitchen. 
    
    
13. Borrow one-time items instead of buying
    Whenever I don’t have something that I need, my knee-jerk reaction is to go out and buy it. However, borrowing is often a much better choice. It helps you declutter, it saves money, and it cuts down on waste. Here’s a great list of items you should almost always borrow instead of buy. Just be sure to be as quick to lend as you are to borrow!
    
    
14. Use reusable silverware
    If you often eat lunch at work, keep silverware at your desk instead of using plastic utensils every single day. You can even go the extra mile by keeping other dishes nearby -- cups, bowls, plates, etc. 
    
    
15. Reusable coffee mugs
    If you’re an avid coffee-drinker, invest in a reusable mug or tumbler. It’ll keep your drink warm for longer and it’ll cut down on tons of waste. Bonus -- lots of cafés offer a discount to people who bring in their own cup.
    
    
16. Upgrade your makeup routine
    Switching makeup brands can do wonders for your plastic consumption. Look for brands that use natural ingredients and avoid plastic packaging. Two of my favorite brands are Elate Cosmetics and Antonym Cosmetics.
    
    
17. No plastic bags in the produce section
    We’ve already talked about avoiding plastic bags at the checkout counter -- don’t bag your produce in them, either. Bring smaller reusable bags from home and bag your fruits and veggies in those, or simply go bagless.

18. Take good care of your body
    Stay active and exercise regularly. Get enough sleep. Eat a healthy, nutritious diet. Taking proper care of yourself first helps keep you motivated to make good decisions and take the extra steps required to make mindful, sustainable choices.  
    
    
19. Minimize
    Simplify your life. Cut back on the products you use in general. From your wardrobe to your beauty regimen, turning to minimalism helps you focus on what’s really important in your life. Rather than mindlessly purchasing things you don’t truly need, you’ll invest in products and routines that positively influence your other decisions.
    
    

There are plenty of simple changes you can make in order to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle, but sustainability is about more than just recycling and reducing waste. It’s about being more conscious of your decisions and choosing to live responsibly. It’s a way of showing you care about the environment and making it a better place for everyone. This coming year, let’s all try a little harder to make this world a little better.