Climate Action
From Waistlines to Waste: Redefining New Year’s Resolutions
January 21, 2025
Believe it or not, it’s that time again — yep, the one where you slightly regret eating your parents’ endless home cooking over the holidays with such gusto and face up to the reality that the beginning of a new year is the right time to take control again and embrace endless positive possibilities.
A new year is a fresh start, and for those devoting themselves to various “new year, new me” resolutions, losing weight may be a major goal over the next twelve months.
While improving your health is a noble objective,nowhere does it say that you must limit yourself to one resolution. So, consider thinking on a bigger scale when deciding how you would like to change your habits in 2025. As you work on losing those few extra holiday pounds, you might want to also look into ways of lightening the weight of your impact on the planet!
EARTHDAY.ORG can help you!
Our key campaign areas — reducing plastic production, championing sustainable fashion, organizing and promoting trash cleanups, and backing the teaching of climate curricula in all schools and colleges — are all ready and waiting for your individual support! A common theme for all of them is, in one form or another, being mindful about not creating more waste or wasting resources.
Below are just a few ways to be more planet-conscious in your consumption habits in the new year that are achievable and will make you feel good about taking positive action!
Losing the Pounds… of Plastic Waste
After nearly a century of mass-producing plastic and a zillion plastic products, from food packaging to clothes, carpets, cosmetics and beyond, we are facing a plastic pollution crisis. Plastic has permeated almost every aspect of our lives, and it is found almost everywhere on Earth, including inside of our own bodies. Microplastics are associated with a whole range of human health issues from cancer and Alzheimer’s to infertility and more — and we are all consuming these tiny plastic particles in one way or another.
So, take the anti-plastic plunge and opt for better choices for the planet and your own health!
On an individual level, every one of us can strive to reject the plastic options before us. When you see a plastic soda bottle, move on and choose the ones being sold in glass bottles. Instead of using single-use plastic food storage bags for your daily lunches, opt for brown paper bags or even consider investing in washable cotton or beeswax-coated cloth bags. Instead of buying fancy shower wash or hand soap encased in plastic bottles buy hand soap! And every time you’re craving an iced latte, bring your own reusable cup for the coffee shop to fill — many places even offer discounts or cash-back for this eco-friendly choice!
By rejecting plastics we are letting manufacturers and producers know that we don’t want to support the plastic-producing regime anymore! You can find more information and facts here End Plastics.
Less is Indeed More
While we’re on the topic of waste (and waist!) reduction, let’s take a minute to talk about sustainability in the fashion industry. Clothing is a particularly significant source of waste, with discarded “fast fashion” trends contributing to huge amounts of both waste and carbon emissions every year. Fast fashion refers to the systematic production of cheap, low-quality clothes. Many of these items are made from plastic-based textiles such as polyester and nylon which, like all plastics, are primarily made from OIL!
From plastics-derived textile waste and toxic dye pollution in waterways to the creation of greenhouse gas emissions, the fashion industry is one of the most environmentally intensive industries in the world, accounting for up to 10% of global carbon emissions.
EARTHDAY.ORG’s Fashion for the Earth campaign is devoted to providing consumers with all of the facts they need in order to make sustainable and ethical choices in their consumption and care of clothing items. A big takeaway from this campaign is to try, if you can, to buy clothes made from natural materials such as cotton, linen and wool. Non-plastic textiles don’t shed harmful microplastic fibres that you could breathe in or that would enter into waterways.
Speaking of water pollution, don’t overwash your clothes. While we all tend to do this, not only does it use huge amounts of water and energy, it creates more microplastics that wash into the oceans. Our grandparents’ generation didn’t wash their clothes after every single wearing, and we don’t have to either!
Countless companies are taking on the challenges that the fashion industry presents them with in innovative ways — such as textiles made using organic fibers and agricultural waste, biodegradable sequins (really!), wooden buttons and other nature-based embellishments, as well as technologies minimizing overproduction.
On an individual level, you too can make better, more sustainable choices. If possible, shop sustainable brands and small businesses — no more Temu and Shein hauls! If you’re on a tight budget, consider going thrifting or participating in a community clothing swap. When you are shopping for a new gym outfit for your next workout, try to choose high-quality athletic wear that uses minimal plastic and plastic derivatives in their materials. Examples of low-intensity, plant-based textiles used by many sustainable athletic and leisure wear companies include lyocell, bamboo and hemp.
If you only take one thing away from this section, let it be simply to think before you buy. Instead of buying every niche trend that you know will only last about five minutes, invest in fewer and better made staple pieces. Classic clothes are always in fashion (and vintage is in!) Goodwill hunting and thrifting can also lead to finding one-of-a-kind pieces that will be the envy of all your friends and fellow fashionistas.
A Clean Start
As part of its commitment to reducing plastic pollution and working toward a waste-free world, EARTHDAY.ORG is leading the Great Global Cleanup, a worldwide initiative to remove trash, most of it plastic, from our neighborhoods and communities.
If you’d like to get involved and participate in a community cleanup, visit EARTHDAY.ORG’s interactive Global Cleanup Map to view both past and future cleanup events in your area. If you are an organizer or a cleanup and would like to register it on the map, go here.
Participating in cleanups is an excellent way to be an engaged member of your community, help make the world a better place, and get some fresh air and exercise. Who said community service couldn’t also be self-serving?
Don’t Give Up
The most important thing about making sustainable lifestyle changes is to not lose heart! The climate crisis is too large for any one person to be able to solve alone, but with everyone doing their share of reducing overall consumption and minimizing waste production, we have a much better chance of stopping, or at least slowing, the damage being done.
Of course, the better we understand the issues at hand, the more attuned we will be to available solutions and the more equipped we will be to enact them. This is where climate education and environmental literacy becomes so important. EARTHDAY.ORG is dedicated to making climate education materials accessible to educators around the world to ensure that we are raising future generations of compassionate, climate-aware activists. If you are an educator interested in obtaining materials for your classroom or school, visit EARTHDAY.ORG for more information and to find free resources like example curricula, advocacy packets, teacher guides, toolkits and more.
Just like that ambitious New Year’s resolution diet or workout schedule you may be pushing yourself to follow, it is easy to become discouraged about the climate crisis and to stop caring. But, by taking it a day at a time, being consistent and reminding yourself about why you are doing it, you can stick with it and will surely see some positive results this time next year.
But you have to start somewhere… Whether it is joining a clean up, signing our fashion petition or sharing our social media posts — take that first step and get involved!
