2024: New Year's Resolutions for Our Environment

What are your new year's resolutions for 2024?

A lot of people aim to eat healthier, participate in more fitness activities, procrastinate less, study more, work hard to get a promotion, etc.

Similar to these goals, let's add a little something to our lists:

Helping nature.

You might be thinking, isn't that what we're already doing?

Well, yeah. We might already be composting, or already trying to be using reusable items over disposables. We might be telling others to stop littering or switching to a renewable energy. We might be buying local or packing for a trip with an environmentally conscious mind.

So, if we do some of these things, see if you can add one more to your list: to start composting if you're really concerned about food waste or start supporting small businesses if you're concerned about the transportation emissions produced to bring an item made abroad. Even if it's deciding to use reusable/paper shopping bags instead of plastic ones, it makes all the difference!

But if you feel that you've exceeded expectations for most of the things you can do at home, try something creative and unique this year:

1. Look into starting a neighborhood service.

2. Start writing/creating a book, blog or vlog about the environment. Maybe your new year's resolution is to start and maybe finish a book about the various endangered species about the environment. Or maybe it's a vlog showing people how to easily recycle, compost, and even start a garden. Whatever it is, showing your passion for this through an indirect way such as writing and vlogging is a beautiful resolution. Even creating a social media account that is all about the environment is an amazing idea: this way, if you hear of an environmental event or planning one yourself, you can share the details through a post so the maximum amount of people can attend and learn about climate change and sustainability. You can even start online or social media campaigns this way.

3. Take part of a competition. Sometimes, competitions are a great way to get you motivated to do something. Choose joining a competition based on your interests. If you love to engineer, maybe choose a competition to create an invention to help the environment. If you love to draw, choose a competition to best represent a climate problem, solution, or even an emotion related to the topic through art. If you love photography and/or videomaking, choose a competition where you submit your best photos and videos that spread awareness about the environment. If you love to code, take part of a competition where you create an app about it or tracks something like someone's carbon footprint. If you love entrepreneurship, take part of a competition where people compete to create a unique business that supports the cause.

There's so much scope for change when it comes to competing, so if you're that type of person, go for it!

For example, kids aged 13-18 years might be interested in the Slingshot Challenge (https://www.nationalgeographic.org/society/projects/slingshot/) by National Geographic.

These are just some of the various ways to try something different in 2024. 2024 is the year of environmental change, I just know it. :-)

Works Cited:

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Stock photo (motionelements.com)