Recommendations for individuals

Introduction

This page contains a list of recommendations for individuals. I either already apply those recommendations in my personal life or I would probably apply them in the right set of circumstances.

Everyone is different, so some of the following recommendations may seem useless or even downright stupid to you. That's perfectly normal. Feel free to apply the recommendations you find useful and ignore the rest.

Please send me an e-mail if you want to share some recommendations I haven't already included in the list. I'm always looking for new interesting ideas.

List

Only vote for politicians and political parties that are genuinely concerned about climate change and other major environmental issues, and are willing to take immediate action to mitigate them. Never vote for politicians and political parties that reject basic scientific facts and oppose regulating harmful industries of any kind.

Go car-free. Walk, ride a bicycle, or take public transportation instead.

Drink tap water instead of bottled water (only if tap water is drinkable in the place you live in).

Use a reusable steel water bottle.

Compost the following items:

Food scraps

Paper tissues

Paper towels

Toilet paper

Leaves

Sawdust

Nail clippings (only if you didn't paint them)

Hair clippings (only if you didn't dye them)

Cork

Coffee grounds

Toothpicks

Pizza boxes (only if dirty)

Cotton balls (only if not contaminated with harmful chemicals)

Cotton buds (only if they have a compostable handle)

Wood ash (only if the wood wasn't treated or painted)

Don't paint your nails or you won't be able to compost your nail clippings.

Don't dye your hair or you won't be able to compost your hair clippings.

Avoid plastic packaging.

Avoid packaged foods.

Adopt a vegan diet. Stop eating animal products (e.g. meat, dairy, eggs, fish, honey).

Avoid air travel. In particular, avoid short-haul flights and take the train instead. If you absolutely need to take a plane, fly in economy class only. Don't even think about first class or business class.

Ignore fashion. In particular, avoid fast fashion.

Avoid advertisements. Don't watch television channels or listen to radio stations that broadcast advertisements. Install ad blockers on all your digital devices, and don't feel guilty about that.

Sell or donate all items that you no longer find useful but that could still be valuable to somebody else. By increasing the lifespan of such items, you will prevent the environmental costs of disposing them in a landfill. By reducing the demand for new items, you will also prevent the environmental costs of manufacturing them.

If you can't sell an unwanted item or you don't want to, donate it instead of trashing it.

Don't buy electronic devices with non-replaceable batteries.

Don't throw away computers in working conditions just because they are old and they seem to become slower over time. That's almost always due to bloated proprietary software, not due to issues with the hardware itself. Replace all bloated proprietary software (e.g. Microsoft Windows) with lightweight free software substitutes (e.g. GNU/Linux). If that's not enough, you may also try to upgrade some specific hardware components instead of replacing the entire computer. For example, you can replace a slow hard disk drive (HDD) with a fast solid state drive (SSD), or you can expand the amount of RAM by either installing additional modules or replacing existing modules with larger ones.

Insulate your house.

Don't use air conditioning in summer when relying on a fan provides enough of a relief.

Dispose of broken air conditioning units and refrigerators in a proper way, since they contain very powerful greenhouse gases that could escape in the atmosphere and make climate change worse.

Install solar panels on your house.

Switch to a 100% renewable energy provider.

Grow your own food (e.g. fruits, vegetables).

Buy used items instead of new ones.

Dry your wet clothes on a clothes line or drying rack. Don't use a clothes dryer.

Avoid buying gold (e.g. jewels, coins, ingots). Sell any gold you already have. By increasing supply and reducing demand, the price of gold will decrease, and mining will become less profitable.

Don't buy jewelry containing precious metals (e.g. gold) or precious stones (e.g. diamonds).

Use your electronic devices as long as possible. Don't replace them just because a new model is out.

Don't use disposable plastic items such as:

Straws

Cutlery

Bags

Balloons

Don't use disposable razors. Use safety razors instead.

Always dry the blade of your safety razor with a towel after every use. This will significantly increase its lifespan.

Always carry reusable shopping bags. Don't use disposable shopping bags.

Buy bar soap instead of liquid soap. The first reason is that disposable plastic is nasty, and while bar soap usually comes in a cardboard box, liquid soap always comes in a plastic bottle. The second reason is that liquid soap contains large amounts of water, while bar soap doesn't. Water is heavy, and transporting it with trucks over long distances is a source of pollution that can be entirely avoided in this case.

Use glass jars instead of plastic containers.

