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Sustainable living refers to the lifestyle which focuses on reducing the exploitation of the natural resources and personal resources (Winter, 2007). The sustainable living practitioners reduce their negative impact on the environment by adopting different practices in their lifestyle. In this lifestyle choice, the people conduct their lives in a sustainable manner so that they are in symbiotic relationship with the environment. The ecological living is related to the principles of sustainable development. The sustainable living refers to shifting to a renewable energy-based, recycle economy and with an energy-optimized transportation system (Rootes & Leonard, 2013). Basically, sustainable living refers to the application of sustainability to the lifestyle decisions and choices (Bougsty, 2012). It refers to meeting the ecological, societal and economic needs without compromising the needs of the future generation. The sustainable living is correlated with the concepts of sustainable design and sustainable development wherein sustainable designs are innovated with appropriate technology for sustainable living practices. In this regard, the following essay will explore the different aspects of sustainable living and discusses the innovation which supports the sustainable living.
Sustainable living is lifestyle choice which reduces the impact of carbon footprint by the adoption of different lifestyle choices. An individual can reduce the overall carbon footprint by adopting different ways to practice it. The main aspects of sustainable living are reducing waste and energy consumption. A person can reduce waste by adopting several practices like reducing shopping, abandoning the use of plastics, boycotting the products which endangers the lifestyle, reducing the consumption of water and opting for smaller families. A person increases his carbon footprint by shopping for new products. When a person buys a new product, he increases his carbon footprint as raw materials are used for manufacturing the product and the manufactured product may emit pollution. The packaging material used in manufacturing of the product also increases pollution in the environment. The proponents of sustainable living should also discourage the use of plastic materials (Letcher & Vallero, 2011). The individuals should cut down the use of plastic bags by bringing reusable bags whenever they shop, avoid the use of ne-time use water bottles and avoiding the use of products made or packaged in plastic bags. In the daily life, there are various options which can be used to control the waste in the daily lives. The individuals can also be waste wise by reducing the consumption of water. The people should control the use of bottled water to reduce the waste. It is a common misconception that the bottled water is purified; however, the tap water in most of the places has passed the quality test. Therefore, the tap water is equally good for consumption. The extraction and the production of the plastic bottles for mineral water are harmful for the environment and endanger the species. Moreover, the people can conserve water by taking shorter showers, fixing leakages and choosing low-flow water appliances.
Other than this, the people should also try to control the energy consumption and using renewable energy resources for minimizing the negative impact on the environment. A person can reduce the energy consumption by the home only. In the house, a person can change lighting to reduce the energy consumption. CFLs, skylights and using natural lights can reduce the overall demand of the energy resources. A significant amount of energy is wasted in transportation and vehicles. An individual can take initiative to car pool or use bike or walking for travelling. It will reduce the energy consumption of the person. It will not only reduce the consumption of the energy but also reduce the environmental pollution. Walking and biking will also improve the health of the people and reduce the strain on the public health department of the country. Car-pooling will also be beneficial for reducing the living expenses. A person can also reduce the consumption by reduce the water consumption in cleaning, washing dishes and doing laundry. In addition to it, a person should also choose renewable energy resources to control the individual carbon footprint. Controlling the use of fossil fuels is the best way to stop the climate change and reduce global warming. People can install solar panels for water heating and cooking. People should also look new avenues for addition of clean energy. The design of the homes can also be adapted for less energy consumption. Regular maintenance of the house and vehicle can reduce the energy consumption (Klinghoffer & Castaldi, 2013). A person can reduce the energy consumption be adopting adequate insulation methods, energy-saving windows and using thermostat interiors for efficient heating and cooling of the place. The energy saving light bulbs can also be beneficial for controlling the energy consumption. People should also reduce the consumption of meat for controlling the environmental destruction. Meat production is destructive as it requires large amount of water, pollution, greenhouse gas emission and habitat destruction. Eating vegetables and fruits is not only good for health but also for environmental protection.
In the present epoch, the main challenge is to transition to a greener, cleaner and equitable economic growth is to foster innovation and technological development from not only economic but also from a social and environmental dimension. The innovation and the sustainable development are horizontal policy fields which share several aspects with each other. In the past, innovation has been related to the economic aspects; however, environmental and social pressures have made it necessary to foster innovation in the sustainability context.
In the recent years, a large number of devices have been developed which are focused on sustainable living (Nidumolu, Prahlad & Rangaswami, 2009). An individual can adopt sustainable living practices by building houses with different structure. The conventional construction is costly and time-consuming for sustainable development. There are several technologies which can optimize the prefabrication of off-site parts, on-site field construction which can reduce the construction waste and result in incorporation of more sustainable materials and systems (Sustainable Living Innovations, 2017).
Other than that, there are various other examples of innovation which encourage sustainable living in the environment. Recently, a trashcan has been constructed which can be used to reduce the garbage in the sea area. The sea bin is a submersible garbage bin which can extract the floating trash from the sea. It is a bag filter made up of natural material which collects the trash and a pump at the lower end of the bag pushes the water above the surface. Recently, a drone has been developed to assist the endangered species all across the globe. The 3-D printers can also be used to eliminate the plastic waste in the organization (Novacovici, 2013). The population all across the globe is producing a very high amount of human trash which ends up in water, landfills and street and pollutes them. The 3-D printers can be used to convert the high density polyethylene into 3D printing filament which can be sold to 3D printing companies. The 3D printing filament can be used by to reduce the plastic wastage in all across the globe (Parker, 2017). The sustainability-driven innovation refers to finding new applications to the current services and products, developing new products and services, changing existing business processes, developing new products or service or changing management techniques to ensure that new environmental and social benefits emerge.
Sustainable living is a new lifestyle choice which refers to the shift in the lifestyle preferences so that the carbon footprint on the environment can be minimized. It includes adopting lifestyle and processes which can reduce the negative impact on the environment. There are two major aspects of sustainable lifestyle which are waste management and reduction in energy consumption. A person can reduce waste by following certain processes in the personal life. It includes adopting practices which can reduce the water and the product consumption. The water used in washing and bathing can be reduced at individual level. Similarly, a person should do shopping properly because material required for manufacturing and packing increases the waste in the organization. Moreover, a person can also reduce the energy consumption by changing the lighting and adapting the housing structure. Using CFLs and energy saving construction can reduce the energy consumption of the organization. In the recent years, a large number of innovations have been developed to promote the sustainable living in the organization. It includes new housing construction approaches, sea bins and 3D printers to control the emission if the waste materials.
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