The most activity people are getting to do during the COVID era is going grocery shopping. It has always been an enjoyable experience for a lot of people, but when the threat of coronavirus sprung on everyone, this weekly activity has taken on a new meaning. What was fun became a matter of survival, a choice now could mean that you’ll last a few days more or you’ll be short and make a run again. This is about the absolute worst to do when the best thing you can do for yourself, your friends, and your family is staying inside your home.
As such, this new normal also introduced (or forced) us to be extra sensitive about safety. A face mask, alcohol spray, and gloves (at the minimum) mean that you have basic protection against things you could bring home. But, if there’s anything that has more meaning than these COVID essentials, it has to be our eco-bags.
Lessening trash is number-one in everyone’s environmentally-friendly practices. It also feels wrong not to use a tote bag now, as doing so means you’ll be adding plastic into the circulation. At least in our trips to the grocery, we should make use of tote bags.
Avoiding Excess at Any Cost
Avoiding excess is an exercise in utility. It doesn’t just affect you; everyone and everything involved in making and disposing products feel a difference when people limit their waste. The simplest way anyone can do it is to bring an eco-friendly handbag to avoid having to use more paper and (God forbid) plastic bags.
Just imagine everyone in your local grocery store checking out with no plastic baggage in sight; all products go into a tote. It’s a dream scenario: everyone recycles, and people will stop putting plastic into circulation. It should be an infinitely ordinary sight, and everyone should aim for that to be the new normal now.
The world is sick, has been sick, and as a result, everyone has been locked out of doing things normally. The coronavirus pandemic will definitely pass and be defeated with a vaccine, but it bared the world like it really is: fragile. Work, social life, and life itself can be taken from you before you even know it. We now see the version of an isolated world, a world where living and surviving is the same thing.
If everyone did their part, at a bare minimum, everyone could introduce a dramatic change into the world. Living sustainably, with a mind to spending and using less and reusing more, is the key. Are you going for your grocery run? Plan your meals, opt for healthy options, and always bring your tote.
A Safe, Healthy World is Possible
You, as an individual, are the key to remaking the world after the pandemic. It’s no understatement that each one person has a role to play for the world to come out better after being locked out. The old ways? Toss them out the window already, and let’s all get with the new normal: sustainable, safe, and vigilant. Change is most definitely coming, but everyone should do their best to steer the changes to what will really make a difference.
Everything you do at this time is for you and for everyone else. The measures you take to sanitize and be healthy affects people, one way or another. And if that means bringing an eco bag, then bring an eco bag. It’s a small start, but a worthy one.
Salman is a prolific environmental writer, and has authored more than 500 articles in reputed journals, magazines and websites. He is proactively engaged in creating mass awareness on renewable energy, waste management, sustainability and conservation all over the world.
Salman can be reached on salman@cleantechloops.com
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