If you’re looking to cut back on recurring purchases, plastic consumption, toxic chemicals, and single-use products this summer, you’re in the right place. The key to sustaining your green journey is introducing swaps gradually. Try one swap at a time and share your progress with your eco-friends!

6 Sustainable Swaps for Summer

1. Ditch the single-use
2. All ass no gas
3. Eat local
4. Filter your water
5. Embrace the seasons
6. Save the turtles

1 Reusable coffee cup

Plastic drink cups are made out of… plastic, and paper coffee cups are lined with plastic. Whether heated or not, those plastics leach into your drink and enter your body. This is harmful to your health, and the manufacturing and disposal of single-use items are bad for the environment.

If you’re planning on hanging out at a café, ask for a dine-in mug or bring your own cup from home. Some places will even give you a discount on your drink if you bring your own cup! If you leave reusable bags in your car for the times you forget to bring some to the store, leave a mug or to-go cup with them for the times you forget a cup at the coffee shop.

2 When’s the last time you rode a bike?

If you live somewhere bikeable, swap your shorter trips and commutes in the car for cruises on a bike! You can find gently used bikes for free or cheap on Facebook Marketplace. 

Biking saves you money on gas, gets your legs moving a little, and leaves you feeling great after spending more time outdoors and breathing in fresh air. Before the days get shorter, take advantage of the long hours of daylight and get outdoors for your errands. I used to live somewhere very hilly, so biking wasn’t an option, but I just moved to a flat beach town, and now I bike all over and cannot get enough of it. Don’t forget a helmet:)

3 Farmers’ market!

Increase the nutritional value of your summer produce by shopping locally! Did you know that the closer a fruit or vegetable is harvested to its ripeness, the more flavorful it is? And the more regenerative the soil, the more nutrient-dense it is? No two carrots are the same if one was grown in conventional, pesticide-ridden soil a plane ride away from your grocery store, and the other was grown organically in your community. 

I have my local farmers’ market schedules in my calendar and plan my grocery trips around them to be sure that I have the time and money to stock up on fresh, local produce. Shopping locally and doing your best to shop organic is better for your health, the environment, and the small-scale farmers in your community.

4 Filter it out

If you’re still drinking tap water or plastic-bottled water, this one is for you. There’s an average of 240,000 plastic particles in 1 liter of water from a plastic water bottle. The Environmental Working Group has also identified over 340 contaminants in tap water across the country, including PFAs and bacteria—it’s more than just the “media buzz” contaminants like fluoride in our drinking water.

The best water filter you can get for your home is a reverse osmosis (RO) filter, whether installed into your sink or in a countertop form. I don’t have access to an RO filter quite yet, so we have a PUR PLUS filter at my house, which filters out more contaminants than any Brita and other faucet filtration systems at comparable prices.

5 Tame the AC

Your house doesn’t need to be an icebox to prevent the uncomfortable feelings that come with extreme heat and humidity. Experiencing extreme temperature fluctuations—like going from scorching heat outdoors to frigid temperatures indoors—is also not good for your body. Your cardiovascular system needs a gradual temperature transition; the alternative can lead to a weak immune system, blood pressure fluctuations, and worsening medical conditions. 

If you live in a hot and humid place and choose to operate your AC instead of opening windows and fans, the US Department of Energy recommends setting your thermostat to 78∘F in the summer when you’re home. Of course, adjust this recommendation to your unique location and home situation. I’m able to opt out of AC where I live, and I am very grateful to do so.

6 Keep our beaches clean

Pack in, pack out. Whatever you bring to the beach comes home with you. It’s important to hold others around you accountable as well: if someone can carry their snacks and drinks to the beach, they can carry the trash back with them. If you see pieces of trash on the beach, pick them up if your hands are free. 

Anything left on the beach has a one-way ticket to the ocean, and that is incredibly unfair to our ocean friends. While some of us have to pick up the slack from others, no one’s position is worse than the helpless marine life that suffers from human impact. Picking up trash can be fun, and it feels good to make a direct positive impact.

I hope the rest of your summer is filled with sunshine and adventure! Feel free to share any other tips you may have in the comments or on Instagram.