Eco-Centered New Years Resolutions for 2026
Happy New Year! I hope you enjoy(ed) the holidays with your loved ones and are ready to make 2026 the eco-est year yet. Here are 26 ideas for eco-themed New Year’s Resolutions. Let’s go!
ACTIVISM
Yes, you’re an activist! Even if the word seems intimidating, all activism means is that you advocate for social change. If you’re reading this, I bet that fits you. So before you discount this section, watch this video and listen to these options to make your 2026 an activism year!
Make it a habit to call your reps
This may be the scariest one on the list. At least it is for me. I hate phone calls, I hate talking to strangers, and it can be hard to formulate my complicated thoughts around politics. That’s why I use the free 5 Calls app! You just need to input your zip code, that’s it! It will provide you with every phone number you need for each of your representatives. You can pick from a list of topics they have on the app that mean the most to you (or, heck, all of them), click on it, and check out the provided script. They make it SUPER easy to call your reps daily or weekly, whatever you preferred schedule is. Here are more tips for calling your reps.
Or email them
Calling not your thing? Or maybe you just want to expand your actions? Try emailing your reps! This can be done one of two ways:
Use ResistBot. It’s a free tool that links to your favorite messaging service. You input your recipient and type your message, and this tool will do the effort to format and send the email for you.
The old-fashioned way: head to Congress.gov to input your zip code and find your reps. Here, you will get their phone number, email address, website, and physical mailing address (which may come in handy in a moment).
You can even use the 5 Calls scripts to inspire your message! I find this easier to copy and paste to send to all my reps in a shorter time than it takes to make a phone call. And I can skip the phone anxiety, haha. Here are some tips for writing your reps!
Or send them snail mail made of trash
Snail mail is also a great way to contact your elected officials! You could write them a well-thought-out letter and send that, or you can also send them postcards made of trash. I love that this is free, upcycling, and it’s a cathartic way to take action. I am well aware that this is not the most effective form of contacting your reps to demand change. But it still matters, and it’s fun! If you’re in the business of making the biggest impact, you should call, email, and send postcards in that order.
Here is a full tutorial on how I make postcards out of trash. Enjoy!
Start volunteering this year
Of course, you can volunteer for the planet, too, but I see any form of volunteering as activism! It’s quite literally using your actions to advocate for social change. Maybe you can canvas people to get them to vote or partake in reforestation efforts. Perhaps you help out your local soup kitchen or sort items at a mom-and-pop thrift shop. Volunteer in a way that suits your desires and also needs. Volunteering is a great way to make a change, but it’s also great for learning skills, resume building, and making connections.
Volunteer and try to make it a habit: weekly, every other week, monthly, or whatever suits your schedule. Let us know about your coolest volunteer opportunity below!
Make it a habit to donate money to a local mutual aid org
If you don’t have the time to spare, your money can go a long way. In fact, your money may go further than if you donated items. Food Banks can buy food at cheaper costs than you can so it may feed more people if you gave then $20 versus a $20 bag of groceries you purchased. Of course, physical donations are still impactful, but your dollar is impactful, too.
Even just $1 donated by 10s or 100s of people can so easily add up. I know a lot of people are struggling financially right now. I’m not saying you have to donate money to be an activist, but if this is in your budget, it may be something new you can try!
Pick your niche, get educated, and get involved!
The world is overwhelming. I feel that, too. We simply cannot take on the burden of every crisis ourselves. Yes, it’s important to care about Congo and Sudan and Palestine while also worrying about your neighbors losing SNAP benefits and your immigrant friends and your government-employed coworkers and the small businesses in your town having rent price hikes, and also you gotta feed your own family. It’s a LOT.
So, niche down. Pick one area you are the MOST passionate about. Because we know by now that they are all connected and fighting for injustice in one of those areas is linked to other injustices. The fight is all the same; we may just have different techniques for each particular fight.
This can help prevent burnout and give us more targeted goals and use of our time, versus trying to juggle 100 issues at once.
Make it a habit to go to town halls
Find out when your town halls are and put every single meeting for the new year on your calendar. Yes, every single one. No, you don’t have to go to 100% of these meetings, but by marking your calendar, you may be more inclined to actually GO when you realize you have free time that night.
