By Karen Laker
The Eco Worrier – Yes you read it correctly – I couldn’t quite class myself a warrior – my approach is more gentle.
I believe change one thing (at a time) and tell one person (who can listen), rather than shouting from the rooftops with words that may fall on deaf ears. We started being more green before Covid. With the spare time we had in lockdown, I was able to gain more knowledge which helped us up our game…we still have a way to go. I believe it’s important for our children’s future that we do what we can today.
As a society we have developed many convenience and money saving habits. Habits aren’t easy to change overnight, so by expecting to be perfectly green is a road to failure. It’s easy to say that one person can’t make a difference, and then give up.
We believe one household can make a difference to our own path through this world albeit it one or two habits at a time. We know goal setting needs to be realistic and you need to be kind to yourself.
Where to start?
Despite the wise words above my first thought was to look at having a day where we used no single-use plastic the house.
Here I came across one of the first golden rules:
FIRST, USE WHAT YOU HAVE
There was no point using my newly researched shampoo soap and soap bars until I had used up the shampoo, conditioner and body wash I already had.
I had to be patient before I needed to find if soap bars and shampoo soap would work for me because of other habit changes.
- Use half as much, it’ll last twice as long.
- The realisation that I didn’t work in a dirty environment so daily showers weren’t needed.
I use https://beautykitchen.co.uk for other products – they take back their containers and reuse them which is better than recycling.
Someone else in the village makes their own washable face wipes (you can also buy them).
Once you make the decision to change, it is amazing how inventive you can be.
Back to no single-use plastic day – did it happen at The Old Potting Shed? – NO partly because I was diverted by ZEROWASTE and partly because some alternatives to single-use plastic can cause other environmental issues.
A common one to consider is that we are shown the awful effects of plastic water bottles and its fashionable to buy aluminium flasks e.g. Chilly Bottle’s. Aluminium manufacturing has its own problems and a finite resource.
Obviously, if you already have one don’t panic and throw it away in disgust. Just maybe don’t buy another prettier one or be drawn into getting one as a Christmas present for someone who has no need for them. Reusable glass bottles are a much better option.
Finding a good source of environmental facts and learning to see advertising for what it is can go a long way. It can help you make good habit changes towards a more green existence.
Meanwhile questions such as:
Do I need it? Do I really need it and do I really, really need it are useful.
I hope you enjoyed reading my first weekly blog as I revisit some of my choices (good and bad – yes you’ve guessed it, we have flasks!!) towards being more planet friendly and update you with any other news.
Please feel free to add helpful comments and/or ask me questions bearing in mind this is a huge subject and I’ll be dealing with just a couple of topics each time.
WH&T Going Green 