Experts have been saying it for decades and we’ve been feeling its effects for a good number of years now, but the planet is certainly facing critical levels of heating due to climate change, global warming, and all those anxiety-inducing topics. With the level of waste and non-biodegradable materials produced and consumed by mankind since the dawn of time, it’s going to take a lot more than our individual efforts to make real change, but it’s an uphill battle we still have to pursue for the sake of our survival.

Of course, the most crucial players in this waste cycle are also the ones that need to contribute the most to the sustainability movement to achieve real transformation, and that’s the big corporations that produce thousands-worth of plastics, and consume our natural resources everyday. They’re the ones that will greatly affect our chances at winning our planet back, and it’s up to us consumers to pressure them to do so.

But on an individual level, for those of us who don’t run multinational companies, there’s still a lot of small steps we can make to ensure we’re not adding to the world’s mountain of waste, and ultimately leading to its demise. We know it’s not the simplest thing to live sustainably, especially when we live in a world that’s so full of products that do the opposite, but we’re here to list down some easy-to-follow steps to ease your way in.

There’s much more that we can do beyond reducing our plastic waste, and here are a few ideas to help you get started:

BUY ONLY WHAT YOU WILL USE

It’s a bad habit that we’ve formed through the years to hoard items just based on Buy One, Take One sales, novelty, or just because, even if we know we’re not going to get much use out of them. Sure, it might be nice to look at for a few days, and yes, maybe it’ll be cheaper if you buy more. But in the long run, it’s just going to add clutter into your home. Clutter that you will eventually throw away and add to the planet’s waste.

This also goes out to food you know you’re not going to finish. There’s nothing more heartbreaking than throwing away food, either due to it turning bad or you getting more than you can chew. Practice only ordering what you know you can finish, and just dive in for seconds if you still want more.

BUY SECOND HAND

There are a lot of platforms now that allow Filipinos to buy and sell pre-loved items, from clothes to books, and even to household furniture. If an item has been around for a couple of years and it still looks good as new, that’s very telling of the quality of the item. And that’s always a good hint for you that it will serve you well too!

DONATE USED GOODS

Similar to the steps mentioned before, you can also let your pre-loved items have a second or third shot at life with another owner by donating them. This way, you know it will also go to a good charitable cause for people who actually need them, instead of rotting away in the back of your closet or in that room where all the items you no longer use are stored. Donating is also a great alternative to simply throwing them away. By doing this, you avoid adding to piles of waste that will take years to decay.

AVOID SINGLE USE PRODUCTS

That includes plastic bottles, plastic utensils, unnecessary packaging, facial cotton pads, and the like. There are a lot of alternatives for all these single-use items being introduced to the market, and there’s a reason why they’re being produced and consumed in the first place. Single-use products are some of the most notorious items adding to the world’s mountainous piles of garbage, and we really don’t need to add more to that. Instead, use tumblers for your liquids, cloth napkins for your tissue papers, washable diapers or facial cotton pads, and other innovations designed to put a stop to our wasteful consumption habits.

TRY A SUSTAINABLE DIET

Remember that time when the Amazon forest burned down and people were encouraging everyone to eat less meat? It sounds totally unrelated, but according to the Amazon Aid Foundation, animal agriculture globally is responsible for “more greenhouse gases than all the world’s transportation systems combined.” That means producing meat amounts to approximately 14.5% of carbon emissions each year, greatly affecting the environment’s temperature and conditions.

So just lessen your meat intake every now and then. Support more local farmers to help out the community, and because their products take less fuel to transport to your nearby stores than imported ones. Also, eating more greens will keep your body strong and healthy, while devouring meat everyday could lead to a number of serious illnesses down the line.

These are just a few things you can try to start living sustainably, and impacting the world for the better. Remember to vote with your wallet as well, and support corporations that stand for sustainability and helping the environment heal, while pressuring those who don’t to follow the movement. After all, we only have one planet and a hundred movies and documentaries telling us what could possibly happen if we don’t stop the environmental crisis threatening its existence. It’s up to us to make sure these movies stay in the fiction genre.