Environmentalism and minimalism are two topics that are receiving a lot of attention in the mainstream, thanks to global climate change issues. The habit of over-consuming are among the few things that plague the environment. But there is a common ground where minimalism and environmentalism meet, so much that it is called to be a eco-friendly minimalist. 

What is an eco-friendly minimalist? An eco-friendly minimalist is a minimalist who takes the basic principles of minimalism and transforms them into achieving environmental sustainability. This approach involves creating a conscious mindset that lets you effortlessly achieve sustainability via simplifying your routines, actions, and choices. Minimalism is a sustainable lifestyle that seeks to achieve more with less. As a result, it often requires focusing on what is truly important in life and cutting down on the excesses. However, an eco-friendly minimalist attempts to transform simple ideas into the promise of a healthy return on the environment. By implication, they reduce their impact on the environment by reducing their footprints. Although the term started as sets of principles of building homes with minimised environmental impacts, it has gone beyond cultural evolution into a daily lifestyle.

Understanding the definition

Contrary to what you might have been led to believe, eco-friendly minimalism does not mean more about the environment and less about the person. Instead, it is about adopting simpler approaches to maximise economic and human wellbeing, and ensure less impact on the environment. Another way to put it is to continue doing your stuff as a minimalist, but to make conscious efforts to make changes that will transcend into a safer place to live for everyone. 

Although living in small houses and reducing how many items you have are effective ways to be a minimalist, it does not make you an eco-friendly one. This is because most of those items end up as trash when they are no longer useful. According to research, an average American disposes of about 150 Pounds worth of trash monthly. Trash that ends up affecting the environment. Nonetheless, what looks like a practical solution is a lifestyle that is void of consumerism, and that rightly disposes of any belonging in an environmentally-friendly way. 

Every day, we are faced with the decision to either harm or help our environment with what we buy, eat, and the way we live. On its own, minimalism is an ideal way to help the environment; however, an eco-friendly minimalist consciously does all he/she can to remove all excesses that can negatively affect the environment.

The Paradox

The principles of minimalism and environmentalism are easy to understand and live with. However, when there is no balance, both views can be conflicting. For example, minimalism is about owning less and disassociating yourself from over-consumerism. On the other hand, although not about owning less, environmentalism involves reusing certain items for as long as you can. 

Now, this is where the conflict is. eco-friendly minimalists would prefer to use various items, and, where they can, keep and repurpose them over and over. However, a minimalist do not want to have so many items around since it is about living with less. Hence, while an environmentalist would gladly hold on to old pickle-jars to repurpose them, a minimalist would want to see them end up either in the trash or recycling. 

The way it looks, it seems like there can’t be a point of interest between the two lifestyles. However, to strike a balance between the two, you must be able to find a confluence and an area of shared interest. An eco-minimalist will attempt to get the most use out of an item and dispose of it in an environmentalist way. By indication, it may mean owning more stuff than your average minimalist would. 

Hence, it will help to acknowledge the differences so that you quickly reconcile it. Instead of feeling pressure to get rid of items that may be environmentally wise to keep, you should focus on the values of an eco-friendly minimalist; Owning less, putting the less to reuse, and disposing of the less in an environmentally friendly way. 

Ten Must-Do’s for an eco-friendly minimalist 

1. Start with reusables

One of the eco-friendly approaches that you can adopt is to transition into using reusables. Reusables are items that can be reused or repurposed several times. This can be reusable washable women sanitary pads, nappies, glass jars, etc. One advantage of switching to reusables is that it is simple to do and does not lead to physical or mental strain. By letting go of single-use products, you can use the same products for more than one purpose without buying more to clutter your home or trashing the earth. 

Using reusables satisfy the conditions for being an eco-friendly minimalist. Since you can use the items for more than one purpose, you won’t contribute to the trash lying around, and you don’t have to buy a new one every time. Imagine using a reusable stainless steel water bottle instead of plastic; – You will have done your quota in ridding the oceans of more plastic pretty quickly. 

Now, this is not to say that you can’t ever buy single-use products, say when you eat outside. However, you will have to live life on reusables as much as it is within your control to do so. 

