Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast

Episode 178

Sustainable Habits for a Sustainable Habitat

Episode Link;

Sustainable Habits for a Sustainable Habitat

29.5 minutes

Website

adventuresinsustainableliving.com

In the last few episodes I’ve talked a lot about the overcoming the barriers to living more sustainably. And while there is a long list of barriers to overcome, a big part of the challenge is our engrained values and habits. And the big question is how do we change that. 

Many of us tend to blame the condition of the world on our culture, or on big business and government. However, truly meaningful human change starts with the individual. Before we can expect global change, systemic change, or even change at the community level, we must first examine how we need to change. 

In many ways our values and habits are a reflection of our world view. So how do we change this to something more sustainable. 

So join me for E178 Sustainable Habits for a Sustainable Habitat.

Welcome back everyone to the Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast. This is your host Patrick and this is E 178 Sustainable Habits for a Sustainable Habitat. 

First order of business is the sustainability question of the week.  

What is one simple concept or phrase that truly defines all of sustainability?

Good news story of the week

The Largest Environmental Restoration in History Continues to Restart the Heart of the Everglades

Believe it or not, in 1949 the Army Corps of Engineers devised a plan to drain the Everglades. This project disconnected Lake Okeechobee from feeding the Everglades water system. This lake ecosystem is what fed the 300 mile wide area of sea grass which is what forms the Everglades. 

When this happen, water quality in the Everglades dropped dramatically. This loss of water flow also resulted in massive sea grass die offs, blue-green algae blooms, red tide incursions and even wildfires.  These conditions are further exacerbated by an east-west byway road that cuts off significant water flow to the southern Everglades. Additionally, contamination from southern Florida sugar plantations significantly affects the local ecosystem. 

The restoration plan is now in full affect and the purpose is to undo the Army Corps of Engineers “Drain the Everglades” project. There are over 60 infrastructure projects with a cost of $20 billion USD. The state of Florida 2024 budgets included $740 million in funds to continue the project. 

The aim of the project is to reconnect Lake Okeechobee, raised the east-west byway road to reconnect water flow, and build the world’s largest man-made wetland (63,000 acres) to capture the runoff from the sugar plantations. 

The construction of these projects was paid for up-front by the state. However, the biggest polluters are paying for the financing in the form of pollution tax, which hits the sugar plantations particularly hard. Some of the larger projects have an estimated completion date of 2036. After restoration is complete it is thought that it will take 15 years to repair the landscape. 

So, the largest environmental restoration project in history is on path to restore an enormous wetland ecosystem that has no comparison in size or complexity in the entire world. 

So, the round of applause this week goes to the environmental restoration of the Everglades and the State of Florida for making the biggest polluters pay for a lot of the cost. And those are the kinds of stories a love to hear about. 

That said, let’s move on to this weeks episode. 

Truly I think that one of the biggest challenges to living a more sustainable life is our engrained habits and values. That being said, there are some 

universal human values that we all expect more or less. Things such as respect, compassion, tolerance, truth, integrity, equity, as well as many others. But I often wonder why we do not use those same values in regards to sustainability. 

To a great extent our habits and values are affected by our culture, our country, our economic status, and our families. And those values and habits tend to affect how we view the world.  So, the question becomes how do we change our values and our habits to something more sustainable without feeling as if we are compromising. 

Truly no one enjoys being forced to compromise or give up their values and certainly people will fight to keep their privilege. But for many of us it is truly a privilege to live within your values while many others in the world have no choice. 

As for me, it is certainly a privilege for me to live a life of voluntary simplicity. But while I live on a mountain top in the middle of the forest and quietly congratulate myself for my accomplishments more than half the world lives on less than $7 USD per day. Meanwhile most of us have no clue that 5% of the worlds population is using 30% of the global resources.

Think of it this way. What if we had a culture that valued things that took longer to make, cost more, lasted longer, and was more environmentally friendly?

What if we had a society that valued working harder to have as little environmental impact as possible?

What if we valued eating only local produce and no longer choose fruits and vegetables that were out of season?  

What if we didn’t always reach for the easiest, fastest thing. 

But these are the very things we do out of habit and because of our engrained values. But much of overcoming the barriers to sustainable living is all about changing our habits.

Most of us never stop to think about our habits and how they impact our lives. This is because our habits are essentially automatic behaviors performed with minimal conscious awareness.  But some habits are good such as brushing your teeth on a regular basis, cleaning your house, turning off the lights when you leave a room. Other habits are detrimental such as looking at your cell phone every 5 minutes, wasting an hour on Twitter, or consuming alcohol every day. 

