What Stops People from Living Sustainably? 3 Reasons & Helpful Advice

With the effects of climate change becoming more and more apparent each year, I do think people outside of the ‘sustainable’ community are trying to find ways to live more sustainably. However, I do think there are some barriers to sustainability that stops people from living sustainably these days.

Over the past year I’ve had friends and family say that they were making a conscious effort to reduce their meat and dairy consumption – which is awesome! I also had a friend say that she was going to throw away a cardigan but decided to fix it instead, because my influence.

That-being-said there are definitely some major barriers that stops people from living sustainably and I’ll go through them below.

What Are The Barriers To Sustainability

I could probably include more than 3 main barriers to sustainability in this post, however I do think in my personal experience that these three are the main barriers that stop people from attempting to live sustainably, or go zero waste in general.

Money and Budget

It’s a common misconception that the zero waste lifestyle is for the privileged, I talk about this in my blog post – however, it does not have to be for the privileged as long as you follow the main R’s of zero waste. They are as follows:

• Refuse – Refuse what you don’t need
• Reduce – Reduce what you do need
• Reuse – Reuse what you do have eg reusable items
• Recycle – Recycle what you can’t refuse, reduce or reuse
• Rot – Finally rot eg compost the rest

Other things that I would add to this would be to buy everything you can second-hand because second-hand items do not have a carbon footprint from production, however new items do.

Something else that I’ve learnt on my long journey to zero waste is that taking care of what you do have is so important. I’ve been doing a No Buy Year and it really changes your mind on purchases, I don’t buy anything unless I absolutely have no other choice. I mend what I do have and consider every single purchase so carefully. The most sustainable option is using what you already have.

Despite this, I do think that some aspects of the living sustainably might not be within everyone’s budget. For example things like reusable menstrual products, cloth nappies and bulk buying goods will save you money. However you need to have that money available for the initial cost.

I will say that my household income is well below the average income for a family in the UK. Despite this, I do think I’m extremely privileged. I’m good at budgeting and I don’t waste money. Majority of my budget does go on food and housing, we always have fresh fruit and vegetables because health is very important to me. There’s just not a lot of money left over once the bills and food is paid for. That-being-said I do what I can with the budget available to me ie I buy a vegetable box and fruit bag from a local supplier, however I top up with fruit and vegetables from the supermarket, so that we have enough.

Growing your own fruit and vegetables will save you so much money but not everyone will be able to do this. Fruit and vegetable boxes are a great way to get local seasonal fruit and vegetables if it’s within your budget. Otherwise seeing if you have a food market in your local area might be a great option to buy loose fruit and vegetables at an affordable price. I think it’s important to do what you can, within your budget and with your circumstances.

Time and Convenience

The reason that a lot of single use items are so popular is because of the convenience of them. Let’s be honest things like plastic bags, takeaway coffee cups and disposable nappies are really convenient for people. With the disposable items, you don’t need to remember to bring your own reusable bags or reusable coffee cup for example. With the disposable nappies as well, you just change the baby and throw the nappy in the bin and that’s basically it!

Due to this I do see how these disposable items have just grown in popularity over the last 30+ years. My mum used to use terry nappies when my siblings and I were younger and she was really impressed with the quality of the cloth nappies that are used these days. Although she did use the terry cloths, she said they were terrible and regularly leaked.

I’ve been informed that a pack of disposable nappies in the UK is about £3 and the biodegradable alternatives start from around £7.50 for a pack. It certainly appeals to tired mums who don’t want to create more work for themselves. However, items such as disposable nappies and coffee cups are very wasteful and will be on this earth for 500+ years and eventually will turn into microplastics. The convenience of these items does not justify how terrible these items are for our environment.

Solution

The solution to this would be a mindset shift for consumers. We need to make a new routine where the reusable items are conveniently placed so that you can bring them into your routine. For example, if you’re someone who regularly forgets reusable bags – put one in your bag, one in your car and one at home so that you’ve covered all bases.

I’m definitely not perfect with this and on the occasions that I forget my reusable bag, I end up carrying everything as it is to the car – because I refuse to take a plastic bag!

Things like cloth nappies, seem to intimidate people into thinking that they’re going to be hard work but honestly they aren’t. You can find a routine that works for you ie have enough nappies so that you only need to wash them every 3-4 days, which I ended up doing with my son. With my daughter, she can’t tolerate being wet so I wash them every day on a short cycle.

