How I live an eco-vanlife

Hello lovers of the world! Are you feeling the desire to make your routine more earth-friendly? I put together a small but mighty list of the best tips and hacks for an environmentally-conscious life. All of this can apply to vanlifers, campers, travelers, and homesteaders alike! This isn’t an exhaustive list, I’m sure you’ve heard and read a lot about eco-living and don’t need a list of 50 actions to do. And I realize that there are a million articles and blogs already out there that give great advice on this subject, but it’s hard to know what’s right for you to do, and what fits in best with your lifestyle. We’re all well aware that we can’t be perfect, so rather than not try at all, we pick what life tips can be best applied and do them right. So to give y'all some inspiration, I'm sharing the eco-actions that I do, and I hope you'll feel welcome to adopt too in "greening" your life 💚.


Important note that I feel I must include about trying to live a more eco-conscious life: it can be tempting to immediately throw out all the “bad” stuff you have, like plastic sandwich baggies, your huge collection of plastic grocery bags, or your tupperware that’s stained a little or is actually an old plastic ice cream container (who else has a gelato container that they use over and over again?!). And then you'll want to buy all brand-new things. In reality though, you should use up what you already have before buying new. I always find it useful to remember the 3 R’s we were all taught in grade school: first Reduce your waste, then Reuse what you can or already have, and finally Recycle what you need to dispose of. I am going to share product recommendations (and no I’m not getting paid to write this), but only because I want to promote great products and help y’all out if you are in need of new products.

I am passionate about incorporating sustainability into everyday life, and aim to make it more accessible to everyone. I also am a communicator, that's one reason why I started this blog. It's so special for me to the importance of eco-living and offer support and advice to those who seek it. I can't help but preach a little 😅. And for those wondering, my opinions on the subject come from my background in environmental science. I earned a Masters in the field in 2014 and have worked in environmental research, policy, and education for a number of years.
I truly hope you enjoy reading this blog post and if there's any questions, or extra topics you'd be interested in knowing more about, please comment below and I'll be glad to share my thoughts and/or do a bit more digging to help you out.

It's a big, beautiful world out there. I want us to see it all, while also minimizing our impact on the earth. 

ECO TIPS

For the VanLifers

Maintain your traveling home That means keeping your vehicle in top shape, checking tire pressure, doing regular check-ups, and no speeding, all which will improve fuel economy and not waste as much gas.

Dealing with trash Ugh, trash. It’s inevitable. Even if your trash is mostly compostable, it’s still going to need to be taken care of. For when we don’t have immediate access to trash cans (which is often), we bought reusable trash bags that hang on the back of the passenger seat, and this is where we store trash and recycling. Be sure to pick some good reusable trash bags that can be cleaned easily, and have a designated "trash site" in the vehicle.Typically I’ll store compost in a tupperware in the fridge. Gas stations are typically where we will throw away our landfill trash. We never have too much, so it doesn’t cause a scene dumping it. Or if we stay at campgrounds, that’s a good place to dump as well. Typically campgrounds will also have recycling stations. If we’re not at a campground, it can be tricky finding public recycling stations. A quick Google search will hopefully turn one up close by, but if not then we’re stuck driving with all our recyclables and compost until we find one. Yes it can get gross having bags of trash, recycling, and compost around your van, but it matters that it's disposed of the right way. Toss in the appropriate bins, and try google search for public trash dropoffs/transfer stations. We've also find that most Whole Foods has several bins available for some bits of trash. And remember to clean your recyclables, if they have food or grease leftovers they likely will get passed on to the landfills if they can't be cleaned at the transfer center.

Go solar: Try installing solar panels on your roof to make good use of that free sun energy and take a load off fossil fuel usage. Our solar panels soak up enough juice to power our refrigerator, lights, music, heater, and USB outlets. The solar panels basically keep our lithium battery topped up (which is the van's main battery system). We went with lithium because we can fit more power into a smaller space with less weight. It is more expensive upfront, but it will be cheaper over it's longer lifetime. There are a few more advantages, but I'll save the details for a future blog post of its own.

