Who hasn’t looked at their trash can after cooking and thought, “Wow, I’m single-handedly feeding a landfill”? Yeah, that was me — at least three times a week. Especially when I’d throw away perfectly good leftovers. For the longest time, I thought living sustainably was something only hippies with balcony gardens and homemade soap did. But one day, after watching a documentary about food waste (the kind that makes you want to become a monk and grow potatoes), I decided to start small. My “big green plan” began with one simple change: **planning my grocery shopping and actually using what I bought**. Sounds basic, right? But the difference was huge. Before, I’d walk into the supermarket without a list, guided only by instinct and promotions (“buy 3, get 2 free” — the modern hunger trap). The result? Forgotten fruit, wilted veggies, and the occasional biology experiment in my fridge. Now, I make a realistic list based on meals I’ll actually cook. And you know what? I save money *and* feel a little less like an accomplice in the climate apocalypse. But the real game-changer came when I started **repurposing food scraps**. The first time I turned potato peels into crispy chips, I felt like some kind of modern-day alchemist. I even cooked with broccoli stems — which, according to my 2019 self, would’ve been a culinary crime. And believe it or not, it tasted great. These days, I even have a group of friends who swap “sustainable recipes” (or, as João likes to call them, “survival meals for people who don’t want to go broke or destroy the planet”). Of course, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. I still have lazy days when I order takeout and fill the trash with plastic containers. But let’s be honest — sustainability isn’t about perfection; it’s about consistency. It’s about messing up, trying again, and realizing that small actions, done repeatedly, make a big difference. In the end, I realized that living more sustainably isn’t about saving the planet alone — it’s about changing enough to inspire someone else to try too. So, what’s one small habit *you* could start today to be part of that change — even if it’s just saving those potato peels?