For those who are environmentally conscious or rather those who are lately embracing the shift towards green living, there are various hobbies you can partake in for relaxation or pleasure.
Eco-friendly hobbies are endless, and in this article, we list several eco-friendly hobbies that you might choose to do during your fun time or just for relaxation as a way of making a positive impact on the environment.
The most sustainable way is to not make things. The second most sustainable way is to make something very useful, to solve a problem that hasn’t been solved.
~ Thomas Sigsgaard
1. Organic Gardening
You might opt to start an organic garden, using environmentally-friendly products, as well as recycling as much as possible. A
n organic garden in your own backyard or front yard, will save you some grocery money, keep you occupied, and create a healthier environment by encouraging urban biodiversity and enhancing air quality.
You might also choose to grow flowers, instead of vegetables in your garden, making your home look a lot more beautiful. Either way, having a garden is great for the environment and is extremely fun both for kids and adults.
2. Cleaning up a River Next to You
You can choose to do this alone, in a team or with an environment-based organization. There is a lot of plastic material that finds its way into our rivers, oceans and other bodies of water. Volunteering to clean up the river can help maintain our marine ecosystems.
Cleaning up the rivers ensures the waste does not get into the oceans and reducing the levels of plastics in such waters is very crucial.
3. Making Jewellery From Used or Discarded Materials (Upcycling)
You could choose to make jewelry from upcycled materials. It is a hobby that reuses things that would otherwise be thrown away. They include old buttons, rolled up newspapers, old jewelry, and old coins.
Engaging in the hobby also means you will never run out of gifts to give others, and you will also be encouraging them to take part in hobbies that make a positive impact on the environment.
4. Collecting Items For Recycling
This can be a hobby for the entire family. You can collect these items from anywhere, having been thrown away there or maybe brought up by other environmental forces such as wind or stormwater.
They include cans, milk jugs, bottles, and small pieces of plastics or paper among others. A lot can be done with the collected materials. For instance, you could plant flowers or plants in some of those cans and have them in your backyard.
Also, some organizations and establishments give money to those who help in bringing them recyclable items.
5. Become a Beekeeper
Bees play a huge role in our environment. They also provide us with one of the world’s most important food and medicine, honey. Beekeeping, therefore, is an interesting hobby, beloved by many and can be interesting to you as well.
In joining the hobby, you could contribute to improving their numbers all over the world, as well as helping the pollinators. And with your own honey, you will never have to go to the stores for more honey again.
However, it is fundamental to note that beekeeping is challenging and an expert should be consulted before engaging in the hobby.
6. Start or Join Environmental Activist Groups, Charities, or Organisations
There is a myriad of environmentally-based charities, organizations, and groups, looking for members and volunteers. They participate in a wide range of activities relating to the environment, such as reforestation, conservation, and educating the community.
Source: Canva
7. Cleaning up Beaches
It is a hobby that is slightly related to the cleaning of rivers. There is a lot of garbage that sits in our beaches, being washed up from the ocean or brought and left there by people visiting the beach.
Nonetheless, it always finds itself back in the ocean waters, adversely affecting marine life and ultimately ends up in our food chain. Cleaning up the beaches can be a fun hobby and at the same time protect our environment.
8. Make Non-dairy Milk
It is yet another hobby which can be fun for you and your family. We are traditionally used to milk coming from cattle and other animals, which after being processed, means the environment suffers some negative effects, especially from greenhouse gases.
However, you could choose to make milk and other produce from seeds and nuts, such as oats and almonds. It is a process that saves up on money, is eco-friendly and provides you with a delicious as well as a nutritious alternative.
9. Vegan and Healthy Cooking at Home:
Healthy cooking is one of the highly recommended hobbies and leisure activities. It keeps one’s mind active and keeps you moving. Cooking at home is healthier, nutritious and allows family and friends to have more quality time at home, thus enhancing and building positive relationships.
It can also be in terms of vegan cooking, particularly, is a healthy way to improve your overall well-being and health and reducing your impact on the environment.
You do not have to be completely vegan to enjoy vegan or vegetarian means, but they are delicious and easy to cook, especially if you take it up as a hobby.
10. Repair More and More Instead of Buying New
You do not have to be qualified as a repairman to repair items in your own home. Besides, there are tons of DIY videos online and platforms like YouTube with step by step info on how to repair or fix various home products.
It might as well force you to read a book or an article on the internet on how to repair the item, widening your knowledgebase. If you figure out how they work, you will be able to work on them and extend their life.
You could also take them apart, learn how they operate and fix some of the minor errors. Instead of throwing away such products, learn to repair them and next time, you will become better at it. Additionally, you might also teach your daughter or son a thing or two about fixing such items.
11. Hiking
This hobby closely resembles biking as already mentioned. With hiking, you can be as an individual or in a group, exercising and enjoying the wild outdoors.
It allows you to learn about new cultures, especially if you are hiking away from home, and you will learn something new about the environment, including the surrounding flora and fauna. And if it is a family hike, it will give a family more bonding time while leaving fewer carbon footprints.
12. Start a YouTube Channel That Touches on Environmental Issues
You can influence more people to take action in the fight for a better environment through YouTube. It is an encouraging approach, which can help save the environment.