See if your town has a virtual option! This means you can listen in on the issues they are addressing while you cook dinner or work on homework, or do chores. You can even still give public comment digitally.
Bonus tip: give public comment! It can be lengthy, eloquent, and use the entire time. Or you can do what I did this week and say something short and sweet like “I am a constituent and I want to voice my support of this motion.”
Vote in every election
It’s amazing that so many more people are inspired to vote after the 2024 presidential election, but please remember that we can vote for so much more than the president! If you’re anywhere on social media, you probably got a lot of news about the 2025 November election. NYC elected a new Mayor, Virginia elected a new Governor, and California passed a new proposition, just to name a few. None of these were even national issues! It’s important to vote in small elections. You may not be able to fix the state of Washington, DC, but you sure can make your state, county, city, township, or school district more eco and more just for your people by voting small and voting all year long.
Check your registration and learn HOW to vote in your state, as they all vary a bit.
Attend your first protest
Take to the streets this year! I have a pretty good feeling more No Kings protests will be on the horizon. These are great as they bring about a lot of national (and even global) news. But just like voting, aim smaller, too! My community has a lot of small-scale protests from issues such as the genocide in Gaza to upticks in police brutalizing the unhoused population to school price hikes. Stay alert to local and national news and rally with those around you this year.
Build community
But, to do the above, it may be best to know who your community is. So take time to build and maintain your community this year. But how?
It kinda depends on your goals and interests, but here are a few ideas that have helped me in the last year:
You gotta leave your home! Sure, you can invite your community into your space, but to make a community in the first place, you have to go INTO the community!
For me, I started doing a hobby out in town on a regular basis. This could look like dancing, rock climbing, hiking, some sort of art, etc. The regularity of it helps build consistency with those people. You get to know their names, birthdays, partners, work, and you may start relying on each other for rides, pet sitting, a meal, etc.
Be intentional! Make a really conscious effort to remember people’s names, interests, and things like that. It goes a long way, and they may start to show intention in return.
And more! Check out ways to build community and maintain community in the new year.
Spread the word!
In this day and age of technology, it’s easier now than ever to spread awareness. So, use your voice! Print and staple flyers, create social media graphics, or just simply share what others have created online. Share to your stories, share the links, hit the repost button, etc.
Spreading the words gets people engaged and active for these issues and also helps bring attention to them. If anything, bad press can help move the government in the direction we want!
ECO
Get a library card!
If you’ve been around the channel for a while, you know I’m a HUGE library fan. If you aren’t a fan (yet), let this be your sign to finally get your library card. They are free and can save you literal $1000s every single year. From borrowing physical books to audiobooks and ebooks and also the ability to borrow so many more things like movies, games, magazines, computers, and so forth, this is an excellent way to live zero waste on a budget and consume less. Learn more here about the benefits of libraries!
So you can read 1 eco book per month
Now that you’ve got your library card, get to reading about eco topics! From climate change to fast fashion to overconsumption and connecting to the planet, there are endless topics to learn about. I have a full list of my book recs here.
But maybe you do better when you’re in a book club…join mine! My Eco Book Club meets once every 4-6 weeks, and each time we read a new eco-themed book. We’ve done fiction and non-fiction alike and have covered a wide variety of topics. We vote to collectively choose our next book. Just $1 a month, you get access to the members-only Discord group with several chat rooms where we talk about eco books, but also eco wins, current events, and pets. See you there!
Try a new swap per month
You don’t have to go zero waste overnight! If this is the first time you’ve thought about joining this movement, you can take baby steps. It can be overwhelming, so try it all at once. That’s where my Zero Waste in a Year Guide comes in!
This guide walks you through 12 different topics, a new one every month, over the course of the year. Each day we talk about a new way to make your life a little bit more eco. No, it’s not one swap per day. Most of it are free habits that will just save you money over time. If you wanna see if it’s for you, watch this video first.
Otherwise, you can buy it here with code RESOLUTION10 for 10% off this New Year. Enjoy! Thanks for supporting me!
Start your composting journey
I truly believe that composting is one of the best things we can do for the planet. Well, food waste reduction in general, more on that next. But one of the best ways to prevent food waste from the landfills is by composting what we don’t eat. Of course, eating it is best, but we can’t eat spoiled items, and some parts of our fruit and veg are not to be eaten, like seeds and peels. So, compost what you can’t eat!