Examples of changing single-use items into reusables:

• Plastic straws –> Stainless steel, glass or bamboo straws
• Women sanitary pads –> Washable cotton sanitary pads, menstrual underwear or menstrual cup
• Plastic bottle –> Reusable water bottle
• Plastic bags and plastic produce bags from the store –> Reusable washable cotton bags and produce bags
• Batteries –> Recharge the batteries
• Shampoo, soap bottles and conditioner –> Shampoo- and conditioner-bars, and soap bars
• Makeup wipes and baby wipes –> Washable cloths and reusable cotton makeup pads
• Plastic toothbrush –> Bamboo toothebrush
• Cleaning products –> Homemade toxic-free cleaner made out of vinegar, Castile soap and water
• Plastic brushes –> Wooden, stainless steel or bamboo brushes

2. Embrace natural ingredients 

A minimalist lifestyle is a selective one. Being selective sometimes means being picky about what you use on your body. For example, if you used to have 20 skincare products, the lifestyle would force you to cut it down to save time, how much you spend on beauty care products, as well as the environmental impact. 

For an environmentalist, instead of shopping for random products, you will try to look for products made from natural ingredients. By letting go of products that contain toxic and harsh ingredients, and plastic, you are not only helping your body, but you are also contributing to the overall health of the environment around you. This way, instead of hoarding products, you are merely replacing them with more sustainable ones in fewer numbers.

Plant-based extracts like essential oils and natural oils are more sustainable than artificial ones. You can also look for sustainable fabrics and biodegradable materials that will be broken down quickly at the end of their lifecycle without necessarily polluting the environment. Hence, instead of trying too hard to start a new environmentally-friendly lifestyle, you would simply need to tweak your minimalist life choice to reflect the health of the environment. 

3. Consume mindfully

Mindful consumption is another way to look at compassionate consumption. True, you spend your money on acquiring food; however, it will help if you reflect on the resources used in the production process. 

A minimalist might not have a problem with mindful consumption since it is about doing more with less. More than this, however, you should be more mindful of who created it, where it came from, and the production process. Mindful consumption is a little like thoughtful purchase, except that this deals more with the acceptance and restraint of consumption and over-consumption, as well as reducing waste. By rejecting the over-consumption mentality as well as reducing waste, you will not only reduce the waste of both materials and food, but you will also stand up with a value that does not support unethical sourcing of different products.

Ethically and organic sourced products are for the most part safe for the environment. Although you might not be able to restrict yourself completely, you should look to consume whatever you have in a limited and moderate way. This way, you can reduce the waste and contribute less to the unethical brands; – A form of mental awareness for what you consume. 

4. Purchase thoughtfully 

An excellent way to audit your negative environmental impact are to give a thought to every purchase. Whether you want to buy food or clothes, the truth is, there will always be more sustainable options. The question is, will you choose the more sustainable over the less sustainable? 

By making thoughtful purchase decisions, you can spend on items that will last you through months and probably years of use. For sustainably-sourced products, you will not only be buying a few items that last longer, but they will have less of an environmental impact. 

More than means of disposal, you should extend your thoughts to the company or brand that made the items. For example, questions like what they use their profit for and whether they contribute to harming the environment will also affect your decision to buy it. This is because, although you are not directly harming the environment, buying from a company that maybe do, make you supporting their doings. 

Reject consumerism by thoughtfully buying the items that you need in small numbers. Not just this, they must be eco-friendly and should be from a brand that does not mean any harm whatsoever to the environment. Watch out for fast-fashion brands, greenwashing advertising, and bad materials such as polyester, polyamide, acrylics, etc.

5. Discard Thoughtfully

Whether you buy reusable items in small quantities or not, everything you own eventually becomes somewhat useless. When they do, you will need to discard them. Now, for a minimalist, the thought is never focused on how to discard used products since the emphasis is always on doing more with less. However, the way you let go of your belongings is of utmost importance to an eco-friendly minimalist. 

