15th May 2024
Maintenance is linked to repair. Good maintenance reduces the need for emergency repairs.
The things we maintain most – now that we no longer have a car – are our bicycles. Cleaning, checking tyres and brakes, and twice a year a thorough service at the local cycle shop.
Waterproof coats and trousers, walking boots and shoes, all benefit from regular cleaning and rewaterproofing.
10th May 2024
Having said that we try to minimise waste, should what we recycle be seen as recycled waste? Flour and oats both come in large paper sacks. The sacks are single use which arguable might seem wasteful but they can be recycled. They are good for collecting all the other paper that goes out for recycling. Margerine comes in plastic tubs – again single use but recyclable.
One reason that our dustbin fills slowly is because we can recycle much of the ‘waste’ that comes into the house. We recycle paper and card, aluminium foil, tins, glass and standard plastics via the Council’s kerb side collection. We take soft plastics to the Coop for recycling, toothpaste tubes to Boots, medical blister packs to Superdrug. There is a recycling bin for small electrical goods at the library and for batteries at Robert Dyas.
Recycling is good and worth doing but it comes with its own consumption of resources and production of emissions. And we know that in reality many things that are labelled as recyclable are not recycled – often because they are not put into the appropriate recycling bin. Greater thought needs to be given by designers and producers to reduce what needs to be recycled and how often.
The aim becomes not consuming more than you need to consume, buying less and ensuring the best and most efficient use of what we do consume.
7th May 2024
Plastic is such an invasive pollutant. A few years ago we kept a tally over a week of how much plastic was coming into the house and then worked out whether there were ways of avoiding such plastic in the future. Sometimes the solution was simple – not putting fruit in a plastic bag at the supermarket. Sometimes it needed a little more research – finding a toilet paper that didn’t come wrapped in plastic (we now buy recycled paper toilet roll from Naked Sprout, a B Corp, which comes in a cardboard box).
More importantly the solution was a change in attitude – don’t buy it if it’s wrapped in plastic whether it’s a cake in the cafe or a pen in the stationers. And of habit – taking a keep cup or refillable water bottle when out and about.
We’re not plastic totally free – my husband enjoys sliced supermarket bread and even vegan butter and margarine come in plastic packaging. During the Big Plastic Count we totalled 6 pieces of plastic.
Further reading –
https://friendsoftheearth.uk/plastics/living-without-plastic
https://www.plasticfreejuly.org/ (an international campaign that originated in Australia)
If you’re have a strong community link – https://plasticfree.org.uk/2022/01/28/plastic-free-communities-impact-report/
And if you want to find another way of reducing plastic this campaign is about reducing financial support for the plastics industry – https://justmoney.org.uk/speak-out/dont-bank-on-plastics/
6th May 2024
We are lucky enough to have a good sized garden. Not being successful growers of vegetables, we have chosen to make the garden more of a wildlife haven. We don’t use pesticides, herbicides or fertilisers – other than home made compost. Nor do we use peat. This approach also means we aren’t buying things that come in plastic bottles, bags or containers.
Over the years we have planted a number of fruit trees – apple, plum, pear, cherry, fig – as well as having raspberries, strawberries, rhubarb, currant and gooseberry bushes and a grape vine. In between the fruit grows a mix of herbs, self seeding salads and green leaf crops, bulbs, and wild flowers. Other flower beds are a mix of roses, herbs, and perennial plants, whilst the lawns remain uncut for most of the year. I have tried to transform these into meadows by transplanting into the grass suitable plants such as buttercups, plantain, ox eye daisies and sorrel etc. The garden also has a pond with flags, buttercups and pond weed, and is home to small pond creatures including dragon fly larvae. Usually there is frogspawn but none this year, which is disappointing.
We replenish a number of bird feeders daily and have a bee hotel and a dead hedge all to encourage more wildlife.
further reading –
2nd May 2024
I would like to say that we grow all our own fruit and vegetables – but the snails have a different view on this! We get the bulk of our fruit and vegetables from OddBox which specialises in filling its boxes with foods that would otherwise go to waste – either because of a glut in the fields or a downturn in demand at the supermarket, or items being too big/ too small/ too wonky. The produce comes from the UK, Europe and other parts of the globe (but only if it has come by land or sea – not air).
OddBox reports “Every box makes a difference – by rescuing a Medium Fruit & Veg box every week for three months, you’d save a whopping 85kg of fruit and veg. Roughly 200 meals’ worth.”
This is topped up with some from the garden – salad leaves, nettles and chard, and summer fruits and berries – and from a local deli cum greengrocer.
Ideally all the produce we buy would be organic which we could do by swooping an organic fruit and veg box – but on balance we have gone for the reducing food waste option. Food waste accounts for 10% of greenhouse gas emissions. Food wasted is also water wasted and a poor utilisation of arable land.