If you’re unsure of where to start, here are 12 ways that I truly believe every person can compost. I hope to see your successful compost journey in the new year!
And avoid food waste in other ways
As we just discussed, eating your food waste is better than composting it. But how do you eat food waste? Isn’t it all bad?
Rather, I’m asking you to prevent it before it goes bad. Your best friend here will be the freezer. Freeze items at peak freshness if you know you won’t eat it in time. Slice up bell peppers and onions to save as a ready-to-go fajita meal. Freeze brown bananas for smoothies or banana bread (or use brown bananas as is before freezing). Freeze bread and tortillas you won’t get to this week. Freeze that half can of tomato paste to use in a recipe in a month or so. You get the idea. There are endless ways to get creative to avoid the landfill and also the compost bin.
This also means to think before you buy. Pantry items don’t matter so much, but for fresh items, don’t overconsume here. You may buy more than you can feasibly get to before it goes bad. Make your grocery list accordingly and stick to it!
Do a “No Buy” year or month
Another amazing thing we can do for the planet is to consume consciously and vote with our dollar. We are addicted to overconsuming (here’s how to break up with it). So, let’s spend our money wisely in the new year. Try out a “No Buy” challenge. You could do the whole year, a month, a week, whatever works for you.
The purpose of this challenge is to just buy necessities: food, bills, medicine, and so forth. Even things like clothing and shoes, you should really think about. But of course, the goal is to go without “wants” and impulses for the entire time. From candy to books to games to the latest piece of tech. It’s a challenge to truly break up with overconsumerist habits. This is not for the faint of heart. It will take a lot of willpower. If you “mess up” along the way, keep going! It’s okay to “make mistakes,” but don’t let that be an excuse to fall back into consumerism. Do your best and reflect on the challenge along the way!
Shop small all year long
Whether you’re doing a No Buy challenge or not, I still challenge everyone to avoid mega-corporations and conglomerates this year. Shop small! Buy from your friends and family, and neighbors. Buy from the small artists on Etsy versus Hobby Lobby. Yes, it’s better for the planet.
But for me, it’s also for ethical reasons. I do not want to give the billionaire class my money. They are the owners of these polluting companies. They fly private jets. They themselves are huge polluters on an individual level. But they also hoard wealth, do not pay their employees fair wages, union bust, and buy our politicians on both sides. I don’t want to contribute to that, and I hope you join me in the new year. We truly have power with our money. Let’s use it.
Shop exclusively secondhand
Better yet, try to only shop secondhand this year…as much as possible. I’m not asking anyone to buy secondhand underwear or whatever you deem “too gross” to get secondhand. But as far as you can, opt for the thrift shops! It’s truly always my first go-to. I ran out of paper this semester and headed right to my local thrift, and lo and behold, I found several NEW yet secondhand notebooks. From kitchen gadgets to an extra lamp to a water can and even more, I’m able to find just about everything I need at the thrift store.
If something is on a time crunch, that’s different. I didn’t need a new lamp right this second, so I would be okay waiting a few days to find one by going to a few thrift stores. But if I needed a new pen for school for my literal next class, I’m okay buying a new one. You get the idea, hopefully.
Learn more here about why shopping secondhand is so much better for the planet!
Give up AI
If AI has no haters, I’m long gone. Listen, I get the benefits of AI, such as spellcheck tools and things you may use to save yourself time. What I’m not okay with are chatbots and generative AI making art and videos. These specific types of AI are the worst for the planet. They use insane amounts of water and create loads of emissions. You can check out the specific values here.
So, join me in my quest to be as AI-free as possible. Yes, I’m aware it’s impossible to do it perfectly. From Google and Meta automatically incorporating it into their platforms without our consent to spell check tools and using Siri and Alexa, it’s hard to avoid. But please, hop off ChatGPT and Grok and partake in human-made art and literature. Go hang out with human friends. Try a new hobby. Go outside! And once again, learn more about the true cost of AI on the planet here.
Inspire others to go zero waste with you
If you’re new to zero waste, it could be fun to start your journey with a friend. Someone to hold you accountable, someone to talk to about struggles, and someone to try new things with!
