Sustainable Lifestyle

Do Your Part to Live Smart

According to the World Health Organization, 13 million deaths annually and nearly a quarter of all disease worldwide - including 33 percent of illnesses in children under age five - are due to environmental causes that could be avoided or prevented. Doing your part to take care of the environment helps you protect yourself and others from the effects of serious health issues such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cardiovascular disease and stroke that can be aggravated by an unhealthy environment.

How Can You Green Your Routine?

Incorporating sustainability into your lifestyle involves becoming aware of the impact of your choices in food, products, and energy use. Focus on the small steps you can take at home, at work, and in your community. You can start by calculating your environmental footprint or listening to CDC’s Supporting a Healthy Planet podcast.

Make sustainable food choices

Make good decisions with your fork. Choose foods that are healthy and nutritious. What is the environmental impact of your food? Take steps to learn more about how the food you purchase is grown, processed, packaged, and transported.

Learn more about what you can do to make sustainable food choices.

Recycle

Use, reuse, and dispose of products properly to keep harmful toxins out of our soil, water, and air. Consider composting to dispose of your waste. Biodegradable products and food waste can be used to enrich the soil.

Also, consider buying recycled products. If we reuse what we already have, less waste is generated.

Learn more about recycling.

Make good transportation choices

Sustainable transportation reduces environmental impacts from vehicle emissions and includes active and shared transportation options. Shared transportation includes vanpooling, carpooling, and public transportation. Active transportation includes activities like walking or bicycling that help to increase exercise. Walking or bicycling to and from the transit station can also help you to achieve the recommended daily amount of physical activity.

Investigate telecommuting or flexible work schedule policies at your place of work. Choosing to telecommute can help to reduce your carbon footprint significantly and can help to reduce the emission of health-harming pollutants.

Learn more about sustainable transportation.

Live a healthy lifestyle

The health of a population and the environment are undoubtedly related. By taking action to sustain the health of the environment, you have a positive impact on the health and wellness of those who live, work, and play in it.

Here are some more ways to live a healthy and sustainable lifestyle:

• Incorporate physical activity into your daily life
• Eat healthy, nutritious food
• Reduce stress
• Stay connected to friends and family

Conserve Energy and Water

Turn off your computer. Save energy by turning off your computer each night when you leave the office and turning off computers at home when not in use.

Turn off the lights. When you leave your office or are the last to leave a room, turn off the lights to save energy. This Home Energy Saver can help you to identify areas around your home where you can save energy.

Repair or report drips. Save water by repairing drips or leaks as soon as possible, or report them to your building manager to have the problem remedied.

Calculate your personal emissions. See what steps you can take to lower your personal emissions using this EPA Emissions Calculator.

See more tips on how you can conserve energy and water in your home and workplace.

Purchase environmentally responsible products and services

Limit your purchases to only necessary products when possible. When you do need to buy, consider products that are recycled, biodegradable, and Energy Star and EPEAT compliant. Consider products that have a longer life cycle and products that can be reused; avoid single use products such as disposable dishware and utensils.

Learn more about how you can make green purchases.

Charter a Green & Healthy workgroup within your organization, school, or community

Work with your leadership to form a team that will tackle making green and healthy changes in your group.