(Scroll down about two finger swipes for our 31-Day Challenge slide show)

There’s a lot we’ve thrown out the window in the last year.

We’ve had to let go of seeing our friends and family, our regular exercise routines, our sense of normalcy, our societal views on race, gender, equity, equality, healthcare, and in some cases—we’ve let go of the people we were before 2020 entered our lives.

We’ve had to take stock of the past, clung for dear life to the present, and although the fog of the pandemic still obstructs our vision—we now have to look to the future. And the future of humanity lies in the health of our planet. Though it’s been tough to continually think “bigger picture” during a tumultuous year, we don’t have a chance at cultivating a better tomorrow if we’re ripping seeds out of the ground today.

Instead, we can plant seeds for a more hopeful future, even though it could be said that our climate has been damaged beyond full repair. Climate change and environmental preservation seem like big issues that one little person can’t solve, but that mindset is the root of the issue.

If we’re already taking the steps to cut down on waste in our personal universes, then we’re making a bigger impact than we realize. If we’re not—we’re making a bigger impact than we realize. And it’s possible—just like in the myriad of other aspects of our lives recently—to change.

So let’s take a (paperless) page out of Greta Thunberg’s book, and get angry. Get active. Start implementing these habits and plans into our lives, so we can leave the earth better for our children.

Over the years, we’ve been committed to sharing common sense, day-to-day tips to help break down the process of becoming more eco-conscious humans, and we’ve got more for you in the slides below.

We hope that these tiny upgrades won’t just be a part of our Planet Over Plastic Month, but that they’ll become evergreen.