Top New Year Resolutions For More Sustainable Living
In January I find it's a time to start getting my head in gear for the year to come, it's the bigger picture month where I can set goals and hopefully stick to them.
Last year there was a lot of media exposure on plastic, in-fact in the Collins 2018 word of the year shortlist 'Single-use' was the winner and a close runner up was 'Plogging' (say what?) Plogging is a popular recreational activity in Sweden which combines jogging with picking up litter (genius).
My point is, we are all talking about the environment, plastic and how we want David Attenborough to stick around as long as possible (can we freeze him, is that a thing yet?), but what are we actually doing. After a bit of reflection over Christmas and a mountain of packaging
left over from buying presents I realised I wasn't doing nearly enough. In this blog I am going to highlight my top new years eco-mermaid-warrior resolutions , some I already do but am putting them out there anyway:)
Ecobricks
The concept of Ecobricks kind of slid into one ear then out the other last year, I thought I didn't use plastic bottles so how could I possibly fill them with non-recycled plastic.. then after closer inspection of all my half empty soda water and coke bottles from new years eve realised I probably throw away more bottles than I first thought.
Ecobricks is a movement aiming to educate people on taking responsibility for their own plastic usage and create re-usable Ecobricks that can be used in construction of houses, furniture or creative projects.
so.. how it works, you can create an account on www.ecobricks.org to tell you the truth the website is a little confusing, I did find myself scrolling through shouting 'But what do I actually have to do?'
Once you have created an account you can find local drop off points for your ecobricks, or ideas on how to put them to use in your own community or home. You fill a plastic bottle with none-recyclable plastic, weigh it, then log it through t
he website. This way you can see on a monthly basis how much plastic you're using and try and cut back.
I am going to give this a go and keep you posted via Instagram! @kokocollective
Be A Clothes Moth
That's right, try being a clothes moth instead of a magpie attracted to shiny new things.
£140 million worth of clothing goes into landfill each year, the pressure the fashion industry puts on people to buy the latest trends is still rife, instead of a seasonal new collections its literally a weekly turnaround of clothes. And it's not just the waste thats a problem, the environmental cost of making this amount of clothing is just not sustainable, it takes 15,000 litres of water to make one pair of jeans (mind blown). I mostly buy second hand or vintage clothing or from small ethical and sustainable brands, but I do sometimes slip up. when I have to go to town it's always a bit of a mind struggle not go in for a browse. This year and beyond If you need a wardrobe refresh instead of getting a short fix try doing one or all of the following ...
Re looking at your clothes, can anything be re-styled/refreshed? rip a sleeve off.. live a little.
buy from small ethical brands that do not mass produce, being a small business owner myself I rely on my customers to support me through making these ethical decisions and creating a transparent, sustainable supply chain. Some people think buying from small brands is more expensive.. but what is the real cost? I would prefer to buy a jumper that will last me years because it has been well made than something that will misshape in a couple of washes and made by a unhappy, underpaid worker. (just saying:)
Vintage/Second hand shops. Yes sometimes you find nothing, sometimes the charity shops catch onto designer brands and price them up.. but it's so fun having a rummage and there is always a gem.
Clothes Swap, my mum first introduced me to a clothes swap she organised in the town I grew up in. My first though was lame.. maybe because my mum was organising it and I was a stroppy teenager, But it was here a local lady came and dropped off all her designer clothing and left.. it was like a stampede to a drying waterhole!
Veganuary, veganism, vegan
Going vegan is the ‘single biggest way’ we can reduce our environmental impact, according Oxford University researchers. It takes a staggering 9,000 litres of water to produce just one pound of beef, it takes just 60 litres of water to produce one pound of potatoes or 229 litres to produce one pound of rice. The largest single cause of deforestation is agriculture, trees cut down to make way for fields to grow feed for livestock! I could go on... and... on.... It's a difficult transition, I actually found it easy going vegetarian, but going vegan was and still is more of a process.
If you are interested in trying it for a month head to veganuary.com
They have all the facts, recipes, helpful guides to make the transition.
One friend said to me once "You going vegan/ vegetarian isn't going to change anything." when he said that all I could think of was this quote...
"its just one straw, said 8 billion people" by Masanobu Fukuoka
