With the ongoing climate crisis, something that should be at the top of all our agendas is being eco-friendly and making sure our actions are responsible. If you are feeling anxious or hopeless about the state of the planet, one of the best ways to reassure yourself is to make sure you are acting in a way that you are proud of and are not ashamed of. Being eco-friendly altogether as a family is a good way to begin this – this will also teach your kids about these important moral decisions. Here are a couple of ways that you can be a more eco-friendly family.

Get some good quality and lasting furniture

If you are wanting to be less wasteful, a place to start would be to buy great quality furniture which is both eco-friendly and will last for a long time. This way, your family home only needs to be furnished once and you won’t have to keep replacing things – which creates wastes and fuels consumer culture. You should know what kind of materials are good and which are bad for the environment – for example, if you are buying wooden furniture, try to find out where the wood comes from and ensure you aren’t buying wood that is destroying rainforests. Mattresses are an example of something that often go to waste and end up in a tip when disposed of, so try and invest in a good quality one to avoid this. Here are the best latex mattress options, which are great if you are looking to combine comfort and environmental sustainability.

Get some solar panels for your roof

Solar panels are great – once installed, they can provide you with most of your energy so you will be largely self-sufficient. If you have a family, this is particularly worthwhile – doing all the cooking and washing for yourself and the kids uses up a fair bit of energy, so this would be a great investment if you are providing for quite a few people. Although they are a bit expensive to install initially, you do gradually make your money back and eventually you save money too, all while doing your bit for the planet.

Cycle around more and use your car less

Reliance on cars is something that families are guilty of, but in reality, you probably don’t need to use your car as much as you think you do. When you consider all of the different times you use your car, how much of the time is it for essential purposes and how much of it is for those times when you could have walked but instead decided to drive? Using your car too much is a pretty unhealthy habit. Not only does this means that you are using more fossil fuels, but it also means you will be getting less physical exercise. It is also very expensive – fuel costs and the cost of parking really can add up.

Instead, why not cycle around more? Cycling is a really efficient way to get around and once you have bought the bike, it is free – it will also give you a great workout. Family cycling trips are great fun and the more you normalise using your bike for small errands, the less you’ll use the car.

Once you start to make more eco-friendly decisions, you will be a great role model for other families. What a lot of people fail to realise is that a lot of the changes you can make are pretty simple but their overall effect will be big. As a whole, society needs to inspire and encourage each other to act responsibly.

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