If you’re not new to a zero waste life, it’s still fun to get friends on board. Now, I know, you cannot force anyone to do anything. Just be the nudge someone needs. Lead by example and show them how easy, free, and fun it can be. Show them how much money it saves and how to live zero waste in a lazy way.
Just like spreading the word in the activism category above, one of the best things we can do for the planet is to get more people on board. After all, you know the saying, it really doesn’t matter if just a handful of people are perfectly zero waste; we need everyone trying just a little bit every day to be a bit more sustainable. zero-waste. Here are some tips for inspiring others!
Eco-fy your hobbies
You don’t have to give up your hobbies to be zero waste! You can keep your hobbies, just make them a bit more eco along the way. It really comes down to just a few things:
Use what you have. Bust your stash of paints or yarn, or read the books you already have before buying new ones
When you do need something else for your hobby, shop secondhand! Head to the thrift store vs buying something new. And if you do need to shop new, shop small and shop for sustainable materials like cotton yarn over polyester and recycled paper over new paper, for example
If you have supplies and gear you won’t use anymore, donate them instead of throwing them away
I have more ways that you can generally eco-fy your hobbies here, and this video outlines how I make my OWN hobbies zero waste.
Learn to mend
Pick up a skill this year! Zero waste has taught me many skills, but I think the best one has been mending. I have learned to hand sew, add buttons to clothes, use a sewing machine, and even do basic embroidery. Now, I’m no expert, but I’m good enough to keep my clothes out of the landfill and reduce how many new items I buy per year. That’s the whole goal of mending!
If you’re going to learn any zero-waste skill, I think this one is the most worth your time. It’s easy, doesn’t take a whole lot of practice or supplies, and can help you save money and resources along the way.
Stop wishcycling!
Please stop putting stuff in your recycling bin that doesn’t belong there! That’s called wishcycling: “recycling” something in the hopes that it will actually be recycled even though it’s garbage. I know, our recycling system is pretty poor in the US. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to make it better as we go.
I think this is a pretty easy goal to ease into zero waste or the new year. Check your bin for your rules. If your bin doesn’t have any posted, see if your recycling municipality has a website or try giving them a call or email to ask for the rules. But in general, here are some recycling tips. Keep in mind, every region is different, so always check!
Try making things from scratch
A fun experiment could be trying to make something new from scratch! Maybe it’s sourdough or kombucha or tortillas or apple sauce or even things like clothing and jewelry. Learn how to make something yourself this year! But why?
Well, it can cut down expenses some of the time. An artisan loaf of sourdough at the market is usually around $10 a loaf. I can get a 10 lb bag of flour for under 10, and that will make me around 10 loaves, for example.
It can also teach you about why shopping small and shopping sustainably can cost so much money. A lot of human labor goes into making things we consume. When things are cheap for you to purchase, corners are cut along the way. People and the planet were exploited in the process.
It’s also just fun to learn new skills! Happy making!
Join a Buy Nothing Group
Bringing it back to consuming less AND building community, this last one is for helping your community and getting some help in return. Join your local Buy Nothing Group. You can learn about these groups in full in this video, but here’s the gist:
You can list stuff you want to get rid of on this page. I’ve even gotten rid of stuff I deemed “trash” on here like jars, half-empty candles, wobbly shelves, and so forth
You can ask for stuff that you are looking for and see if you neighbors have anything that may suit your needs
You can comment on posts that are giving away stuff
What a great way to help your neighbors, get help when you need it, and all of these items get to stay out of the landfill. We all get to save money and reduce resources along the way. This is easily one of my favorite things behind libraries. Anything free and communal is the future!
I hope that you enjoyed this compilation and I hope that I make zero waste look approachable. You don’t have to buy solar panels or an EV or give up flying to be an environmentalist in 2026 or any year. We have come a long way as a movement in the last decade or so.
Thanks for wanting to reduce your impact on the planet. Happy New Year and best of luck on your eco journey!
One more self plug, don’t forget to check out my Zero Waste in a Year Guide. I appreciate your support of my free content and if you’re in the market, I hope you enjoy this guide.
As always, remember that your small actions make a big difference in the long run :)
Emma
