Hopefully you all enjoyed a delicious, festive, and safe transition from 2019-2020! We’re excited about the work and opportunities for climate action in the coming year and as you’re all getting ready to think of the year ahead, we had a few suggestions for 2020 New Year’s resolutions to help fight climate change:
Eat less meat. As we discussed in a previous post, meat consumption makes a major impact on our carbon footprint. Switching to a plant-based diet is one easy, no-cost method that highly influences your carbon footprint (going plant-based has a bigger impact than buying an electric car). You could start by introducing just one meat-free day to your diet… and then adding more as the year goes on. Check out our Thanksgiving post for some recipe ideas.
Walk more. If you want to get healthy in the New Year, instead of going in on a hefty gym membership, just plan to drive less and walk more. In a recent study of 16,000 elderly American women, researchers found that women who walked at least 4,400 steps a day had significantly lower mortality rates compare to less active women. If they did more than that, mortality rates continued to drop, until they reached about 7,500 steps, at which point the rates leveled out. Ultimately, increasing daily physical activity by as little as 2,000 steps was found to have significant health benefits. So – even if it takes a little longer – not only will you save on all those carbon emissions… you’ll be getting healthier every day.
Purchase second hand goods. I made a resolution this year that I won’t be buying any new clothes. If I do make purchases, I’ll be buying from second hand shops and vintage clothing stores, but you could apply this thinking to any of your shopping habits. Here are some second hand stores in Napa that you might enjoy visiting anyways!
- Wildcat Vintage – vintage clothing store for men and women.
- CP Thrift Shop – donated clothes that result in community donations!
- Napa Bookmine – used bookstore (new books are available, too).
- Goodwill – used clothing, books, furniture and more!
- Sanchez Appliances – used parts for repair and some used appliances for sale.
Work to make one part of your community more sustainable. Focus on a small community: your book group, your preschool classroom, your workplace and introduce new programs throughout the year to make that place more sustainable. You can start small by introducing new recycled purchasing programs or energy efficient lightbulbs, but you could also help those places pledge to be carbon neutral in the next two years. Want help? Just ask us and we can provide some recommendations!
Get Out the Vote! It’s an election year and every candidate on the ballot should have a position about climate change. We may only get to vote a few times during the year, but we get the chance to engage the rest of our community every day. So volunteer to register voters, make calls at call centers, call your current leaders to express your support of aggressive climate resolutions, and resolve to educate yourself on leaders (local and national) on their climate change positions and vote with that as a priority on election day. This can be a weekly (even daily) practice that we introduce to our lives in 2020!
What about you? What other New Year’s resolutions will help support climate action in 2020?