Many people who want to live a more sustainable life believe that switching to eco-friendly alternatives is the main thing to do. But in fact, what’s needed is a change in mindset.
Buying greener products is great, but it’s only a small part of living more sustainably. The biggest part of it is changing your mindset. You want to arrive at a point where everything you do is as sustainable as possible without you even having to think about it.
Sustainability has become your way of living, your lifestyle, who you are.
If this sounds a bit overwhelming to you, you’re not alone. Most people will feel the same, and it stops them from even attempting it.
But developing a sustainability mindset is possible without getting overwhelmed, stressed, or burnt out. In this guide I will show you how. But first…
Why A Mindset Change?
Before we get into the how, let’s talk about the why. Every single thing we do has an impact on our environment, because we are part of this environment.
This is perfectly normal and it’s the same for every other creature on our planet. The problem is that we humans have changed the world from a nature-dominated environment to a human-dominated environment. (Messerli et al., 2000)
This change has taken place over millions of years, as humans developed the means to move from adapting to their environment to them adapting the environment to their needs.
Unfortunately, this means that our impact on the environment has increased hugely, which has driven global warming and climate change.
Carbon emissions are just one of the consequences of our impact on the environment. The depletion of resources is another, which is driven by overconsumption in our consumerist societies.
It leads to deforestation, biodiversity loss, pollution, water degradation, soil depletion, greenhouse gas emissions, and ultimately climate change. (Chu and Karr, 2016)
So to live a more sustainable life we have to reduce the impact we have on our environment. And this can’t be done by just switching to a few eco-friendly products, although it helps.
The only true solution is a mindset change from unsustainable to sustainable.
Developing A Sustainable Mindset In 4 Steps
Like with any mindset change, this can’t be done overnight. Instead it’s a journey that can take years. If you try to go too fast, you will soon get overwhelmed and give up.
The steps I’m going to outline are based on the Stages Of Change Theory from clinical settings (Rahihan and Cogburn, 2023), but I adapt them to fit for developing a sustainability mindset:
They are meant to be taken one after the other, so no skipping. How long you spend with each step will depend on your individual circumstances. And you will continue one step while starting a new one.
- Awareness
- Start small
- Build on it
- Turning it into mindset change
Think of this process as a marathon, not a sprint. You want to change your mindset for good, not just for a few weeks and then go back. That’s the only way to achieve a more sustainable life.
Step 1: Awareness
It might surprise you, but the first step to change your mindset is awareness. And as you are here, you’re already halfway there.
You’re reading this article, because you’re aware of climate change and the impact you and your behaviour has on our environment. Awareness is vital, because it triggers the wish to change, without which it won’t happen.
Next, your awareness needs to become more concrete. How exactly does your behaviour impact the environment? Which patterns are the worst for the planet? Which changes will make a difference?
This is your research phase or preparation phase, which is important, because not only will it show you what to change, but it will also cement your commitment to making the changes and get to the sustainability mindset. So don’t be tempted to skip this step.
Gathering this information can take many forms: you can read books, attend talks, browse trustworthy websites (like my Eco HomeLife Explains series), talk to people who have knowledge in this area, etc.
Social media can also be a source for information, but be cautious and make sure you select accounts that are trustworthy and base their posts on real knowledge rather than hearsay or misinformation.
Follow climate change organisations, such as Greenpeace, The Climate Coalition, Climate Action Network, The Wildlife Trust, etc. These tend to have a strong social media present and provide well-researched information.
As your knowledge and understanding grows, you will start to see where changes can be made. You move into some sort of planning phase. This can be you actually writing down what changes you want to achieve or just some vague ideas in your head.
I did the latter and it looked something like:
- I want to reduce the amount of waste our household produces
- I want to buy less and only what I need
- I want to consider buying second-hand as much as possible
- I want to reduce the amount of plastic in my life as much as possible
- I want to use eco-friendly alternatives for the products I use
If this looks a bit much and overwhelming to you, you’d be right. If I attempted to do all these things at once, I would have given up by now. So I didn’t, I moved to the next step.
I also continue my research to learn more about our impact on the environment to get more ideas and ways to change for the future.
Step 2: Start Small
Once I had some ideas of the goals I wanted to achieve, I picked out three small changes I wanted to make towards these goals. As tempting as it might be, trying to do more would not have been a good idea.
