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(THE VERSION) Many people think of New Years resolutions and brainstorm ways to improve for the next year. What if those resolutions were expanded to include goals that benefit the planet, our communities, and society?
Although it might not be the most common approach, it can help you to see other ways you can be of service to others.
These are four popular New Years resolutions that will help you improve your relationship with the natural world in 2022 and beyond.
Pay more attention to how your actions affect the environment
Each of us has an environmental ethic that reflects how we value, manage, and ultimately relate with nature. This relationship can be improved by balancing the reciprocity between us, nature, and how much we give and take. A mishandled relationship to nature, whether it’s our addiction to plastics that end up in landfills or the use of fossil fuels that heat the Earth, is not good for us or the Earth.
We all have a greater responsibility to reduce the environmental impact of our actions in 2022. We can also encourage governments, businesses, and other organizations to make it easier to protect the environment for people with different socioeconomic backgrounds. This includes making recycled goods more affordable and making public transportation reliable and accessible.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has many resources that will help you reduce waste at work, home, in your community, and during holidays. You can also learn tips from the website such as turning off or disengaging lights during the day, recycling packaging materials, and using online billing services to replace paper mail.
You can also lose the burden of social injustice that harms nature.
Social injustice can have a negative impact on many aspects of society. Inequality and racism can lead to health disparities and have negative effects on the natural environment.
Recent research has shown that redlining and residential segregation lead to inequal access to nature, excessive pollution, and biodiversity loss. These practices resulted in the creation of highways, industries, and other activities that can harm environmental quality in marginalized areas. They also left communities with fewer parks and trees, which provide cooling in summer and help the planet.
Perpetuating social ills, such as systemic racism and inequitable allocation of resources, is detrimental to the environment and marginalized people, as well as society as a total.
Your voice can help turn the tide in your community. Join groups that promote environmental protection and social justice, and bring nature back to your community. Call your state, city, and congressional leaders to urge them take action. For concrete ways to make diversity initiatives work in your workplace, see the Green 2.0 reports section.
Learn about nature and how you can reduce harm to the environment.
Clean air, clean water, and healthy soil are vital for our survival. However, research has shown that many people lack basic knowledge about environmental and health literacy in order to protect their health.
Learn more about your impact on the environment in 2022. Read more to learn how you can preserve the integrity and beauty of your local natural resources. Find out how you can keep up to date with local land-use decisions that affect the environment and your community.
Local educators can also be supported and encouraged by you to integrate the environment into your lessons. Many other subjects are interrelated with environmental issues, including history and health. This website contains a framework and materials to assist educators in helping students increase their environmental literacy.
Staying connected with media that discuss current research can help increase awareness. You might also consider incorporating environmental knowledge and facts into your team-building and game night activities.
Spend more time outdoors with your family and friends
Studies have shown that spending time in nature, even urban green spaces, can improve your relationships with nature and others.
Spending time in nature can improve social cohesion. Many people found the outdoors a way to relax and reduce stress during the pandemic. Spending more time outdoors can increase social interaction that benefits health, buffer emotional distress, encourages use of these spaces, and can help them to be better prepared for the future.
Here are some tools to help you improve parks and recreation close to your home. Here are some ways to make outdoor spaces more inclusive for diverse families.
We can all think about how we relate to nature and find ways to protect it. This will help us be better stewards on the planet.
[Too busy to read another daily email? Get one of The Conversations curated weekly newsletters.]This article was republished by The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. You can read the original article here. https://theconversation.com/4-new-years-resolutions-for-a-healthier-environment-in-2022-172277.
