6 switches to make sustainable more attainable

I’m currently almost two weeks into my trip to India where I welcomed the new decade with a daily habit detox to recharge and then hopefully reset. I tried to set myself up to embrace the opportunity to incorporate more wellness habits into my routine by making my visit with family feel more like a wellness retreat, but more on that in a later post. I came here feeling drained and hoping to feel a sense of renewal before I left, but I didn’t think part of that process would be in a renewed sense of environmental responsibility.

When leaving the airport, my sister and I noticed billboards about the state of Kerela banned single-use plastics as of January 1, 2020 right as we arrived.  I had no idea before traveling to India in December that the Prime Minister announced an initiative in 2019 on Ghandi’s birthday to phase out single-use plastics “

““We have to build an andolan (movement) to induce behavioral change which was at the heart of Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy.” - Prime Minister Narendra Modi”

We noticed non-woven bags when we shopped, paper straws when we dined, and paper bags when I went to pick up medicine after catching a really bad cold in Los Angeles right before I came. When talking to a shop owner about what he thought about the new movement given that the new bags do cost him a little more, he said:

“Our ancestors gave us beautiful nature and now, we are destroying it day by day. What kind of environment are we going to leave our children if we don’t cut pollution now? People throw leftover vegetable garbage and food items in the plastic bag and throw in the street where animals like cows are dying because they eat the plastic bag along with the food. Most people burn our garbage, but the burning of plastic bags releases toxic chemicals into the air. Change is our responsibility.”

While I’ve been here, images of the wildfires in Australia have been heartbreaking. Couple this with seeing Kerala putting plans in action that could help make such a huge impact, it left me wondering what are things I could do to detox my lifestyle and take steps to live more sustainably as part of the impact I want to leave on this Earth for my children. When the shop owner said “Change is our responsibility”, I fulll-heartedly agreed but if you are anything like me - big changes also feel overwhelming so I put together a list of a few simple switches I’ve been making while I’m here to make sustainable also feel ‘attainable’ when I get back home to share with you all.

Single-Use Plastic Cups: I’ve got a bad habit of pulling out plastic cups at home all the time when the kids or myself want something to drink so I can just throw it away when it’s done instead of having to wash more dishes, but switching out plastic cups will cut down a lot of plastic use in my house.

Starbucks Coffee Cups: I started drinking my coffee, matcha, or however I like to start my day much more frequently at home last year. However, there are periods where I’m on the run where I’m stopping for my daily caffeine habit at Starbucks. I like stopping in for convenience, but will try and take in my own reusable drinking container.

Toxic Products (Home + Body): I obsessively looked for cleaner solutions when I was first pregnant. The Honest Company launches while I was pregnant with Alaia and the delivery service was not only great so I didn’t have to drive with a newborn for minor shopping, but it also made me feel like I was making better cleaning solutions when I had young kids who still mouthed things that fell out of their mouth and onto the floor. As someone who used all medical grade skincare, I even went all natural or bust for a while because I didn’t want to snuggle up on them with a face full of retinol, not knowing if that could be a source of some of the excema and skincare issues they both went through. As they grew out of that and as they also grew old enough not to mouth things that touch the floor, I relaxed on a lot of my household goods but want to spend this year making a more conscious effort to reduce the chemicals used in my house and on our bodies using resources like the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep cosmetic database. I also pretty much rejected fully natural skincare once I got my first wrinkle, but after turning to more ayurvedic items in India after my toiletry bag got poached by the TSA I want to develop more of a clean clinical blend into my daily beauty routines.

Plastic Bags: Most grocery stores around Los Angeles have alternatives to plastic bags, but I probably use mine for everything but the grocery store. Sometimes I even make it all the way to the store with it in my trunk and forget until checkout.

Fast-Fashion: This is the area I feel like I may struggle the most in. Fast fashion has been criticized at making a huge environmental impact as estimates have shown more than half of fast fashion items are thrown out within a year of purchase. The last time I was here, I started off the trip with a shopping day to get clothes that are more appropriate for the more conservative areas we would be visiting which I also enjoyed because I love to shop and find fun things to wear. I’m going to have to start to dig in on what changes I can make at home, but while I’ve been here I just wore my mother’s clothing instead of coming and purchasing traditional clothes to wear while I’m here that I never wore again after returning home.

Meat Centric Meals: So if you read my post you’ll see that one thing I didn’t know before is that the the single biggest impact I can make to fight climate change might be with my diet….by cutting animal products. (😬 Not exactly a fact I went digging for since I wanted to celebrate my birthday when I got home with a dinner date at Mastros)! In fact, my sister told me that going one year without paper saves 8.5 trees, but going without beef saves 3,432 trees. 😳 So while I’m not sure if I’m ready to give it all up and go vegan like my sister, I did promise her I’d participate in #veganuary while I’m here and continue at home for the rest of the month. I have been vegan for a period after having both children because of elimination diets I was doing to see what was causing their excema and blood in their stool which my doctor said is a result of food sensitivities, but I’ve gone back to eating normally now that I’m done with breastfeeding. We’ll see if I make it through this vegan month and from there I’ll figure out how far I want to take it.

Now that you’ve read some of mine, what would you add to this list? DM me on Instagram at @JASMINEPENNAMMA to let me know!