The amount of things I would have to change would have soon overwhelmed me. By starting small, the changes become manageable and easy to maintain. So what do I mean by “start small”?
One to three small changes that you can easily weave into your daily routines and that fit with your lifestyle. Things that don’t need much effort, time, or money.
I decided to chosen three small changes:
- Stop and think before I buy clothes – as my first step towards buying less and only what I need
- Make cotton cleaning cloths to replace kitchen roll – as my first step towards reducing the waste we produce
- Switch to shampoo bars – as my first step to using eco-friendly alternatives for the products I use as well as to reduce plastic in my life
It’s amazing how powerful the first change was, despite being small. The simple act of just asking myself “do I really need this garment?” has reduced the amount of clothes I buy drastically.
The switch to handmade cotton cloths to clean was very simple and quickly became second nature. The same was true for the switch to shampoo bars.
Which small changes you choose is up to you. You might feel strongly about a certain goal, like becoming a conscious consumer and buying less and with more purpose. So your small changes might all be to achieve this goal.
What’s most important, is that the changes you make are small, fit with your life, and can be easily sustained.
One thing that really helps to embed these small changes and make them part of your routines is to celebrate when you action them. This sounds weird, I know. And you don’t have to jump up and down or do a celebration dance every time you wash your hair with a shampoo bar, unless you want to, of course.
But acknowledging that you have made the change every time and feel good about it, will help you to make it stick. That’s because we all like to feel good, right? When you feel good about something, you want to do it again.
This is also borne out by science, as it has beens shown that celebrating releases happy hormones, such as dopamine. (Ghosh et al., 2018) So whenever you have actioned one of your small changes, celebrate it.
Whether this is just a smile and a small nod, a fist pump or a happy dance, it doesn’t matter. Do what feels right for you.
Once you feel comfortable with the small changes you have made, you can start the next step: building on them
Step 3: Build On It
What do I mean by building on the small changes? Think of it like building a house. The small change is the first brick. Once it’s in place and secure, you add the next one, which is another small change that will help you to achieve the same goal.
For example, I decided to stop and think before I buy anything. With the big impact it had on my clothes shopping habits, I figured it could have the same impact on other things too.
To build on reducing waste, I decided start meal planning. Knowing what evening meals I’m going to cook every night, means I only buy what I need, reducing food waste.
And I switched from shower gel to soap bars to reduce plastic packaging and use an eco-friendly alternative of a product I use.
Every time you have embedded a small change into your daily life and feel comfortable with it, you chose another one that will achieve the same goal.
And there are so many small changes that you can make that won’t feel like you have to make a big effort or spend a lot of time or money. Here are some examples:
- Walk small distances instead of driving
- Cook meals using leftover ingredients
- Think before you buy something
- Switch from single-use to reusable items
- Repair your things rather than replace them – start small, maybe with just clothes
- Buy things second hand
- Make a list of the things you need before going shopping and sticking to it
- Grow herbs on your windowsill rather than buying them
- Leave a small patch in your garden wild
- Switch off the lights when you leave a room
- Air dry as much of your laundry as possible
- Switch from using multiple cleaners (kitchen, bathroom, mirror, floor, etc.) to an all-purpose cleaner
- Plant pollinator-friendly flowers in your garden/balcony/window box
- Wash your clothes less often – for example, a pair of jeans doesn’t need washing after one wear
- Shower more instead of having a bath every day – this saves water
- Sell unwanted things or give them to charity instead of throwing them away
There are many more, and as your awareness of how our behaviours impact on the environment increases, you will be able to come up with many ideas yourself.
This step of the process can take months and years. You just keep building on the small changes.
Step 4: Turning It Into Mindset Change
But how will these small changes turn into mindset change? How will you achieve developing a sustainability mindset?
Over time, this will happen naturally, because as your awareness increases you will automatically start to think more of the bigger picture. However, there are things you can do to speed up this process.
So far, we have looked for small changes that we can make. Now we look at the bigger picture and make the big changes. We turn our attention to bigger chunks of our lives and try to change every aspect of it.
You can do this in various ways. You can focus on certain routines in your life, such as beauty routine, cleaning routine, laundry routine, shopping routine, your commute, etc. Try to make these as sustainable as possible.