An important side note is that not only will you learn new and important skills in a digital world, but also, YouTube is a platform where you can earn some money.
13. Write Letters to businesses and Politicians About an Environmental Concern or How to Better it
There are a lot of ways of impacting change in regard to environmental protection. One is by writing letters to big businesses, governments and other stakeholders, who can help in protecting the environment.
As such, you can write to such entities and persons, asking them to adopt more laws that can protect the environment, to participate in activities that save the environment, or downright implement more environmentally-sound practices. For instance, you can ask a supermarket to embrace paperless receipts.
Source: Canva
14. Cycling For Fun
Cycling is a fantastic hobby which is not only good for your body but also good for the environment. Using a bicycle for cycling means you do not have to rely on public transport or your car, both of which affect the environment.
You could cycle alone, or in the company of your friends and family. You might also choose to cycle to work, inspiring more to pedal rather than drive to work.
15. Create Environmentally-based Apps
For the developers and tech enthusiasts, you can develop an app that focuses on saving the environment. For example, you can design one that teaches users how to be more environmentally friendly.
One called Refill, for instance, shows a user the nearest location where they can fill up your reusable bottle with fresh water, thereby reducing the usage of single-use plastic bottles.
16. Start a Blog on Environmental Topics
Blogging, like a YouTube channel, influences people to take action and save the environment.
Blog about living a vegan lifestyle, making eco-friendly consumer choices, influencing governments, moving into a zero-waste lifestyle, and more are great niches. You could also make some money while you are at it.
17. Bird Watching
It is a fun hobby to participate in outdoors. You watch a variety of bird species and it widens your scope on birds. It also allows one to become more vocal and instrumental in fighting for birds and their habitats.
18. Start a Podcast Focused on Environmental Topics
Like blogging and YouTubing, you can also start a podcast and promote environmental awareness. You can interview influential people and be of positive impact on the environment. You can also make some money while at it.
19. Outdoor Sports
They include swimming, jogging and running, among others. They allow one to have a breath of fresh air, save you money, allow you to engage with others, help you stay fit, and above all, is environmentally friendly.
Source: Canva
20. Participate in Green Nature Walks
Like birdwatching, nature walks widen one’s scope of their surroundings. It also allows and individual to be physically fit and can open one up into becoming an activist, fighting for the environment.
21. Eco-friendly Scrapbooking
When scrapbooking, you create a book full of memories from photos, artwork, and other memorabilia. Write journal entries and include tickets, and also use recycled materials and other stuff that would be thrown away.
21. Make e-cards
Instead of creating greetings cards made from paper, cut down on carbon emissions and learn to design such cards electronically. Use websites such as Canva and programs such as CorelDRAW, and design e-cards serve as magnificent tools for making e-cards.
22. Brew Your Own Beer
Like making milk from nuts and other products, you can brew your own beer at home in a cheaper, energy-intensive and environmentally-friendly manner.
23. Pickling
It is a method of preserving food by using acidic solutions such as vinegar. The process can be helpful to those who grew their own gardens and have extra fruits and vegetables that might go to waste unless preserved.
24. Travel Responsibly
You can ditch air travel, which is extremely carbon-intensive, and use a train, bus or walk, where possible. Also, invest in an electric car, which is better for the environment as compared to the petroleum-based vehicles.
25. Volunteer
Volunteering maintains your wellbeing and makes you feel better about yourself. In terms of econ-friendly volunteering, you can help those affected by fires or floods, clean a street, put up anti-dumping posters in your estate or next to rivers and lakes around you, volunteer at local environmental protection agencies, plant trees, and much more.
26. Spin Yarn From Wool
Wool is recyclable and if you spin it on a wheel, you can create your own yarns. Although it would require you to invest in a spinning wheel, it is a greener way to make yarn.
27. Knit Using the Sustainable Yarns
The yarn made from the process above can be used in knitting all sorts of accessories and clothing. The yarn is sustainable as it comes directly from natural, renewable and recyclable wool. Knitting can help you make new friends, as well as create products that can be sold.
28. Make Seed Balls
Gardening enthusiasts can make seed balls which they can throw during their nature walks, hikes or treks. The seed balls eventually germinate and grow into new trees.
You can also make seed balls and either sell them or give them away to individuals, groups or organizations that are interested in having a better environment
29. Craft With Recyclables
It is an innovative way to pass time as well as educate your young ones. Use empty boxes, old paper, and other materials that would otherwise have been thrown away, and make new items. Some websites are full of educative craft ideas, for you and your children.
30. Make Your Own Paper
You can make your own paper by pulping together unwanted paper. As such, you can make gifts and bases for greeting cards, at the same time recycling paper that would otherwise be harsh to the environment
References:
Gunnars, K. (2018). 10 Surprising Health Benefits of Honey. Health Line. Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-benefits-of-honey
Ohiaeri, C. (2019). Pros and Cons of Electric Cars. Auto Guide. Retrieved from https://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2018/02/pros-and-cons-of-electric-cars.html
Patel, S. (2016). 8 Ways Podcasters Can Profit From Their Shows. Entrepreneur. Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/277912
“Refill App”. (n.d.). Refill. Retrieved from https://refill.org.uk/get-the-refill-app/
