I will not focus too much on choosing cycling and walking over gas/petrol run cars and buses and bikes. This is obviously a fantastic step when it comes to sustainable living, and I do it all the time. I have even recently shifted home to a place close to my hospital and often times I find myself simply walking to and from work, especially in the winter. I'll admit it's a bit harder in the scorching heat of the July sun though! But the reason I say I will not talk too much about it is because I have already written a post on this a couple of weeks back. So I don't wanna sound like a broken record!
Instead, recycling is the new sexy for today!
My minimalist journey truly started once I moved abroad living on my own for my med school studies, I have spoken written about that too. But the habit was hammered into my upbringing by my mother. I think all south-east Asian parents have this inherent quality of being an absolute ninja when it comes to recycling! They will find a way to recycle almost anything you ask them to!
One of the most ingenious techniques I have seen was the use of waste mineral water bottles. I have always been into gardening since a very young age and when I seemed to want to spill a bit too much cash on buying pots for planting more greens, I was handed mineral water bottles of different sizes. We cut them up in half and created some holes at the bottom with thick needles. And just like that I had countless plastic pots to grow as many decorative plants I wanted for our garden. This is a habit that has still persisted with me and I barely throw away mineral water bottles anymore! This, while playing its part in recycling, is also helping propagate more and more plants without having to worry about spending to much on buying plant pots. Plants, saving money and wasting less plastic - sustainability, minimalism and recycling all crammed into one eh!
We live in a world with finite resources. If we keep throwing away things on a daily basis, it is only a matter of time we will run out of raw materials to sustain our planet. So besides saving and minimizing waste, we need to really spare some focus on recycling as much as possible and extract every bit of usefulness out of the stuff we have lying around. We do need a bit of innovative thinking, but really...it's not that hard as some may make it out to be.
How difficult is it to think to use a shopping bag that grocery stores give us with groceries as a garbage bag for example?
It's time we put our thinking hats on, and sustain mother earth! We have done enough damage already.