Only buy fruits and vegetables without plastic packaging. Put them in compostable or reusable bags instead.

Save water and energy by taking military showers. Basically, turn off the water while lathering.

Save water and energy by installing faucet aerators.

Don't litter. Pick up litter instead.

Don't iron your clothes. Don't buy clothes that require ironing.

Don't pour more water into a kettle than you actually need.

Avoid food waste.

Consider donating money to charities working to solve the most pressing environmental issues (e.g. climate change). Alternatively, donate money to charities promoting veganism (vegan diets are much more sustainable on average than diets that include animal products).

Don't go on cruise holidays.

Turn off lights when you don't need them.

Unplug appliances and devices when not in use.

Don't distract yourself or other persons when driving. Road accidents can be harmful to both people and property. Things such as surgery, funerals and vehicle repairs can be very expensive or have a high environmental impact, either directly or indirectly.

Don't hunt or fish.

Don't have kids. If you really want to expand your family, consider adopting children instead of having your own biological ones.

Wash clothes less often. There's no need to wash clothes after every use (unless they are dirty or smelly).

Turn off the tap while brushing your teeth.

Don't smoke.

Suspend your computer when not using it for short amounts of time. Hibernate it instead for longer amounts of time.

Buy toilet paper made with recycled paper instead of virgin paper.

Always cover pots and pans with a lid to keep heat inside and reduce cooking time.

Always match pots and pans to the burner with the right size.

Don't buy clothes made of animal products (e.g. leather, wool, silk, feathers, fur).

Don't throw organic material in the trash because, once in a landfill, it decomposes anaerobically producing methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

Don't buy ivory.

Buy "ugly" fruits and vegetables, as long as they are good to eat. The cosmetic standards many supermarkets and customers have come to expect are harmful because they cause a lot of perfectly edible food to be wasted.

Reduce the brightness of your computer display to an acceptable level.

When appropriate, consider replacing HDDs (hard disk drives) with SSDs (solid state drives) since the latter one use less energy than the former ones. On the other hand, please don't forget about the considerable energy needed to manufacture new electronic devices. If you don't need a performance boost or a longer-lasting battery and you already have HDDs that work perfectly well, consider using them as long as possible before switching to SSDs.

Consider video conferencing instead of travel.

Go to the local grocery store by foot and put the items you purchase in your own shopping cart.

Avoid having pets. If you really want a pet, adopt it instead of buying it.

If you have one or more pets but you can't afford them anymore, you should not abandon or kill them just because you want to save money. Please consider implementing any of the other money saving recommendations in this article first. If everything else fails, you should find another person who is happy to adopt your pets, either temporarily or permanently.

Only buy efficient appliances.

Turn the heat off in the rooms of your house you're not using, and close them off.

Don't buy more food than your family can eat.

Make your own all-purpose cleaning solution by mixing equal parts of vinegar and water.

Buy bulk, raw ingredients and cook from scratch.

Don't buy lottery tickets.

Don't watch TV. Sell or donate all your TV sets.

Don't save credit card details on online store websites. Manually type credit card details every time you need to make a purchase. This strategy can be useful to avoid impulse purchases.

Don't use credit cards. Use debit cards instead.

Leave your cash and credit cards at home when you don't really need them. You can't buy anything on impulse if you don't have money on you.

If you have a good relationship with your parents, consider living with them instead of living on your own.

Don't buy proprietary software (e.g. Microsoft Windows). Use free software only (e.g. GNU/Linux).

Medical bills can be very expensive, so take care of your health and prevent problems from developing in the first place.

Choose the smallest house your family can comfortably live in. Don't buy or rent bigger, more expensive houses.

Avoid debt.

Get out of debt as soon as you can. Pay highest interest debts first.

Use LED light bulbs only. Don't use incandescent or fluorescent light bulbs.

Use rechargeable batteries instead of disposable ones.

Test batteries you suspect are bad with a multimeter before discarding them. You shouldn't throw away batteries which are good enough for other, less demanding devices.

Before discarding batteries with dirty electrodes, clean them with alcohol and test them again with a multimeter.

Avoid eating out (e.g. restaurants, coffee shops, pubs). Eat at home and prepare food yourself.

Don't buy coffee from the coffee shop. Make your own coffee, instead.

Cut your own hair. Alternatively, have a friend, a relative or your partner do it.

Buy generic drugs instead of branded ones.

Exercise at home instead of paying for a gym membership.

Use surge protectors to protect valuable electronic devices from voltage spikes.

