Yesterday was, in addition to being Easter Monday, the Official Earth Day, a date that marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.
However, EVERY day should be EARTH DAY! We can all do our bit every single day. Here are some suggestions as to what we can actually do to make a difference:
- Purchase a bag for life and use this everytime you go shopping, eliminating the need for plastic carrier bags.
- Purchasea reusable cup to use everytime you go to a coffee shop. Most coffee cups are not able to be recycled currently.
- Cut out needless purchases i.e only buy a new piece of clothing if another one needs replacing. This isn’t a new idea, the make do and mend culture was one that was very proud in the United Kingdom in the early -mid 1900’s.
- Purchase vintage clothing / furniture / toys etc – shopping at bootfairs, charity shops and auction sites like eBay all ensure items are given a 2nd or 3rd lease of life rather than being sent to a landfill.
- Look for natural fibres. go for cotton over polyester. Not only do they feel a lot nicer when you wear them, but don’t contain things like microfibres that go into our water and into marine life when we wash our clothes.
- Learn to DIY. Whether its sowning a rip in clothes, customizing old clothes into new, or revitalizing an old piece of furniture.
- Consider a change in your diet, cuttinmg down the consumption of meat and incrfeasing the amount of vegetable based meals.
- Eat Locally and seasonally. Your local farmers market will be more low scale agriculture and your food hasnt had to be flown half way around the world.
- Think about packaging. make better choices by buying unpackaged fruit and vegetables, or opting for cans and cardboard that are widely recycled instead of plastic.
- Ditch face wipes and use a good old fashioned flannel and an oil based cleanser.
- Buy package free beauty products wherever possible – get shampoo, conditioner and body wash bars.
We’ve been hearing so much about climate change recently, and the facts don’t look good.The evidence shows that, thanks to human activity, global temperatures are rising at a level which isn’t sustainable for the environment to be able to survive. Head on over to https://www.earthday.org/climate-change-quiz/ to take a climate change quiz.
