5 Sustainable Tips While Living On The Road
Living on the road offers more freedom and luxury to travel. Even though you may feel “at one with nature” you must ask yourself the question, is this lifestyle truly eco friendly? Yes, your house is much smaller than a regular home or apartment but there are always ways we can be more environmentally conscious and truly giveback to better preserve our only home, planet Earth. Here are 5 actionable steps you can take to reduce your carbon footprint and support a sustainable eco system while living on the road.
(Heck, you can even do this if you live in a house or apartment! Why not get started now?)
1.Seek Out Recycling Centers
One positive thing about living van life is your overall consumption nearly disappears. Because of your new minimal lifestyle and lack of space to buy new things, the only thing we find ourselves buying is food from the grocery store. One of the saddest realities since living van life is the obvious lack of recycling containers in this country! I don’t understand why this crisis has no attention. You will not find any at gas stations and even multiple state and national parks lacked recycling bins! It drove us crazy and still does to this day. We would sometimes carry our recycling for weeks until we found a safe place to dump it.
*Recycle: Keep a recycling bin in your van and locate your nearest recycling center to dump it
If you’re having a hard can finding a place to dump, you can locate your nearest recycling center through this app here called: Recycle Finder.
2. Pack Reusable Shopping Bags
As mentioned above, the only place you’ll find yourself shopping is the grocery store. At every grocery run, come prepared with your own shopping bags.
*Above all, DO NOT USE plastic bags!
Here are some ultra compact bags we keep on hand to carry into the grocery store. Shop bags here.
3. Use Reusable Storage Bags
Never buy single use plastic bags again. These reusable storage bags are 100% non plastic, made out of pure non-toxic platinum silicone. We love and recommend the Stasher bags because they also contain no BPA, no PVC, and no latex. They are easy to use and clean. Shop bags here.
*Find plastic free options in all your home supplies!
4. Invest In A Reusable Water Bottle
*Avoid buying plastic single use water bottles.
While living on the road you have a finite amount of water in your water storage, generally saved for showers, cleaning and even drinking. To conserve our water in our tank we keep one of these stainless steel 1 gallon water containers up in the front of the cab that we constantly refill when we have access to water. That way we don’t tap into our water storage and never need to buy water bottles. Shop reusable water jug here.
5. Donate To Offset Carbon Emissions
The unfortunate reality is that living van life generally means giving off carbon emissions while driving.
It is your responsibility as you take on van life and explore this beautiful planet while poisoning the air with gasoline, to commit to donating enough to a cause to completely offset your carbon emissions.
Fortunately there are many well known and trusted foundations out there dedicated to taking your money and using it for good. These foundations are some that we would recommend that make real change at a global and political level and is where we feel comfortable giving our money too.
Coalition for Rainforest Nations
Information Technology and Innovative Foundation
It’s a blessing to be alive on this planet and to live van life and travel freely. This lifestyle generally strengthens your connection with nature and the Universe as a whole. So practice mindfulness and awareness for your impact on the earth. Never stop asking yourself: are you helping to sustain life on Earth or are you killing her?
*Bonus Tip: Leave no trace
The message, Leave No Trace directs people to minimize site alterations by avoiding actions such as digging tent trenches, cutting branches from live trees, hammering nails into trees, permanently clearing an area of rocks or twigs, or removing other natural items.
Next time you’re taking a walk and see trash on the ground, pick it up. Anytime you arrive at a campsite, clean it up. These little actions we can take daily made a big difference for Mother-earth.
We have to always be in the mindset that Mother-earth is who gave us life, so we MUST nurture her and be a positive impact to sustain life on Earth.
Learn more about the Leave No Trace foundation here. Check out any of their upcoming events, volunteer, become a member, donate and more.