Not going off road or camping in restricted areas: Minimizing impact to the earth is key, so always stick to the roads, no creating your own new dirt roads. If boondocking or camping on public lands, try to find a spot that has clearly already been used, and always leave the area better than when you found it.

Do a clean-up: Apparently there’s a name for when you go out for a walk or run and pick up trash as you go; it’s a Swedish term called “plogging”, a combination of “plucka upp” (picking up litter according to the Swedes) and jogging. Whatever you call it, it’s a great feel-good activity that’s both healthy for you and for the planet. Call it a fun afternoon “date” with your traveling partner, or use it as an excuse to go beach walking or hiking. Just remember to bring a bag to collect, and gloves if you prefer. 

Spending time in nature will definitely inspire eco-living actions.

Lifestyle...

Think minimal: Minimal use = minimal waste.

Be proactive: At the same time that you’re thinking minimal, you'll want to be proactive with your new eco-lifestyle. Living more eco-conscious involves a lot of planning and sometimes research (like reading blogs about this topic). You’ll need to be aware of your lifestyle and learn where you can make changes, also while remembering your reusables every time you eat out or go shopping.
Purchase sustainable products: Products that are made of recycled materials or use sustainable means such as solar energy. My favorite eco products in our van are: solar string lights (pics below); ocean-friendly mineral sunscreen; biodegradable soap such as Dr. Bronner’s; silicone baggies such as Stasher; and my go-to reusable water bottle.  

MPOWERD Luci Solar String Lights

MPOWERED Inflated solar light

 

Kitchen and cooking…

Buying food in “nature wrappers” & avoiding plastic: I love the term nature wrappers 😆! This means buy whole foods, like fresh fruit and veggies, not pre-cut and wrapped in plastic in any way, nor frozen. Try a google search for bulk grocery stores in your area, and get yourself some reusable produce and food storage bags/containers. Pro tip: weigh them ahead of time (typically weigh stations are at bulk stores) so that the cashier can tare it, meaning take off the weight of your container so you don't pay for it.

Composting: Without a spot for a garden, it doesn’t make sense for us to actually use our food scraps for compost. But I still hate to just throw them away where they’ll take up space in a landfill. So I’ll collect scraps and nature wrappers (aka: banana peels, sweet potato skin, etc) in a container, keep it in a fridge, and wait until an opportunity arrives. Farmers markets usually have a compost bin, so that’s always a good option. I've also come across some public compost bins at health grocery stores, such as Whole Foods.

Avoiding meat: You've heard this one. One of the best ways to decrease your personal carbon emissions is to limit your meat consumption. Red meat in particular. While going vegetarian and vegan is awesome, it's still worth it to just limit meat and avoid it when necessary. Here are a few of my own recipes that are vegetarian and super delish: Alisaninthevan.blogspot.com/recipes.

Upgrade your food storage: I always found that I inevitably need extra containers to hold leftovers, compost, remainders of opened cans like pasta sauce, coconut milk, etc. Rather than using plastic single-use baggies, try switching to glass jars or silicone baggies- ones that can be reused and washed many times and have a long lifespan. I love the Stasher brand!

Make some plant-based swaps: When possible, try a plant-based ingredient rather than dairy or meat. Such as veggie broth for meat, almond milk for regular milk, margarine for butter, and coconut milk instead of cream.
**Actually, I have a great and EASY recipe for vegetable broth: Put approximately 2 cups of vegetables- and virtually any part of the veg even scraps like potato peels, carrot and zucchini tops/bottoms, mushroom stems, onion peels.. just don't use calciferous veggies like broccoli or cauliflower cause it can make the broth bitter. Put the veggies in a large pot with about 6 cups water and simmer for at least 2 hours, but more if you can. If too much water boils off, add more! And try adding a bay leaf and garlic for extra flavor.

Cook more, take-out less: I love eating out and am definitely a foodie, but I try to avoid take-out since it comes in a ton of plastic boxes. So either we eat in at the restaurant, or more often in the van to avoid all our money going to fancy food 😉.

That's all, folks! Thanks for reading and as always, please contact me if you'd like more information on what I discussed in the blog post, or would like further recommendations.

With all my reusables (spork, cup, reusable silicone baggie)