So how do we go about changing our habits? Furthermore, how do we go about changing our habits to something more sustainable. 

Psychologists often define habits as being a loop consisting of a cue, a routine and a reward. For example, the cue is that you get a push notification that someone has liked one of your photos on Instagram. The routine is the actual behavior. You get a notification so you automatically check your Instagram account. The reward is the benefit of performing the behavior. In this example, finding out who liked your photos. It is the reward that helps your brain figure out if this loop is worth remembering in the future.  

So the key to changing this habit is changing the loop? 

Let’s say for example you are trying to get in the habit of exercising everyday because you want to loose some weight.  But more often than not you want a distraction from your work day and you go out for spicy food and beer with friends right after work. The food, the beer, and the friends make you happy. But by the time you get home you are too tired to exercise and you just want to relax.  Your goal is to change this behavior because you want to loose weight ad achieve some level of improved fitness. 

One way to change this habit would be to tell your friends it is important for you to get some regular exercise. Ask if you can meet for food at a later time. After work, go for a long walk, go to a local gym, or carry a small amount of workout equipment with you sufficient enough to do your workout. Once you are finished, then meet up with your friends. 

In this case you replaced the negative routine with a good one. Instead of going straight for food and beer, you did your workout first. Then you got the reward of socializing with your friends. Chances are after a workout you are going to want a good meal and likely drink water instead of beer. You changed your routine, you are getting fit, loosing weight, and still socializing with your friends. You are now getting multiple rewards instead of just one.

Now there are lots of rules out there about how long it takes to form a habit. It varies a lot with each person and what you are trying to accomplish. But I think the 21/90 rule is appropriate most of the time. This rule states that it takes 21 days to form a habit and 90 days to make it a permanent lifestyle change. But, there are of course certain pitfalls that tend to impede your progress and you have to anticipate those. 

Let’s take for example, New Year’s resolutions. Most studies show that people who make resolutions maintain those pledges for about one week. Only 19% of people keep their resolutions for at least two years. If this statistic is any indication of our habits, then 8 times out of 10 you will fall back into your old habits and routines instead of sticking to your new behavior. 

So how do you make new habits stick when the odds are just not in your favor.  When it comes to forming a new habit, repetition is part of the equation but it is not the sole answer. As it turns out there are some common pitfalls that tend to impede our progress. 

Common Pitfalls 

Pitfall number one

Trying to change everything at once. 

Let’s say there are a number of things you want to change in your life. So you make a list and focus on making some serious changes. You mean well and start out well. But after a couple of weeks all of life’s responsibilities start to get in the way. You feel overwhelmed and comfortably revert back to your old behaviors because it’s easy.  

Now in the context of a sustainable lifestyle, let’s say you decide to start out focusing on multiple different things. You decide you are going to  eliminate all food waste, cook more at home, eat only organic, go plastic free, completely detox your home by using homemade cleaning products, only air dry your clothes, start a home recycling program and reduce your driving by 20%. 

I can guarantee that it will not be long before you are completely overwhelmed and you will revert back to your old habits because that is what is comfortable and easy. 

The solution is to pick one thing and do it well. Then move on to the next. If you want to live a more sustainable lifestyle, then start by making a list of things you would like to change. Pick the one thing that is most important to you, focus only on that one thing. Once that habit becomes a regular part of your life, once it becomes a ritual then move on to the next thing on the list. 

For example, there are numerous things you can do to be more sustainable when you go to the supermarket. Here are the things I accomplished by making one small change at a time. 

-First step: taking only reusable shopping bags and mesh produce bags to eliminate the use of plastic. Once this was a habit I moved on.  

-Second step: buying only organic produce. 

-Third step: meal planning and buying smaller amounts of fresh produce to eliminate waste. 

-Step four: Looking at the products I commonly purchase and finding ways to make those from basic ingredients at home. For example, laundry detergent, dish soap, cleaning products, spice mixes, breads, muffins, ice cream, etc. 

-Step five: Reading more labels, doing online research to find sustainable companies for the commercial products that I did purchase. 

A year later I find that my shopping habits at the supermarket are completely different and much more sustainably oriented. 

Getting rid of old habits and forming new healthier ones is difficult at best. When you try to do everything at once, you set yourself up for failure. So pick one thing and do it well. Then move onto the next.