It doesn’t take me any longer washing the nappies when you think about going to a store to stock up on disposables, it really is just a mindset shift to make reusables your new routine.

Worrying About What Others Think

I was recently discussing this with my mum but people are so concerned about what others think of them when actually most of the time – people don’t think about you. In my experience people aren’t worried about what you’re doing or what you’re wearing.

I think living more sustainably in general is not mainstream yet, it’s getting more mainstream but it’s definitely not there. In the past the people that were concerned about environmental issues were hippies and it’s definitely not like that anymore. People are definitely more aware of the issues with climate change because it’s quite hard to ignore with the media now. In some countries there’s wildfires and some countries there’s flooding but climate change is pretty much undeniable and more people are talking about it now.

That-being-said I don’t think that sustainable living is mainstream and worrying about what others think, is definitely something else that stops people from living sustainably.

Due to this I do think that some people would be a bit worried that if they brought homemade food to work for example that people would have some sort of comment about it. Or if they wore second-hand clothes, would people think that you’re poor?

Solution

A lot of the time I think that people just don’t want to stand out or appear weird. In my experience though, if you do something different to others, people are usually just curious and by being confident in your choices and owning it – they’re more likely to learn something from you.

Be weird and do what you want to do, regardless of other people! You can’t control what other people think and say but you can control how you react to it.

A good example of this is that I’m teaching my son that I buy him second-hand clothes and second-hand gifts for Birthdays and Christmas, because it’s better for the environment. I’m hoping that if any of his peers question him in the future he is armed with that information and can stand up for himself.

I was brought up as a Vegetarian Jehovah’s Witness so I experienced being different at school, fairly early on. It’s worth noting that I was never bullied for being different, although I could have just been lucky of course. However, I do feel like our parents prepared us well for school and what that entailed.

It can be a difficult one for some, my whole family is unique so I have embraced being different from around my mid twenties. However, I know this attitude doesn’t come naturally to some people.

Don’t let worrying what other people think of you, hold you back from doing something really beneficial for the future of our earth. Quite often if you do something different and that involves a discussion and curiosity from others, it’s not a bad thing and you could be planting a seed in them to make better choices in the future.

What Else Could Be Holding People Back From Living Sustainably

There are some other barriers that could be holding people back from living sustainably, such as location and transportation.

I know that one of the barriers that stops people from living sustainably will be location or the country that they live in. I consider myself incredibly lucky that in the UK we have services like an oat milk delivery service and places online that you can buy plastic free food items and even plastic free vegan vitamins. It’s definitely a privilege and I know that for some countries, these options are just not there.

Transportation could be something else holding people back from living sustainably, I know some countries will have zero waste stores but if you don’t have a car or if you have a disability that makes it very difficult for you to get there – it might not be an option for you.

Before I had a car, I used to take my eldest around on a seat on the back of my bike and it was hard work. I couldn’t imagine doing anything similar or public transport with two small children to get to a zero waste store.

Solution

Transportation or location is definitely something that stops people from living sustainably but if this is a barrier for you, don’t let stop you from doing anything. Do what you can with your circumstances, eg if you can buy pasta in boxes but you can’t get to a zero waste store – than just buy the pasta in boxes.

An example of a barrier for me is that I have a zero waste store around 15 miles from me, however I really don’t like driving to this town because it makes me super anxious. I hate driving as it is and at this point I’ve been driving for nearly 4 years so I can’t see that changing for a while.

However, I buy what I can plastic free online and go to my local eco shop every month or so for chickpeas and lentils.

It’s really about doing what you can but not feeling guilty about what you can’t do. Living sustainably is not about being perfect, its about doing the best you can.

Summary

I hope that I’ve helped break down what I think stops people from living sustainably. There’s always going to be some things you aren’t able to switch that others can and visa versa but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try at all.

Most of the time, I think what’s holding people back from living sustainably is just thinking that the change is going to be inconvenient, cost more or take much longer to do – but that’s simply not the case majority of the time.

If everyone made a few little changes to their lifestyle, it would make such a big difference overall.

“We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly.”

– Anne Marie Bonneau

Please don’t let these barriers to living sustainably stop you from making better choices when you next shop. I do believe that we can change the world by being conscious consumers, living more simply and respecting our planet more.

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