Further reading on the issues around food waste – https://www.sofea.uk.com/blog/the-environmental-impact-of-food-waste/
1st May 2024
As well as seeking a sustainable supplier for beans and pulses, we have also sought out sustainably motivated suppliers for other food stuffs.
Our flour comes from Priors Flour and is made from locally grown organic grains which are milled in a windmill! Its small scale business model maintains good human relations – a person who answers questions, and a company which can shut down to allow staff a holiday – and preserves an old but still highly functional building. And the flour is full of good feel and flavour.
Our oats – for porridge and oatcakes – comes from Pimhill which grows, mill and sells organic oats, and which come compactly packed in paper packaging. (Waste and plastic free is another feature we support).
30th April 2024
Even within the option a vegan diet, it is possible to look for the more sustainable options. The bulk of our protein comes from beans and pulses. By buying these from Hodmedod we can opt for beans and pulses – as well as pasta, chia seeds, quinoa and other staples – that are grown in the UK. This supports the UK’s farming industry and especially in these cases, smaller farms and businesses including many innovating with new varieties. It also reduces food miles – the distances over which food is transported from field to plate.
As well as buying dried beans, we buy bean flours from Hodmedod which adds to the richness of the dishes we eat. We also buy Brazil nuts from them which are wild-harvested nuts that come directly from the Kayapó people of Brazil. This is solidarity trading which ensures the protection of the local forest and an income for the indigenous people.
Further reading –
https://hodmedods.co.uk/pages/the-hodmedod-story
https://hodmedods.co.uk/blogs/news/soy-no-more – this article explores in more depth the issues that arise from intensive livestock farming that relies on imported soy.
https://hodmedods.co.uk/blogs/news/piy-brazil-nuts-solidarity-trading
26th April 2024
Green wash is advertising or marketing that makes out that a product is greener/ more environmentally friendly than it actually is. It is an attempt to delude or deceive the consumer.
TerraChoice has identified ‘seven sins of greenwashing’ –
The BBC suggests the following certification schemes that can give assurance as to the ethical values of a producer:-
Leaping Bunny – which means that the product has not been tested on animals.
B Corp – means that a business is legally required to do beneficial things for the environment and the people who help create their products.
Carbon Trust – meets a certain standard of carbon emission reduction, meaning the product is trying to minimise its carbon impact.
Fairtrade – the product has been made by people who received a fair wage for their work.
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) – the product is made using sustainable or responsibly managed wood sources. (https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/58465027)
Another source of good advice is Ethical Consumer via their web site or magazine – https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/
In a world where we already consume too much, I can’t help feeling that any advertising that encourages us to consume more than we need, is greenwashing.
25th April 2024
Earth Overshoot Day is the day on which our global ecological footprint exceeds the earth’s bio capacity. (This year’s date has yet to be announced).
“Humanity is living beyond its means, which results in an environmental dilemma – because it is living at the expense of the Earth. Every year, the consumption of resources outstrips the natural regenerative capacity of our planet.” (1) So reports myclimate.org
The day on which we have consumers one year’s worth of resources and tip into the red, is known as as Earth Overshoot Day. Last year, 2023, it fell on 2nd August, which means that in the whole of that year we consumed resources that were equivalent to 1.7 earths! Clear this is cannot be sustainable on an ongoing basis.
To create a sustainable lifestyle that safeguards our future, we need to address three key things:
“Efficiency: better usage of resources so that goods are produced with less energy and resources.
Consistency: linear production replaced by the circular economy, which minimises waste. Renewable energy is key here.
Sufficiency: A sustainable change in lifestyle under which the economy is geared to moderate consumption of resources rather than constant growth. The goal is to fulfil the wishes and requirements of our society without disproportionate waste or consumption.” (1)
For further information –
https://overshoot.footprintnetwork.org/about-earth-overshoot-day
24th April 2024
Ecological footprints are a measure of how much of the earth’s natural resources needed to sustain human life – ie how much clean water, clean air, soil for growing crops, oceans for fish, trees for timber, water/ wind/ fossil fuels etc for energy, land for buildings, etc needed for each human. This footprint will vary from person to person depending on their lifestyles – how much and what they consume, and how much and what sort of waste they produce.
The ecological footprint of someone who lives off the grid, growing their own food and recycling their waste, will have a smaller ecological footprint than someone who owns multiple homes, flies and drives a large SUV, eats a meat rich diet, and buys lots of clothes and other consumer goods.
Ecological footprints are also measured in terms of global hectares per capita (see yesterday’s blog).
Using information from https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/ecological-footprint-by-country,
USA – 8.04 gha
Australia – 7.77
Oman – 7.29
France – 4.6
UK – 4.20
China – 3.71
Brazil – 2.81
India – 1.19
Zimbabwe – 1.03
Democratic Republic of Congo – 0.01
You might like to use an online calculator to estimate your carbon footprint (these can be very rough and ready rather than precise but give a ballpark idea). These calculators are not just measuring your carbon footprint but your ecological footprint – how much of the earth’s resources your lifestyles uses.
The Green Tau 