Sustainable New Years’ Resolutions
Every year around this time, my brother-in-law emails the entire family with a request: send me your New Year’s resolutions! In his email, he always includes our resolutions from the previous year, maybe as inspiration or maybe to remind us of where we fell short.
Usually, I’m pretty good at staying on track with at least one or two of my commitments, which tend to revolve around healthy habits like the number of steps I intend to walk or minutes per day I hope to meditate. I always include some goals around deepening my daily sustainability practices, e.g. add more vegetarian meals to our menu every week.
I just peeked at my resolutions from last year and I see I achieved none of them. None. At. All. Last year was a difficult year.
But the New Year is here. And there is something powerful about a restart. I don’t know why, but the first day of the year is as good as it gets on the “turn-over-a-new-leaf” front. And there is something very motivating about putting your goals in writing and sharing them with others. So, in anticipation of my brother-in-law’s email and to increase my accountability beyond my family, I’m sharing my resolutions for 2024 right here:
Do cardio (elliptical or biking) minimum 3 days per week. Note: This is not a stretch goal…I can do this!
Add 5 new vegetarian meals to my repertoire. Note: I have a decent chance of achieving this if I re-start my vegetarian cookalongs from a couple years ago. Stay tuned!
Aim to eat 4 vegetarian dinners each week. Note: c’mon, Steph. Totally do-able if you remember to do weekly meal planning.
Make Matt’s favorite granola at least twice a month to avoid the plastic and cardboard cereal packaging. Note: bonus is that it makes Matt very happy.
Re-learn how to make reusable produce bags and offer them at our local farmers’ market around Earth Day. Note: This is 100% inspired by Anne-Marie Bonneau. See her blog about this here.
Work with my local chapter of Sierra Club to help raise awareness and support for introducing a bottle deposit bill in DC.
When coming up with my personal sustainability goals, these are some of the questions I try to answer for myself:
Is there something more I can do to reduce the plastic waste in my life? (answer: there is always something more!)
Though I’m not a vegetarian, can I raise my ambition to eat a more plant-based diet?
What is a sustainability goal that could increase my connection to my community?
What can I do to amplify my voice through organizations rowing in the same direction as I am?
I hope these might be helpful to you as well.
Wishing you a fulfilling New Year!
