Don’t Let Your Intentions Fade in February!

The end of the year brings reflection and the new year brings resolutions. During this time, we commit to forming better habits and reaching personal goals for a fulfilling life. February is when we start to get caught up in the external environments around us and tend to push aside our goals. That’s because we sometimes create intentions that are hard to incorporate into our day-to-day lives. 

In keeping with ATA’s mission is to respect, restore and reforest the `aina with wisdom, collaboration, and humility in a healthy way, may we suggest incorporating some healthy, sustainable, easy SMART sustainable goals this year? SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. Relevant means making sure your goal matters to you, which in turn is easier to put into action:

  1. Cultivate a space for mindful meditation
    • Instead of pressing that snooze button in the morning, play a 5- minute meditation as a positive way to start your day.  So when that person behind you at the traffic light honks at you, you are to take yourself back to that moment of peace, hold space, reset and not react. Check out this Lavendaire’s 5-minute guided morning meditation for Positive Energy below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j734gLbQFbU
    • Creating a sustainable environment starts with the one in your head. Mindfulness can be expressed differently to many people: it can be listening to a guided meditation on youtube, sitting at the beach listening to the waves, taking deep breaths while walking through the forest, or painting with no intention of what the outcome will be. Three things to think about when being mindful are intention, attention and attitude. Choose to cultivate your awareness, to be present in the moment and be non-judgemental. The practice of forest bathing also has been found to lower blood pressure, heart rate, and levels of harmful hormones. This can help put you in a more calm and relaxed state.

2. Reuse The Items You Already Have

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    • Save your Tupperware from takeout and when asked if you need utensils when you pick it up, say no and use the silverware at home
    • Bring your own reusable cup on your next coffee shop visit
      • If you don’t have a reusable cup or silverware, consider investing in one that isn’t fully plastic. Bamboo is a renewable, sustainable and eco-friendly material, making it a great choice for the eco-conscious.
      • Click the links below for some sustainable options!

3. Thrift Shop

    • Whenever possible, buy used goods and avoid fast fashion. As we know, we can’t buy everything we wear second hand; however, in this carousel of trends it appears as though the rate of clothing production is at an all time high. According to Fashion United.com, the number of garments produced annually has doubled since 2000 and exceeded 100 billion for the first time in 2014. Buying used items eliminates all of the resources required to manufacture, package and distribute new products. But, the best part about this eco-friendly tip is that it’s wallet-friendly, too. ATA’s mission is to advance resilient forest ecosystems for Hawai‘i. A way to do this is to slow down on consumerism; let the Earth build strength and conserve environmental resources by recycling clothes.
Arlynna Livingston

4. Eat meat one day less than usual

    • Help ATA’s mission to mitigate climate change by reducing your meat intake, and therefore greenhouse gas emissions. Livestock production creates more greenhouse gasses than the entire transportation sector – all the cars, trucks, planes, and trains in the world!  According to Monday Campaigns, skipping one serving of beef every Monday for a year saves the equivalent emissions to driving 348 miles in a car.
Photo Source: Insanelygoodrecipes.com

5. Support accessible education. Get a public library card

    • Aloha Tree Alliance is committed to empowering students with the knowledge, skills and resources to champion environmental sustainability. Getting a library card allows free accessible education, and borrowing books at your local library saves paper –and trees, and mends our relationship with them– and allows one to connect with their community. on. Registering for a library card emphasizes the need for libraries in our society and encourages further evolution and growth of library capabilities, which makes educational material more accessible to all members of the community.
Photo Source: Cailyn Schmidt

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