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Welcome to the third annual Econundrums new year’s resolution roundup! I like to end every year of Econundrums by asking: What are your environmentally-themed goals for the year to come? (You can check out previous years’ resolutions here and here.) This year, I posed the question to my fellow Mother Jones staffers. Here are some of their responses:
Rinse and re-use plastic zip lock bags. Remember to take reusable vegetable bags to the store. Remember to turn off power strips not in use. -Khary Brown
Divest myself from fossil fuels. -Tim McDonnell
Stop buying palm oil imported from Indonesia. They’re destroying entire acres of precious habitat in order to grow palms for palm oil. The baboons who live here, as well as a species of tiger, are losing their habitat and may become endangered. -Young Kim
Make the switch to natural cleaning products. Go cruelty-free with cosmetics. -Allison Stelly
Eat less cheese. -Kate Sheppard
Eat only sustainably harvested fish/shellfish. Oh! I’m going to miss it so! And make all gifts and cards for the year out of things I already own–sewing projects using old clothes, mostly, but some book binding too. -Emma Logan
Bike to my nearest “park & ride” (as opposed to driving!) -Jacques Hebert
Stop drinking soy milk. -Maddie Oatman
Overcome the idea that real action on environmental problems has anything to do with individual consumer choice. -Luke Smith
Remember to bring my own bag and stop getting charged 10 cents. Reuse food scraps and pulp (for soups, pies, curry) before throwing into compost. -Jaeah Lee
Drink more—from reusable containers like growlers. -Tom Philpott
I want to opt out of a full-body TSA scan at least once. I’m not comfortable with the amount of radiation those scanners give off, or the way TSA handled the public’s health concerns around them. -Maggie Severns
Refill my hand, dish and laundry soap from the bulk section at my local health food store rather than bring new containers into my home. -Amber Hewins
Stop being afraid to tell the 7-11 guy that I don’t need a plastic bag. -Sydney Brownstone
…and as for me, I’m going to volunteer for at least one environment-related project in my community—maybe a community garden workday, a beach cleanup, or trail maintenance at a local park.
Do you have an environmental new year’s resolution? Leave it in the comments.