Pay your bills on time. Avoid late fees.

Don't drink alcohol.

Buy dried legumes instead of canned ones.

Refill your empty ink cartridges instead of buying new cartridges.

Instead of buying books, check them out from a library.

Don't buy souvenirs.

Don't buy items just because they are cheap. Only buy items that you really need.

Find frugal ways to entertain yourself. Don't think of shopping as a way to cope with boredom. Avoid spending money on things such as museums, concerts, movies, theaters, etc.

Bring your lunch at work.

Don't buy luxury items (e.g cars, watches, houses, yachts, clothes, paintings, jewelry). If you already have some luxury items, sell them and start managing money in a more responsible way.

Don't buy makeup products.

Avoid buying foods or drinks from vending machines.

Don't fall victim to lifestyle inflation.

Don't shop unless you need something specific.

Cancel unused subscriptions.

Don't buy gifts for other people, especially if you're not sure the recipients will like those gifts. Of course, you should tell people that they don't have to buy gifts for you, as well.

Don't buy kits to produce your own carbonated water at home. Drink plain tap water instead

Avoid DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), or learn how to remove it. When companies selling DRM-laden media go out of business, they will inevitably stop supporting their own DRM scheme, so you could end up being unable to access the media files you paid for and be forced to buy them again from other companies. Instead, you should either avoid buying DRM-laden media, or at least find the right software tools you can use to remove DRM from the media files you legitimately purchased, so you can keep them no matter what happens to the companies that sold them to you. In the latter case, make sure to avoid proprietary tools; only use tools released under a free software license.

If you don't need an item urgently, write it down on a list and wait a few days or weeks before buying it.

Before buying something, use what you already have in your house.

Don't go to the grocery store when you're hungry.

Don't put warm food in a refrigerator. Let it cool down outside first.

Don't pay the television license (only if doing that is legal in your country).

Don't buy non-stick cookware.

Don't buy or use cutting boards made of plastic. Instead, use cutting boards made of wood.

Use microfiber cloths instead of paper towels.

Reuse worn-out clothes as rags before trashing them.

On GNU/Linux systems, you can save energy and increase the lifespan of your hardware by downclocking your CPU with cpupower. On my personal desktop computer, for example, I downclocked my 3.0 GHz CPU to 2.0 GHz (the lowest supported frequency).

Don't buy single-use coffee pods. They are difficult to recycle because they are made of a mix of plastic, aluminum and organic material.

Reuse old toothbrushes for cleaning purposes.

Dry your hair with a towel instead of using a hair dryer, especially in summer or if you have short hair.

Don't buy homeopathic products.

Don't use helium for recreational purposes (e.g. balloons). Helium is the second most abundant element in the universe, but here on Earth it is a scarce non-renewable resource that should be used sparingly.

Minimize spending money on ceremonies (e.g. weddings, funerals, graduations, awards). It doesn't make any sense to consume large amounts of financial or other kinds of resources for the sake of a single day of your life.

Turn off your router during the night.

Replace your lawn with an edible garden.

Don't wash your car.

Be deliberate and selective when downloading or streaming online videos and other high-bandwidth media.

Compost dirty pizza boxes. Recycle clean pizza boxes.

If you prefer liquid soap to bar soap, use a foam soap dispenser with diluted liquid soap instead of using the latter directly.

Use a bidet in order to minimize your consumption of toilet paper.

Buy compostable cotton buds only. Don't buy cotton buds with a plastic handle.

Don't use gas-powered leafblowers or lawnmowers: they are very noisy and polluting.

Wash dishes by hand with cold water (at least in summer).

Don't line your waste container with a plastic bag.

Turn off the engine of your car when idling.

Don't use one-day shipping.

Don't live in a place with a climate you hate. Living in a place with a climate you can't stand can have a high environmental footprint and can cost you a lot of money.

Don't use thick towels in winter: they can take a long time to dry. Use thin towels, instead.

At night, turn off lights and save some electricity if darkness does not interfere with what to have to do (e.g. listening to music, talking on the phone).

Don't put oily food inside plastic containers. If you do that, you will need a lot of hot water and soap to clean them properly. Use glass or stainless steel containers instead.

Don't use trash can liners (as long as you don't throw food scraps in your trash).

Scrape food residues off dishes before washing them. You will save a lot of hot water and soap.

Don't use a microwave oven to heat any food or drink in a plastic container. Use a glass or ceramic container instead.