Want to go on a great date while reducing your carbon footprint? If yes, read on!
For urban singles, picking up a date in a car could be considered a thing of the past. With increasing gas prices and heightened awareness surrounding global warming and its dangerous impact, it’s become common practice to pick up a date on your bike, scooter or even by foot. But there’s more we can do than simply remove gas emissions from the equation of a traditional date. Here are 6 clever ways to incorporate your green habits on your next date:
Go on a picnic. Rather than spending money on an expensive meal, surprise your date with a low cost picnic. Pick up some produce, cheese and crackers at your local farmer’s market, and head to a park or beach for a romantic, environmentally friendly date. Don't forget to put your garbage in the trash!
Pick your date up in a car2go. Rather than emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and getting ripped off on gas prices, try a car sharing service like zipcar or car2go. With car2go you can pick up your date, drive to a restaurant, and drop the vehicle at one of car2go’s assigned parking areas. Car2go’s vehicles are smart cars so not only are they extremely fuel efficient, they will also get you from A to B conveniently and for much less than you would pay for a cab or the cost of gas.
Order your coffee “for here”. Every year Americans consume over 100 billion cups of coffee and over 16 billion of these are bought in disposable paper cups! Disposable coffee cups are filling up our landfills and the manufacturing of these cups are producing 4 billion pounds of C02 every year that are released into the atmosphere. Still feel like grabbing a coffee and taking a stroll along the boardwalk? To reduce your environmental footprint on your next coffee date, choose a coffee shop with a nice patio or outdoor area and order your coffee to stay. Avoid using wooden stir sticks and decline a receipt unless you need one.
Find an eco-friendly restaurant. Not impressed when your leftovers are handed to you in a styrofoam container? Look for restaurants that buy local produce and follow environmentally conscious business practices ie. Does the restaurant recycle? Compost? Use biodegradable packaging? Is the restaurant energy and water efficient? Before your next date, check out inBloom and Food Tripping’s android and iphone apps. They’ll help you find restaurants, bars, and coffee shops in your area that follow sustainable business practices.
Volunteer in your community. Volunteering on a date is a great way to interact, to see how your date interacts with others and to connect over a shared interest or purpose. Get involved in a local weekend beach clean-up, a soup kitchen at a homeless shelter or helping out your local SPCA.
Borrow an outfit from a friend. Rather than buying a new shirt or outfit everytime you go on a first date (which can get expensive if you’re dating often), raid your girlfriend’s closet for something new. Utilizing the wardrobe of a friend and vice versa, is a great way to save money and reduce the amount of unnecessary clutter in your closet…and life. This is a great tip to start to following a more minimalistic lifestyle.
