

Living a minimalist lifestyle is nothing short of a megatrend these days. Just scroll the likes of Instagram and Pinterest and you’ll find a whole host of bloggers, interior designers and influencers who sing the praises of owning less, clearing your home of unnecessary items and keeping things uncluttered. But did you know that there are different types of minimalism, and the environment isn’t always at the heart of each one.
We’ve investigated some of the different types of minimalist living, and how you can protect the environment using minimalist principles and thought processes. We then go on to share the story of yoga teacher Lisa Askem’s own journey to living a more minimalist lifestyle, and the effect the changes she has made had on her environmental impact.
5 minutes to read
Minimalism and eco-minimalism
The “traditional” definition of minimalist living focuses on the happiness items give you, and the number of items you own, as well as making your living space clear of clutter and unnecessary distractions.
Eco-minimalism works on a similar principle while considering the impact on the Earth’s health and wellbeing. This applies to the process of minimalising your lifestyle, as well as the ongoing choices you make.
If you’re at the beginning of your minimalism journey, you’re probably going to want to get rid of a lot of excess stuff. Decluttering is often one of the first stages towards minimalism, so making sure you’re doing this consciously and responsibly is important.
The easiest route and therefore often the most tempting is to just dispose of everything you no longer want or need. But if you want your minimalism to help the environment, throwing stuff away should be your last option, not the default.
Before throwing something away, consider:
When continuing your minimalist journey, make purchases consciously, considering the need of the item as well as its source. A lot of traditional minimalism is rooted in design, so it can be tempting to dispose of old things to replace them with items that help you get “the look”.
If you’re practicing eco-minimalism, it’s important to consider if what you’re buying is really needed. If you do really need to purchase something, doing some research into the sustainability and sourcing of each item is good practice, and remember that buying second-hand is almost always more gentle on the environment than buying something new, no matter how sustainably sourced that new item is.
Here are some of our tips for embracing minimalism whilst also considering the environment.
When it comes to the things you own and use, there are some ways to lighten your impact:
We’ve heard about the carbon footprint of sending just 1 email and then storing that email in the cloud. Cloud storage isn’t really a cloud, it’s a series of buildings with servers running 24/7 to keep your files and data safe and ready for when you need it. To reduce your digital footprint:
You might live the most minimal life known to humankind, but you’ll still need some things. Being creative and intentional with your consumption is a must when it comes to eco-minimalism. You could try:
We spoke to yoga teacher and minimalist living enthusiast Lisa Askem, who embarked on her own minimalism journey 8 years ago. She shared some thoughts about how it all began for her and how it’s going.
I really enjoy decluttering and moving things around, rooted in ideas of Feng Shui. I had time to work with it all, it took 9 months for the sale and purchase of my new place to go through so it was all considered.
It was emotional – this was a clear out of my whole life history, everything that I had carried around with me. Portfolios from my time as a fashion student. Seeing my kids’ bikes from all their ages being carried away, reminds us that life is in cycles (an intentional play on words, there). I had to shred 20 years of invoices which made me reflect on all the places and people that I have worked with. There were boxes of photos that I wasn’t ready to look at, so things like that had to go to a place for another time. It was lovely to see the contents of the garden shed being taken away with all the garden furniture and massive planters. That all went to a client who was starting up a gardening business. Along with some of the better-kept things going to new homes.
Absolutely. About 5 years ago I went on a mission to detox our home and this was definitely triggered by our initial decluttering and downsizing. My son said it would be impossible but I said if we can reduce our plastic consumption by 70% that will be a good start. I think that we are very close to zero waste now.
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