You can start in one room of your home and move to the next when you have finished. Everything you do in this room, try to turn it green. In the kitchen this could be cleaning, food storage, food preparation, wood waste, etc.
You can also look at the goals you have identified earlier and look at how you can come as close as possible to achieving them. So rather than just adding one small step, you add several. You’re still building on them, but you become more focussed on one aspect of your life.
Scrutinising your impact on the environment in such a way will lead you to be much more mindful of your actions and you will naturally start to make more eco-friendly decisions.
So what could this look like? Let’s look at diet, for example. You might have made small changes in terms of food shopping, meal planning, food waste reduction, etc. But now look at the full picture.
What do you eat? Where does your food come from? How is it produced? How is it packaged? How do you deal with food scraps?
Your aim here is to reduce the impact of your diet on our environment as much as possible.
We know that meat consumption has quite a big environmental impact, and scientists have argued that reducing the amount of meat we eat can have a huge impact. (Scarborough et al., 2023)
You don’t have to become a vegetarian or vegan, just eating less meat can make a big difference. We only eat meat twice a week now. But if that’s a step too far, try reducing the amount of meat you eat per meal and make up the amount with vegetables or pulses.
That’s how we started a few years ago. Rather than using 500g of meat in a curry for 4 people, we would only use 250g and make up the rest with vegetables. Not only is it better for the environment, it’s better for your health and it tastes better.
You also save money, because vegetables are cheaper than meat.
Most of our food comes from abroad, especially when it’s not in season. And it won’t be possible to only eat food that has been produced here in the UK, as there are many things we can’t grow in the British climate.
But what you can do is to try to buy as local as possible when possible. One way to do that is by eating seasonally as much as you can. Supermarkets tend to sell UK grown fruit and vegetables when they are in season, making it a bit easier.
Try to get into the habit of checking where an ingredient comes from. If it comes from far away, consider if you could swap it with something that has been grown closer. If you can access farm shops, make use of them, even if it’s just once a month or so.
This doesn’t mean you can’t buy things that aren’t in season, all it means is that you are mindful and try your best.
Most of the food we buy has been produced by intense farming, whether here in the UK or abroad. This means practices that aren’t good for the environment, such as monocultures, the use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers, deforestation, etc.
One way to avoid food grown under these circumstances is to buy organic, if you can. The next logical step, of course would be to grow your own food. If you have the resources, it’s a good idea.
Most of our food is packaged in plastic: meat, fruit, vegetables, seeds, nuts, etc. But there are ways to reduce this. You could shop in a zero-waste refill shop where you bring your own containers and fill them.
These shops sell rice, pasta, nuts, seeds, tea, flour, and so much more. And all without packaging. You could take your own containers to supermarkets and buy meat, cheese, fish, etc. at the counter and ask them to put the food in your containers rather than a plastic bag.
Buy fruit and vegetables individually rather than prepackaged, and bring your own reusable cotton produce bags.
Food scraps, such as peels, ends, cores, etc. don’t have to be thrown away. You can add them to a compost heap, making nutrient-rich compost for your plants.
Once you have gone through all of this, you will soon realise that you’re much more mindful of the environment where your diet is concerned. You might find yourself checking where your vegetables have been grown before putting them in your basket.
You’re starting to develop a sustainability mindset that will help you make greener decisions.
It’s Not Perfect Your Looking For
Developing a sustainability mindset isn’t about getting everything right. It’s about being mindful and trying your best.
You want to get to a point where you’re aware of how your actions impact on our planet. Where you know how to choose the better option for our environment.
But that doesn’t mean that you don’t buy that dress you really want, although you don’t need it. It doesn’t mean you don’t use the car to pick up your kids, even though you could walk, when you’re really tried.
It does’t mean you only buy clothes made from natural fibres. It doesn’t mean you buy everything second-hand. It doesn’t mean you don’t buy strawberries in winter because they aren’t in season.
What it means is that sustainability is at the forefront of your mind whatever you do, and if possible you will do what’s best for the environment. But in a way that works for you and your lifestyle.
Changing mindset can feel like a huge task and many people are put off by that. But by following these 4 steps you can develop a sustainability mindset without the overwhelm. Try it, you’ll be surprised how quickly your mindset starts to change.