Pitfall number two  

Starting with a big change

Let’s get back to the example of regular exercise. Your goal is to lose some weight and get in better shape. You start out by working out one to two hours a day. After a couple of weeks you find it difficult to devote that much time and that your body is not ready for that amount of regular exercise. So, you give up. 

The solution to this is to start slow and easy. Some habit experts say that is is better to start slow and to make the habit so easy you can’t say no. Let’s say for example that you need 30 to 40 minutes of exercise a day to start losing weight and seeing some fitness results. Instead of starting with 30 minutes a day, start with 15 minutes. 

It is actually more important initially that you are doing the exercise regularly as opposed to how much your are doing it. Instead of going for the obvious benefit right away, start out slow and keeping doing that for two weeks. Then slowly start adding a few minutes here and there. 

The same is true for living more sustainably. If you start out with the goal to be 100% sustainable in 6 months you will never make it. It is more important to master one thing at a time. Think of it this way.  We don’t need a few people in the world living a perfect waste free life. What we need is millions of people trying to live waste free. 

Pitfall number three

Not changing your environment

In most cases, if you do not change your environment into something that is conducive to meeting your goals, you are never going to change. Habits are just as much a part of your physical and social environment as they are a part of your personality. 

If you have a goal to live more sustainably, then share that with friends and family. Share it on your social media platforms. And use this as a means of getting encouragement and keeping you accountable. This can help keep you on track, give you reminders, provide a little enthusiasm.

In respect to sustainability, instead of feeling overwhelmed, join a Facebook group on sustainability, find someone on Instagram. See what other people are doing and be a part of a community. 

The Key to Success

So the key here to success is to start with one thing at a time, make small little changes until they become a habit and a ritual, and change your environment in such a way that it is more conducive with achieving your goal. That is how you form new habits. 

Habits do not change in a day. But as some experts say, make it so easy you can’t say no. 

Let’s take for example the power of the Rule of 1%. Very simply put, 1% change each day adds up over the course of one year. If you just relax and give yourself permission to improve by 1% each day imagine what your life will be like in one year. 

A regular exercise program is a perfect example. If you started with 15 minutes a day and then increased by 1% each day, imagine where you would be in 6 months. 

If you decide to focus on 2 sustainable habits a month, or even just one, imagine the positive impact that amount of change over the course of one year. For example, on average, we throw away almost 400 plastic bags a year. What if you just stopped using plastic bags. Approximately 50% of the plastic used in the world is for single use products. These disposable products are responsible for a great deal of the micro-plastics we now find in the environment. If you decide to just stop using these products imagine the impact you would have. 

Summary

As I said before, meaningful human change begins with individual change. Before we point the finger of blame at the government or big business for the condition of the world, we first have to examine our own habits and values. If you don’t like the labor practices of Walmart or the inexpensive products the company provides, why are you still patronizing Walmart. Amazon has a tremendous environmental impact and a long history of unfair labor practices, so why do you still patronize Amazon. You have to start with individual change. 

The first seminal paper on climate change was published in 1896. Since that time, big business and big government have been bantering back and forth on whether or not it is actually real and what should we do. Look at where we are now. Once again,  we just can’t point the finger of blame. The condition of our planet is the collective result of the individual choices of 7 billion people. 

The fundamental challenge of a sustainable future does not dwell with big business and big government. It rests in the hands of individual behavior, our values, thoughts and actions. Individual behavior is the foundation of collective action whether that be social, economic, environmental or sustainable practices. 

If we start changing our day-to-day habits to something that values sustainable behavior, before you know it, we will have sustainable communities, then sustainable cities, and then sustainable nations. Sustainable nations then work together to form a sustainable global community. 

And it can all start with 1%. One percent is all you need to develop a sustainable habit. And sustainable habits result in a sustainable habitat. 

So, let’s start wrapping things up by answering the sustainability question of the week. 

What is one simple concept or phrase that truly defines all of sustainability?

If you went through life and lived by the concept of “Leave only footprints” that would be the essence of sustainability. It would mean that you respected the environment, used only what you needed and left every place a little better than it was when you arrived. 

I want to close this episode with a quote from Aristotle. He said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

–Aristotle

I hop you will join me again next week. And remember I have completely updated my home page for the podcast. You can find me at adventuresinsustainableliving.com If you visit me there you can download a cheat sheet for 200 sustainability questions and answers. So, enjoy that free resource. 

And if you want more information on some other sustainable habits, I do have a number of other episode on recycling, cooking sustainably, how to reduce your carbon footprint, the value of simplicity as well as many others. 

Until next week folks, always remember to live sustainably because this is how we build a better future.