For example, you can decide to either recycle your waste, compost it, or leave for anaerobic digestion. Bear in mind that this type of waste needs to contain items and materials that have been reused over time and are made of easy-to-break down materials. Hence, regardless of where they end up, they won’t be a pain to convert into something less harmful to the environment. 

Take your fridge, for example. Although it has a lengthy lifespan, you will eventually have to discard it. You might not know that freezers and fridges contain materials with greenhouse gases and ozone-depleting substances. Some even contain oils, mercury, and other hazardous substances. Instead of sending it straight to the landfill, you can sell the parts for scrap or at least research how to properly dispose or recycle it. This is super important, as many people today dispose, especially electronics, in the regular trash bins, resulting in major contamination and dangerous situations.

6. Buy second-hand items 

Buying second-hand items are ideal ways for a minimalist to save cash on buying new things. Secondly-hand thrifting is probably one of the easiest and most helpful things you can do to better the environment. You can find any local thrift store on google maps near you. Additionally, I will urge you to watch thrift hauls on YouTube to see how many different, unique and beautiful things people get from second-hand. They even make beautiful “new-looking” items with easy DIY’s! This will lower your carbon footprint, and will be better for your wallet.

7. Consider Minimalist living 

One of the original concepts of eco-minimalism was developed regarding building homes with materials that won’t harm the environment. Hence, it involves adopting an environmental approach to your house and its compartments. For example, it may mean having a basic structure that uses recycle materials and less energy-intensive technology. Do note, though, that it does not mean avoiding technology. Instead, it means staying clear, as much as possible, of things that negatively impacts the environment. 

8. Take responsibility for your environmental actions 

To be an eco-friendly minimalist is more of a personal decision; The focus should be on the individual responsibility of self-awareness and responsibility. Hence, it is intentional living focused on yourself. It means using all your resources efficiently to contribute to the overall changes to the environment. An understanding of this fact that you will need to bring out the positive living in you, that will bring out the positive impact on the environment, is your sole responsibility. 

9. Mindful Learning 

The mental block of starting this lifestyle as opposed to what you used to do can be overwhelming. Since living is always in stages, you must keep on actively learning about new ways to influence nature with the way you live. 

It is okay not to be perfect, provided you have the willingness to follow through with active and mindful learning. Don’t be shy to ask for help and materials from others to help you through your sustainable, minimalist journey. 

10. Consider growing your own ingredients 

Home-grown ingredients and foods are much better for the environment. Not only does it make food available at any time, but it is also a food source that you can trust since there is no packaging and chemicals involved. If you cannot grow your own garden, you can sign up at a community garden or help out at a friend. From there, it’s considerably easy to buy locally and organic.

Having more plants around you means cleaner air. Additionally, weed killers and chemical pesticides are toxic and bad for animals, the environment, and people. Buying organic food at the store without these chemicals and packaging, or having your own garden is eco-friendly and reduces your carbon footprint.

Consider watching the video down below by Garden Up and see how easy it is to grow vegetables inside your kitchen!

Ten Essential Items for an eco-friendly minimalist

You can consider buying the following items from a local store or online to make your new lifestyle a little bit more easy and eco-friendly:

1. Reusable grocery bags, cotton bags, beverage cups, etc. 
2. Stainless steel, wooden, glass or bamboo straws, bottles and food storage boxes. 
3. Bio-degradable fabrics, materials, trash bags, and bamboo utensils.
4. Indoor compost bins for foodscaps and compostable single-use items.
5. Organic cotton or other natural fabrics in towels and cloths, to reduce micro-plastic into the ocean whenever washed.
6. Buy natural, long lasting and plastic free materials in clothing such as bamboo, organic cotton, wool, linen and silk.
7. A showerhead that reduces water consumption by up to 75%.
8. Skincare and beauty products, laundry detergents and cleaning products made from natural ingredients.
9. Second-hand accessories, clothing and gifts for others.
10. Upcycled books and journals made of recycled materials.

There is really no difference between yourself and the environment you live in. When you are healing yourself, you are also healing nature. When nature suffer, you will suffer too. You don’t only make decisions that will better the environment; you make decisions that will make the years you have left to live better, happier and more consciously healthier.