How can we practice an eco-friendly lifestyle during coronavirus lockdown? All over the world, millions of people are currently affected by social distancing due to COVID-19. For those of you who aspire to continue and enhance your sustainable lifestyle in these circumstances, here are my 7 tested tips for going green during lockdown.
1. Pamper yourself with lots of self-love
Like many people, I have felt profoundly affected by the coronavirus and lockdown. The first week was overwhelming, like a tsunami. I found myself at home with my husband and our three little kids, trying to work and feeling pressure to home-school them. Two weeks earlier, I had started a new distance learning programme, and I was supposed to submit my first assignment. And then on top of that, we all got sick…
These circumstances totally overwhelmed us. We were in survival mode, and going green was not on my priority list. When I started to feel a bit better, eco-guilt came creeping in, and I often had to remind myself: “It is okay to be overwhelmed and to pause my work towards some of my aspirations.” I practiced being as kind as I could towards myself, and I did what I could without beating myself up. Instead, I preferred to hug myself as shown on one of the featured photos:-) Slowly, I found acceptance, inner peace, and serenity, and I could resume my efforts and look for tips for going green during lockdown.
2. Adaptation
Once I felt this acceptance of the current situation and its impact on my life, I began to focus on adaptations and simple tips for going green during lockdown. With so many more tasks and almost no time to myself, I first adjusted the speed of my going-green process. Instead of trying out a little change every day, I decided to try just one or two new things per week. I took the initial framework that I had put together to guide my going-green journey and decided to focus on themes that I could work on during the COVID-19 pandemic.
3. Focus on indoor activities
For instance, being confined indoors is a great opportunity to explore how to cook, eat at home, and clean in a greener way—or how to take care of a toddler or dog in a more sustainable manner. Greening one’s finances and administration are also options to examine. Another thing I looked at was how I could save more paper at home. These ideas are just some food-for-thought to start to look for more concrete tips for going green during the lockdown.
4. Focus on outdoor activities: green dates, walks with kids, gardening
Early during the confinement my husband asked me out to green date—to take a little walk in the forest behind our house. I was surprised, but gladly went along with this new way of dating in constrained circumstances. In my blog post on being more sustainable as a couple I discuss in more depth various green dating options. We also take daily walks in the forest with our kids and dog. These walks are excellent occasions for green parenting, when I can teach them about different plants and wildlife, and we can pick up litter together.
Growing my own food in our garden has also taken on another dimension than in previous years. I have been able to spend more time in garden with my kids and taught them many things about eco-friendly gardening. And gardening is not something that I started when I moved to the countryside—when when living in Paris or Geneva, I always used my balconies and windowsills to grow plants and flowers.
5. Go Green Online
There are also many activities that one can do online to help our planet Earth. I write in a recent blog post about how to conserve biodiversity in a garden and the community, but you can also do quite few activities online to protect biodiversity! Also, with more time at home, you could explore opportunities to shop online in a sustainable way.
6. Green your self-care
In my blog post on greener beauty and personal care, I explored how one can also green self-care. What a great opportunity to go running in the forest and pick up some litter, often called plogging!
For me, gardening alone is very meditative, so I feel that I have been able to nurture myself a lot in this way. Before, I would drive a car and take Park and Ride to go to the city to meet friends, but now I have been connecting with friends more online, with a much smaller carbon footprint 
And with Zoom, we have had group meetings with family and friends.
7. Practice humility
Indeed, it is a tough time for many humans now on our home planet. Yet for me, it helps to look at the bigger picture: while we humans suffer, the planet and its many other inhabitants are better off in many ways. As the satellite images show, lockdowns have considerably reduced pollution. Venice canals are clean and have more fish. People on social media post images of wolves walking on ski slopes and deer wandering around in the cities. And for sure, many pets are happier now having their owners much more at home. Dogs are also walked more.
This mindset helps me to cope with current circumstances. It is not just about me and humans and what would be comfortable for us.
And as quite few of you have mentioned, by just being locked down at home, we have reduced our carbon footprints considerably. When my mind tries to go and nag me for not improving my going-green behaviour quickly enough, I can think of that and relax. Just by staying at home, I am giving a wonderful gift to our planet!
Dear Nika, I’m impressed how you keep nourishing this blog with all you have on your plate right now. THANKS!!!!
Here a few of my experiences of going green during Lockdown: At home, I’ve started to use tissue handkerchiefs instead of paper tissues (however, from a hygienic point of view this might not be the best solution to avoid the virus to spread). Normally I go to different shops for groceries, because I cannot find all at the same store. During confinement, we made compromises. I went every two weeks and to one shop only. We’re perfectly happy with this solution. For vegetables, I went once, instead of several times, a week to the local farmer, who was under strict conditions allowed to stay open. I’ve been waiting for over 1h30 sometimes, but this is the price I pay with pleasure for fresh, seasonal and local vegetables.
Thank you Maya for your comment and sharing your experience! The local farmer who provides us veggies and fruits could also continue to operate, but like in Switzerland, under strict conditions. And I so agree with you that fresh tasty local veggies and fruits are so worth of all the waiting! Only homegrown things are more special 🙂
Cool tips for going green, thank you Nika!
Thank you Jim for your comment!