For the environmentally-conscious folks, 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 of them that you might choose to do during your fun time or just for relaxation to make 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
Topping the list of eco-friendly hobbies to try out is starting an organic garden. If you aren’t sure about what to start with, vegetables are always a good idea.
An organic vegetable garden in your backyard or front yard will save you some grocery money, keep you occupied, and create a healthier environment by enhancing air quality.
You might also choose to grow flowers instead of vegetables in your garden, making your home look much 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
Want another hobby to try out? How about cleaning up a river next to you? It may not be the most pleasant of hobbies, but it’s one of the best ways to appreciate nature.
You can do this alone, in a team, or with an environment-based organization.
A lot of plastic material 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 by reducing the levels of plastics and other waste that eventually wound up in the oceans.
3. Making Jewellery From Used or Discarded Materials (Upcycling)
Want more of an artistry hobby? You can choose to make jewelry from upcycled materials. It is a hobby that reuses things that would otherwise be thrown away, helping reduce the pressure we’re currently putting on our landfills.
With this hobby, you only need materials like old buttons, rolled-up newspapers, old jewelry, old coins, and other stuff flying around from one corner of your home to another.
Engaging in the hobby isn’t just for the benefit of the planet — it 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
If you want something that you can do with your entire family as a hobby, recycling comes in as one of them.
These items include cans, milk jugs, bottles, and small pieces of plastic, paper, and others. You can collect these items from anywhere — those disposed of voluntarily, blown by wind, or carried by stormwater.
Once collected, a lot can be done with them. 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. That’s an opportunity to earn some money from doing what brings you pleasure!
5. Become a Beekeeper
Bees play a huge role in our environment. They also provide us with honey, one of the world’s most important food and medicine.
Beekeeping, therefore, is an exciting hobby, beloved by many and can also be interesting to you.
By joining the hobby, you could contribute to improving their numbers all over the world, as well as helping the pollinators. And with your 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
Many environmentally-based charities, organizations, and groups are 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.
7. Cleaning up Beaches
Who said beaches are just for sandbathing, catching sunset, or building castles? There are so many hobbies you can do while at the beach, and cleaning them up is one of them.
As an environmentalist, you will find it fun and have helped restore some degree of sanity to our planet. There’s a lot of garbage sitting on our beaches; some washed up from the ocean, and some left there by people visiting the beach.
Nonetheless, it always finds itself back in the ocean waters, adversely affecting marine life and ultimately ending up in our food chain.
8. Make Non-dairy Milk
It is yet another hobby that can be fun for you and your family. We are traditionally used to milk from cattle and other animals, which, after being processed, means the environment suffers some negative effects, especially from greenhouse gases (this is because milk produces methane, a gas that’s 20 times more potent than carbon (iv) oxide at trapping heat).
However, you could make milk and other produce from seeds and nuts, such as oats and almonds. It is a process that saves money, is eco-friendly and provides you with a delicious as well as 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, more 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, which mainly is a healthy way to improve your overall well-being and health while simultaneously reducing your impact on the environment.
You do not have to be entirely 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 home. Besides, there are tons of DIY videos online and platforms like YouTube with step-by-step info on repairing or fixing 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 knowledge base. Once you’ve figured out how the repair goes, you can work on them and extend their life.
You could also take the items apart, learn how they operate, and fix minor issues. So, instead of throwing away repairable products next time, remember to try fixing them; you will become better next time.
Additionally, you might also teach your daughter or son a thing or two about fixing such items.
11. Hiking
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 that can help save the environment.
An important side note is that not only will you learn new and vital skills in a digital world, but 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 to protect the environment, 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.
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 their 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.
Blogs about veganism, 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. It entails watching a variety of bird species, which can widen your scope on the avian beings. 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 start a podcast and promote environmental awareness. You can interview influential people and have a positive impact on the environment. You can also make some money while at it.
19. Outdoor Sports
If you’re looking for an eco-friendly sport to begin as a hobby, there are a couple of them. They include swimming, jogging, and running, among others.
They allow one to have a breath of fresh air, save money, engage with others, help you stay fit, and, above all, are environmentally friendly.
20. Participate in Green Nature Walks
Like birdwatching, nature walks widen one’s scope of their surroundings. It also allows an individual to be physically fit and can open one up to 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, include tickets, and use recycled materials and other stuff that would be thrown away.
21. Make e-cards
Instead of creating greeting cards made from paper, cut down on carbon emissions and learn to design such cards electronically. Websites such as Canva and programs such as CorelDRAW can 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 in environmentally friendlier 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
Where applicable, you can ditch air travel, which is hugely 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 petroleum-based vehicles.
25. Volunteer
Volunteering maintains your well-being and makes you feel better about yourself. In terms of eco-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; if you spin it on a wheel, you can create yarns. Although it will 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 and create products that can be sold.
28. Make Seed Balls
Gardening enthusiasts can make seed balls that 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 interested in having a better environment
29. Craft With Recyclables
It is an innovative pastime that you can even use to educate your young ones. Use empty boxes, old paper, and other materials that would 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 while 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/
