I recently made a significant lifestyle change here in Turkey, which involved a deep reassessment of my values. You see, while I may have grown up in Los Angeles, in my adult life and for pretty much all of my time spent in Turkey, which is soon closing in on two decades, I have always lived immersed in nature. I sought a slower way of living with less traffic and fewer people. Luckily, this is very much possible when choosing to live in a rural area in Turkey.

In fact, the village lifestyle in Turkey should be held exemplary for anyone seeking a low carbon footprint. Turkish villagers are extremely resourceful and have a strong sense of community, where people share the produce they have grown with others and any outside purchases are mostly made in bulk and by trucks and vans that actually pull into the village itself. Villagers also repurpose every vessel they can and some even wash their plastic bags and pin them on the clothesline to dry them in the wind. If your village has a town market, you are considered lucky and thus, interaction with vehicles and plastic, two major contributors to the earth’s carbon dioxide emissions, are minimalized.

What I realized is that whenever I wanted to socialize with friends or needed to meet with people for work, I had to use my car and in most cases drive a significant distance. So, when I found the perfect flat in the town of Akyaka, an area in Muğla that is still laden with varied nature, from forests to creeks and the sea, I had an "A-Ha" moment, realizing that I could still live according to my values yet I could interact with other forward-thinking individuals and I didn’t have to use my car to do so.

I was so pleased to discover I could substantially decrease my own negative impact on the planet, I even wrote about it! But, what I soon realized was I could also do much better. All the Akyaka locals complain about the trash left behind by daytrippers who picnic out on the creek bed and there are even areas that are off-limits where the ducks can still roam freely, hopefully uninhibited by the immense trash left behind. And so, I now get up every morning and walk to the creek to pick up trash. It’s perfect, I don’t even have to take a plastic bag with me to do so, because I always find one brushed up against the trees and rocks lining the creek. As I walk, I pick up candy wrappers, soda cans and cigarette butts I see as I walk alongside the creek and I must admit that by the time I fill that plastic bag with trash I have had a great workout to boot.

Now that I have found this immensely satisfying morning routine, I can’t understand why more people don’t pick up trash in their daily lives. We all tend to just watch the random plastic bags and wrappers just blow-by and it has become normalized to not pick it up. But I have to say as someone who believes I have had an enriching life; there has been no other exercise I have done thus far that has felt as valuable and rewarding and so I will continue to plog on. I don’t get upset about the people who left the trash, I just think about the ducks that I am saving from having to contend with each piece of litter I pick up. And so, I do it for the ducks and I love them, so it makes me happy!

A word about plogging

Plogging is the act of jogging or walking as you pick up trash. In Turkey, there are a lot of trash collecting groups that have clean-up events where people get together and plog, but not necessarily jog. In Istanbul, there is Tidy Turkey (Turkiye’yi Temizle) in Istanbul, MİSGİBİ1Bodrum and in Fethiye Keep Fethiye Clean and many more that all host regular clean-ups. Just ask any locals or expats and most should be able to guide you to an already active group cleaning up Turkey’s beaches, forests and streets.

Facts for thought

In 2020, carbon dioxide emissions reached the highest level of concentration in 800,000 years and over the past half-century, the year-over-year increase in carbon dioxide levels have tripled.

In 2020, global sea levels not only reached their highest point but also the highest heat and had the most tropical cyclones in history.

Greenhouse gases in the air trap heat inside the Earth's climate, resulting in the warming of oceans and rising sea levels, which causes glaciers and ice sheets to melt.

This heat will eventually increase the Earth’s surface temperature.

Plastic is a serious problem!

Did you know that the amount of plastic waste produced all over the world is nearly equal to the weight of the entire human population? That’s right, every year, we humans produce nearly 400 million tons of plastic waste, which according to the United Nations Environment Programme is near the same amount the entire human population weighs. But instead of over a lifetime, we create the same amount we all weigh every single year.

Every single minute 1 million plastic bottles are purchased worldwide, but it takes 450 years for a plastic bottle to decompose. Plastic items are reported to take up to 1,000 years to decompose in landfills. The lightweight plastic bags we use daily can take 10 to 20 years to disintegrate and it takes up to 10 years for those tiny little cigarette butts to decompose as they are made of plasticized cellulose acetate.

According to the World Wildlife Fund just one of the countless effects of the tiny particles from plastic bags is the impairment of the growth of the earth’s most important microorganisms, Prochlorococcus, which is a marine bacterium that provides one-tenth of the world’s oxygen.

Simple ways to save the planet

We all know that our planet is in trouble, but what we don’t realize is that we truly need to adopt changes. Certain progress made by mankind has not benefitted the planet and thus we need to revisit what have become norms and relearn how to live a life leaving less negative impact. I highly advise visiting and engaging with locals in Turkish villages as they have an extremely environmentally friendly and respectful way of life we could learn a lot from. So many of us don’t even realize the simple changes we can make.

For example, wash your laundry in cold water because nearly 90% of a washing machine’s energy is used for heating. Most clothing items actually specify to be washed in cold water and by doing so, a household can save up to 1,600 pounds of carbon dioxide a year and prolong the lifespan of their garments, according to the American Cleaning Institute.

If you order a meal to go or be delivered, don’t mindlessly accept the plastic utensils you know you are then going to throw away.

Always carry a reusable bag for shopping and a glove and plastic bag for trash collecting.

Shop at venues you can purchase things in bulk and bring your own containers.

Bring your own portable coffee mug to the café rather than taking home their plastic cups, as plastic-lined coffee cups take 30 years to disintegrate.

Don’t kill insects, instead have a jar and a piece of paper ready and place the jar over the bug and the paper over the top to cover it. Then release the insect outside. It is sacrilege in Islam to harm harmless animals and that includes insects and spiders.

Last but certainly not least, seek plant-based options, eat less meat and buy food produced locally.