Recently, I was at the grocery buying my monthly needs. Concerned over the environment, I was trying to filter plastic-free products, but it was impossible as almost every product was wrapped in the material. Thus, though desirous of living a sustainable life, I am unable to do so.
The minimalistic way of life is often called the “basic life”. Mahatma Gandhi promoted this method of living, and the idea has spread far and wide.
It calls for purposefully changing lifestyles instead of being driven by society’s patterns, and reducing consumption, assets and working time. Individuals who adopt this way of thinking attempt to expand their independence and improve their eating routine.
The fewer belongings you have, the fewer concerns you have. Thus, a minimalistic life is good for physical, spiritual and financial health.
Famous minimalists like Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus helped grow minimalism through documentaries, podcasts and national tours. They include rules such as 90/90 in their teachings. Look at your possessions. Pick an item, have you used that it in the past 90 days? Or will you use it in the next 90? If not, then it’s okay to it let go.
Once in a lifetime, one should try to go minimalistic for at least a month. The least we can do is to delete unwanted emails, which are being stored over numerous servers around the world. The servers are stored in big data centres, which consume heavy loads of power each day. And electricity is still produced by fossil fuels, leading to global carbon emissions. So, the correlation is straight: emails cause greenhouse gas emissions.
According to the United Nations Environment Programme’s 2021 food waste index, the world produces 931 million tonnes of food waste every year, of which 569 tonnes comes from households. The remaining is attributed to the food service (244 million tonnes) and retail (118 million tonnes) sectors. The average global household produces 74 kg of food waste per capita annually. The average household in India discards 50 kg of food a year.
Further, fast fashion generates a lot of non-biodegradable waste, as polyester is used widely in the fashion industry. I understand being fashionable is indispensable to the millennials and Generation Z, but we can promote sustainable fashion by encouraging domestic brands and clothes made out of sustainable fibre.
Another step for inculcating a minimalistic living is to imbibe the advantages of minimalism within the education system and rewarding students who opt to care more for the environment.
Thus, by small individual efforts, we can help achieve sustainable development goals.
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